Experience the adventure of the great outdoors, extreme expeditions, remote cultures, and the world’s last great wild places; all brought to life in the Outdoor Capital of the UK.
Whatever your adventure, you can celebrate everything that the great outdoors has to offer at The Fort William Mountain Festival 2016, presented by Jöttnar, being staged in and around the bustling Highland town of Fort William, at the heart of The Outdoor Capital of the UK, from Wednesday 17 to Sunday 21 February 2016.
February is the perfect time of year to experience the stunning landscape of Fort William and Lochaber first hand, with the best winter walking, climbing and snowsport conditions of the year. The Fort William Mountain Festival offers the added bonus of a superb line-up of uplifting talks from top climbers and mountaineers, mountain bikers, back country skiers and mountain filmmakers, together with exhilarating film screenings from cutting edge outdoor athletes and adventurers; mountain skills workshops and exhibitions. The Scottish Awards for Excellence in Mountain Culture for 2016, as voted for by the public, will also be awarded.
From armchair adventurers and weekend warriors to the UK’s mountain communities The Fort William Mountain Festival is an energising experience for everyone. The five-day programme, packed full of inspiration, education and entertainment, action and adventure, includes:
Festival Launch Night – Wednesday 17/02/16. To kick it all off a torchlit descent of Aonach Mor on ski, board and mountain bike. Then settle in at The Pinemarten Café at the Nevis Range, with tasty food and local beer, for a cosy night of mountain tales, sneak peeks at the festival films and maybe a tune or two on the banjo.
The European Outdoor Film Tour – Thursday 18/02/16. Europe’s biggest tour of the best of the year’s adventure films, in one action packed night, comes to Fort William.
Scottish Winter Mountaineering presented by Greg Boswell – Friday 19/02/16. Greg Boswell is the future of Scottish winter climbing. Greg has mastered the skills in this most traditional of activities, repeating the hardest climbs of his peers and adding his own big lines. He’s at the cutting edge having just put up Scotland’s second grade 12 route. Join Greg for a presentation of his recent adventures. Steep walls have replaced slabs; overhangs replace ledges. Success is no longer measured in half-day battles with the cold, but in ten-minute sprints where only incredible power will see you through.
The FWMF Studio Sessions – Scottish Backcountry – Friday 19/02/16. An all-star line up of Scottish backcountry skiing specialists, from the steep and the deep, to the outright wild, this will be an amazing evening. They will reflect on the growth of the ski-mountaineering racing scene, give talks on pushing the limits of Highland free-riding, review the dangers of our untamed maritime snow-pack and première cinematic footage of what can be achieved on skis and boards in Scotland’s Backcountry. These standard-setters include Freedom Series winner Robert Kingsland, infamous ski-adventurer Blair Aitken, SkiMo’s Di Gilbert, Highland freeskier Peter MacKenzie, Mountain Rescue’s legendary Davy Gunn and Snowsports Scotland’s Iain Ramsay-Clapham.
The Wild Bunch and Bob Shepton – Saturday 20/02/16. Captain Reverend Bob Shepton returns to the Highlands with Olivier Favresse and Nico Favresse, two members of the renowned Wild Bunch expedition team. They will recount incredible tales of their latest adventures in search of the holy grail – unclimbed big walls and musical enlightenment. On board the Dodo’s Delight (a 10m sailboat) the team measures up with arctic ice, polar bears and ferocious storms; and after some mouth-watering walls in Greenland, it’s in Baffin Island where they find big virgin walls to propel the group to all-new heights.
The FWMF Studio Sessions – Bikes. Dirt. Downhill – Saturday 20/02/16. Three legends of the downhill and enduro mountain bike scene in Scotland share their passion, knowledge and experiences. Lesley Beck, organiser of the legendary Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup and former Olympic skier; Chris Ball, former downhill racer, founder of mountain bike coaching business, Dirt School, and Managing Director of the Enduro World Series and the Enduro MTB Association; and Scotland’s very own Crawford Carrick-Anderson, legend of skiing, motorbike trials and mtb downhill and Enduro racing.
The Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour – Sunday 21/02/16. A showcase of the best in award winning mountain films from around the world – extreme expeditions and challenges, remote cultures and the world’s last great wild places. One of the audience highlights of the festival and a guaranteed sell out every year.
