Outside In Podcast

John D. Burns talks to author and adventurer, Matt Heason, about his new book, Wild Rock, which explores some of the great scrambling routes across the British Isles. Scrambling is best described as moving without ropes across rocky terrain. Fundamentally scrambling is easy rock climbing and is an activity that spans the gap between hill walking and climbing. In writing this book Matt travelled the whole of the UK to find the most exciting and interesting scrambles amongst our wild rock.

Covering every corner of the country, from rugged mountain ridges to hidden coastal outcrops, it brings together a hundred routes that balance accessibility with excitement. Each scramble is carefully chosen for its beauty, character, and sense of discovery—perfect for those keen to bridge the gap between hiking and climbing.

Matt Heason

Matt explored the high mountain routes of the Scottish Highlands including the impressive Carn Mor Dearg arete on Ben Nevis. This is a classic route on Britain's highest mountain and gives incredible view of the north face of Ben Nevis which is an unforgettable spectacle, especially in winter. Despite its classic line, the arete is nowhere difficult and only exposed on one side.

Carn Mor Dearg arete

From the highest scrambles the book also explores the lowest with adventure amongst spectacular coastal scenery.

Rhoscolyn

Pen Y Pyrod (Worm’s Head on Gower)

The illustrations include easy to follow guides so that readers can choose routes that match their own abilities and interests.

Britain's hills offer everything from easy walks to challenging climbs. Matt Heason's new book opens up adventures on Wild Rock for everyone.

Dubh Slabs on Skye

Sound editor Derek Williams

One of the things that we often forget when we travel through wilderness areas is the sound of the wild. We often talk about stunning views and the rugged cliffs that we see and perhaps the visual impact of wild places often makes us forget the soundscapes we walk through. In his book, The Edge of Silence, Neil Ansell, explores this world of sound by identifying the iconic sounds of the birds and animals that populate our wild Highlands.

This moving book charts Neil’s mission to hear rare and elusive creatures that he had not previously encountered. This journey takes him from the mountaintops and islands of the Scottish Highlands to the marshes of England and the hills of Wales. Many of these species are in grave danger of extinction, so the future Neil faces, devoid of their distinctive calls, is one we all must fight to prevent.

Neil Ansell

LOCATIONS AND AND ANIMALS:

Great northern diver (Nether Lochaber, Scottish Highlands), Ptarmigan (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Little Grebe (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Bittern (Morecambe Bay, Lancashire), Natterjack toad (The Wirral), Red-throated diver (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Corncrake (Coll), Snipe (Coll), Black grouse (North Wales), Greenshank (Ardgour, Scottish Highlands), Puffin (Canna and Sanday), Storm petrel (Mousa, Shetland), Whimbrel (Shetland), Red kite (Perthshire), Otter (Sunart, Scottish Highlands), Manx shearwater (Rum)

Great Northern Diver

The organisers of Fort William Mountain Festival have announce an exciting line-up for the 2026 programme, taking place in Fort William and across Lochaber, the Outdoor Capital of the UK, from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 February 2026.This year’s festival promises a packed schedule of inspirational speakers, thought-provoking films, creative workshops, outdoor activities, live performance, competitions and awards. Since its launch in 2004, the festival has grown into one of the UK’s leading celebrations of mountain culture, and 2026 will be no exception:

Join us to be inspired and discover your adventure

In this podcast John D. Burns will be talking to Festival Co-Coordinator, Hannah Francis, about the exciting programme she has been helping to put together as Scotland's outdoor community comes together for its annual gathering.

Katie MacKay is a climbing and mountaineering instructor based in Scotland and the Lake District. Alongside her friend, Kirsty Gillan, she undertook a self-powered journey to link 100 climbing routes across the UK, covering 1600 kilometres by bike and 10,000 metres of climbing in 32 days and adventure fuelled by friendship, resilience, and a love for doing hard things just to see if they are possible.

Katie will be speaking at the People Power event at the festival.

Katie MaKay

Programme Highlights

The 2026 programme brings together an exceptional blend of talks, films, performance and workshops that capture the full spirit of mountain culture. Audiences can look forward to insights from leading adventurers and storytellers, including Hamish Frost and Ryan Balharry on mountain photography and the realities of capturing adventure in the Scottish mountains; record-breaking endurance athlete, Holly Wootten, shares the defining moments of her journey to winning the Dragons Back race 2025, one of the world’s toughest multi-day mountain challenges across Wales’ rugged spine; and  Al Todd, Snowsports Director of Mountaineering Scotland, recounts the thrills and challenges of 30 years of ski touring in the Highlands. Themes of risk, resilience and the environment run throughout the programme, from the adrenaline-fuelled ‘Risk Extreme’, a panel discussion exploring the balance between risk and reward through the eyes of those who live for adventure, to ‘Our Seas’, with Ocean advocate Cal Major.

