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Cameron McNeish FRSGS is a Scottish wilderness hiker, backpacker and mountaineer who is an authority on outdoor pursuits. In this field he is best known as an author and broadcaster although he is also a magazine editor, lecturer and after dinner speaker as well as being an adviser to various outdoor organisations.
McNeish was brought up in Glasgow in Scotland and did much of his early walking as a youth in the Campsie Fells. As his confidence grew, he moved further afield to bigger mountains and his first Munro was Ben Lomond. For a number of years McNeish worked for the Scottish Youth Hostels Association as a warden and for a period ran the busy hostel at Aviemore, in his early years he also worked as a ski and climbing instructor. 1978 saw the publication of his first book, "Highland Ways" which was about backpacking in Scotland. In 1982 he started a weekly outdoor column in his local newspaper the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald,which he contributed to for 32 years, called "McNeish at Large" and in the same year co-founded the outdoor magazine Footloose with two colleagues.
In 1985, he became editor of Climber and Rambler magazine, leaving in 1991 to become editor of TGO Magazine [1] (formerly The Great Outdoors). In 1999 he became outdoor correspondent of the Sunday Herald writing the weekly Peak Practice column for 15 years. Throughout the late 1980s, McNeish contributed and wrote regularly for outdoor programmes on BBC Radio Scotland, most notably In The Country and in 1991 he scripted and hosted The Munro Challenge for BBC Radio 4 to celebrate 100 years of the Munro Tables. During this time Cameron was still writing books and the immensely popular The Munros Almanac and The Munros: Scotland’s Highest Mountains were released in the 1990s.
In 1994, McNeish moved into television, presenting the BAFTA-winning The Edge: One Hundred Years of Scottish Mountaineering and in the same year The Great Outdoors, a six-part series for Channel 4. His best known television work is the Wilderness Walks programmes that he made for BBC Two: the first series was broadcast in 1997 and the second in 1998. McNeish was a consultant and guest on the 2007 series Mountain . In the first programme he guides series presenter Griff Rhys Jones to the summit of Scotland's most northerly Munro, Ben Hope, in a snowstorm. He is also a regular contributor to the BBC Scotland series, The Adventure Show . After a break of a number of years from book writing, McNeish released "The Sutherland Trail: A Journey Through Scotland's North-west" in August 2009 in conjunction with photographer and film maker Richard Else. The book is a description of a week-long walking route through Sutherland, in the far north-west of Scotland. That book was followed by others co-authored with Richard Else - The Skye Trail and Scotland End to End. In 2018 Cameron produced an autobiography, There's Always the Hills, published by Sandstone Press. That book became TGO (The Great Outdoors Magazine) Book of the Year 2018. [2]
Cameron McNeish has hiked, backpacked, skied and climbed in many of the remote places in the world. These include the Alps, the Pyrenees, Spain, Iceland, North America, Norway, Sweden, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Central America, Slovenia, Russia, Guatemala, Corsica, Jordan and Turkey. Despite this most of his walking is done in the Scottish Highlands collecting data for his newspaper columns and creating podcasts for his personal website. [3] Cameron completed his first round of the Scottish Munros in 1991 becoming Munroist no. 913. [4] He completed his second round in 1996 and a third round in 2008.
Cameron McNeish FRSGS is vice-president of the Ramblers' Association in Scotland, Patron of Mountain Aid and a Patron of Orienteering Scotland. In 2021 he became Patron of the Perth & Kinross Conservation Trust. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
Cameron McNeish is a supporter of the YES campaign.
"I'm well aware that we are being warned not to get too emotional about independence but dammit, I'm going to get a little emotional. I love this country with a passion. I love its hills and mountains and lochs and coastlines, I love its culture and its music and its traditions, and I'm fed up with it being treated as a mere region, the Winterfell of Britain. Let's go from here and tell our friends and our families, our workmates and our neighbours that Scotland can prosper as an independent country. Don't leave it to the politicians – they've got enough to do. It's up to us, you and me. As they say in the Nike advert – just do it…" [5]
However, in July 2021 he resigned his membership of the Scottish National Party, accusing its leadership of neglecting land reform and the environment since Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister. He also castigated the party's treatment of Joanna Cherry MP and other women over their stance on women's rights. [6]
In 2010 Cameron was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by PPA (Professional Publishers Association) Scotland for his services to magazine publishing and in 2015 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Adventure Awards.
In 2015 Cameron was presented with the Oliver Brown Award by the Scots Independent newspaper for his work in showcasing Scotland. [7]
In 2018 he was the recipient of the annual Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. [8]
He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
A Munro is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 4,411 ft.
Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey and may involve camping outdoors. In North America, tenting is common, where simple shelters and mountain huts, widely found in Europe, are rare. In New Zealand, hiking is called tramping, and tents are used alongside a nationwide network of huts. Hill walking is equivalent in Britain, though backpackers make use of a variety of accommodation, in addition to camping. Backpackers use simple huts in South Africa. Trekking and bushwalking are other words used to describe such multi-day trips.
The Devil's Point is a mountain in the Cairngorms of Scotland, lying to the west of the Lairig Ghru pass. The Gaelic name means "Penis of the Demon". The English name is a result of a visit to the area by Queen Victoria. She asked her local ghillie, John Brown, to translate the name; to avoid embarrassment he gave a euphemistic answer.
Chris Townsend is a passionate hillwalker and author of over 20 books. He is also currently Hillwalking Ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council.
Hamish Brown M.B.E. FRSGS is a professional writer, lecturer and photographer specialising in mountain and outdoor topics. He is best known for his walking exploits in the Scottish Highlands, having completed multiple rounds of the Munros and being the first person to walk all the Munros in a single trip with only ferries and a bicycle as means of transport.
Am Bodach is a Scottish mountain which lies in the Mamores range, four kilometres north of Kinlochleven in the Highland council area.
Beinn Dubhchraig is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands, west of Crianlarich in the northern part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. It is a Munro with a height of 978 metres (3,209 ft). It is overshadowed by its neighbour Ben Lui, although it is well seen from the main A82 road. Its name means "mountain of the black rock", referring to the steep and rocky face on the southwest slopes above Loch Oss, which offer scrambling routes to the summit.
An Caisteal is a mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands, south of the village of Crianlarich. It is a Munro with a height of 995 metres (3,264 ft).
Meall na Teanga is a Scottish mountain located in the Highland council area, 11 km (7 mi) north of Spean Bridge.
Cruach Ardrain is a Munro mountain in the Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands, with a height of 1,046 metres (3,432 feet). It is five kilometres southeast of Crianlarich village and is one of the Crianlarich Hills.
Ben Oss is a mountain in the southern Highlands of Scotland. It is a Munro with a height of 1,029 metres (3,376 ft). Ben Oss is on the border of Argyll and Perthshire, southwest of Tyndrum, within Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. It is part of a mountain chain that includes three other Munros. When viewed from the north or south it is seen as a distinct pointed hill in contrast to its more bulky neighbour Beinn Dubhchraig, with which it is usually climbed. The mountain is quite rocky and craggy being composed of mica schist rock.
Beinn Sgritheall or Beinn an Sgrithill, also anglicized Ben Sgriol, is the highest mountain on the Glenelg peninsula in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It is a Munro with a height of 974 metres (3,196 ft). The main approach is via Arnisdale on the shores of Loch Hourn or via Gleann Beag to the north, with its well-known brochs. The view from the summit was described by Sir Hugh Munro, a founder member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, as "perhaps the most beautiful I have seen in Scotland".
Beinn a' Chaorainn is a Scottish mountain situated on the northern side of Glen Spean in the Lochaber region of the Highland Council area. The mountain which is located 30 km east-northeast of Fort William is one of several of the same name in the Scottish Highlands and should not be confused with another well known Beinn a' Chaorainn in the Cairngorms.
Sgùrr Thuilm is a mountain in the Glenfinnan area of the Highlands of Scotland. It stands at the head of Glen Finnan approximately 7 kilometres (4 mi) north of Loch Shiel.
The Adventure Show is a sport programme produced by Adventure Show Productions for BBC Sport Scotland, formerly broadcast on BBC Two Scotland and since 2019 on BBC Scotland. It is hosted by Dougie Vipond. In the show's original format, Vipond was supported on screen by reporters Duncan McCallum and Deziree Wilson, while Cameron McNeish contributed a regular mountain walking slot. When the series transferred to BBC Scotland in 2019, the show was reformatted as a weekly two-hour programme branded as The Adventure Show Live and concentrating on one specific sport in each edition, in contrast to the previous magazine format. The new presenting team comprised Vipond, Patrick Winterton and Lauren McCallum.
The Great Outdoors is a British monthly consumer magazine focused on hillwalking and backpacking, first published in 1978. It was edited for many years by Cameron McNeish. Chris Townsend and Jim Perrin are among many regular and long-term contributors to the magazine.
The Scottish National Trail is a 864-kilometre (537 mi) long-distance trail between Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders and Cape Wrath in the far north of the Scottish Highlands.
Lurg Mhòr is a remote 986-metre (3,235 ft) mountain, a Munro, in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland at the high point of an east–west range of hills comprising Meall Mor, Lurg Mhòr and Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich.
Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich is a remote mountain in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It is a Munro with a height of 945 metres (3,100 ft) and is at the western end of an east–west ridge comprising a Munro Top Meall Mor, and the Munro Lurg Mhòr.
Kev Reynolds was an English outdoor writer, known for his guidebooks for climbing and walking in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Himalayas and southern England.
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