Evenings promise powerful shared experiences with the International Film Night & Awards, a Climbing Night featuring Patagonia athlete Pete Whittaker and the presentation of the Scottish Awards for Excellence in Mountain Culture. Further highlights include snowsports and paddling film sessions, a family adventure film event, and an evocative performance of Iona Lane’s new album Swilkie. The festival’s intimate Bothy Sessions return, while People Power brings together Alex Staniforth, Katie MacKay and Markus Stitz to explore the limits of human powered adventures. Lily Canter,  an ultra-runner, journalist, and co-author of Ultra Women: The Trailblazers Defying Sexism in Sport, will shine a light on female endurance athletes, and Mountain Voices will weave stories and song that celebrate Scotland’s landscapes.

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Dennis Gray is a legend of British mountaineering. Now, aged ninety and with failing health, he talks to John D. Burns about his life in the mountains. Despite his years, his intelligence and his love of climbing and the climbers he has known, shines through this interview.

Dennis Gray.

Photo Ned Kelly

From his early beginnings as a boy of eleven when a chance meeting on a bus led him to his first climb on the Cow and Calf at Ilkley, to his first steps on to the greater ranges of the Himalayas, Dennis gives a fascinating insight into the lives of climbers in the post war years. With little money and the most basic of equipment young people from the industrial cities of northern England set out to explore the high places of Britain and the world beyond proving that their passion for pushing the limits of the possible was unstoppable.

This Bradford Lad followed his dreams across the world and became one of the most highly respected mountaineers of his day. That he was also one of the pioneers of the indoor climbing walls that have become a feature of virtually every city in the UK speaks of his vision for the future.

Dennis Gray began climbing in 1947, aged eleven. By fifteen hehad tested himself on Yorkshire’s gritstone outcrops, Skye, the Lake District, North Wales, Glen Coe and, in winter, Ben Nevis. After school he studied printing and ran a photogravure unit reproducing Old Master prints. During national service in Manchester in 1954 he joined the Rock and Ice Club, climbing with Joe Brown and Don Whillans. He first visited the Alps in 1955, climbing in the Dolomites and Alps with Brown, before making the first ascent of the Manikaran Spires in 1961. Throughout the 1960s he organised expeditions to the then-unclimbed Gauri Sankar(7,134 metres) and, in 1966, to Alpamayo (5,947 metres) in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca; the expedition film of which, The Magnificent Mountain, won best mountain film at Trento.

Manikaran Spires

He went on to study social psychology at Leeds and in 1968 led a successful expedition to Mukar Beh (6,069 metres) in Himachal Pradesh. After a short spell in Kenya he returned to Britain in 1970. Appointed the British Mountaineering Council’s first professional national officer in 1971 and its general secretary in 1974, he served for eighteen years. His first autobiography, Rope Boy, appeared in 1970. With his former wife he launched the Boxing Day Chevin Chase in 1979, a seven-mile race in Otley attracting over 1,500 runners. After leaving the BMC in 1989 he led climbs and treks in the Himalaya and Morocco, then returned to academia in China, lecturing at four universities.

Sound editor. Derek Williams

Transcript

(may contain inaccuracies)

Audio file

Dennis Gray final edit.mp3

Transcript

Speaker 1

Hello and welcome to Outdoors in Scotland. I'm John Burns and this is my podcast for everyone who likes to be outdoors in Scotland or anywhere else for that matter. I'm talking to you today from a very wet, cold and miserable Inverness. We're in the grip of yet another named storm. I don't know where all these named storms come from, but I'm not finding them very good companions at the moment really, but I think we've got to put up with. I'm very honoured to have my guest today. The man I'm going to introduce today was climbing before I was born, and when you consider I'm 70, that's a fair old feat really, and he's still very active in writing today. I'm talking to Dennis Gray. We're going to be talking about his new, amongst other things, his new book, Essays from the Edge, 50 Years of Mountain Writing. Dennis is probably one of the most experienced mountaineers. around pretty well anywhere, I would say, right now. Hello, Dennis, how are you?

Speaker 2

Thanks for contacting me. Very good. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1

Lovely to speak to you. Lovely to speak to you. Some of your writing in the Essays from the Edge,