The Fort William Mountain Book Festival returns for a second year. Legends of mountaineering and climbing along with local and visiting adventurers entertain with extracts from their latest page turners. Full programme to be announced shortly.
Mountain skills workshops, exhibitions and competitions – There will be plenty of opportunity for both novices and experts to hone their mountain skills. Organisers have put together a range of workshops from How to organise an expedition and Gaelic hill names (understanding our mountains through the Gaelic language) to Avalanche awareness and Performance Scottish winter climbing. There will also be art and photography competition exhibitions, a film competition and live music.
Mike Pescod, Chairman of the Highland Mountain Culture Association, organisers of the Festival, said:
“The Fort William Mountain Festival celebrates our wild landscape and the opportunities it presents. The mountains and glens that surround us influence our culture in many ways. We want to promote the value of the landscape of Lochaber as the best destination in the UK to live, work and play. The Mountain Festival includes a superb line up of top climbers and explorers, mountain films, inspirational speakers and skills workshops. It’s not just for adventure addicts though, anyone who appreciates the landscape of the Outdoor Capital of the UK will find something for them in the Mountain Festival.
“Celebrating the landscape that surrounds us in Fort William is the inspiration behind the Mountain Festival. Whether it is the beauty of the landscape, our engagement with it or the opportunities we find in it, celebrating our natural capital is the vision of The Outdoor Capital of the UK.”
To find out more about the Fort William Mountain Festival 2016 go to:
Festival Website – http://www.mountainfestival.co.uk/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/fort.william.mountain.festival
Twitter – https://twitter.com/FWMF2016 / #FWMF2016
The European Outdoor Film Tour – https://www.eoft.eu/
Greg Boswell – http://gregboswell.co.uk/
The Wild Bunch and Bob Shepton – https://vimeo.com/125476007
The Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour – https://www.banffcentre.ca/banff-mountain-film-festival-world-tour
The Fort William Mountain Festival is presented by Jöttnar, technical clothing for mountaineering, winter climbing and all-mountain skiing – http://www.jottnar.com/.
The Nevis Landscape Partnership. Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis represent one of Scotland’s most treasured landscapes, yet one which is seriously under-resourced. The Nevis Landscape Partnership, constituting a wide range of stakeholders and communities, is cohered around a shared vision: to protect this unique place for the future; to manage it collectively; to view it holistically; and to give voice to its diversity and many communities – http://www.nevispartnership.co.uk/.
The Fort William Mountain Festival wish to thank the following sponsors and supporters – The Outdoor Capital of the UK, Three Wise Monkeys, Ellis Brigham, Marine Harvest, Rare Breed Productions, Rio Tinto Alcan, Corpach Boat Builders, The Nevis Landscape Partnership, Lamont Design, Hotscot, Cotswold Outdoor, Nevis Range, John Muir Trust, Allround Signs, Abacus Mountain Guides, The Granite House, No Fuss Events, Bill Scott Architects, Strathmore Hotels.
Ends
Useful Websites:
Lochaber Chamber of Commerce – http://www.lochaberchamber.co.uk/
Outdoor Capital of the UK– http://www.outdoorcapital.co.uk/. The Outdoor Capital of the UK – http://www.outdoorcapital.co.uk/. Formed in 2003, The Outdoor Capital of the UK is a community-focused not for profit membership company with a volunteer board of directors and a salaried staff of three. Through a range of collaborative marketing intiatives and activities the organisation promotes Fort William and Lochaber as the best place in the UK for everyone to experience the outdoors; with a view to developing local jobs and wealth and encouraging sustainable economic growth.
The organisation currently has over 110 member businesses which range from accommodation, food and drink and activity providers to non-tourism focused businesses which support the aims of the Outdoor Capital and acknowledge that tourism is crucial to the local economy. Many of these businesses are SMEs and by pulling resources and working as a team the Outdoor Capital achieves the positive results that individually the members couldn’t otherwise reach.
Visitors interested in the outdoors are increasingly important to economy and community of Lochaber. There are over 65 different activities to choose from in an amazing landscape that encompasses the small isles to Ben Nevis with white water rivers, sea, lochs, beaches, forest, glens, cliffs and mountains in between.
Festival Organisers – The Highland Mountain Culture Association Limited, is a not for profit organisation, whose aim is to promote the understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places and people, by creating opportunities for people of all ages to share their mountain experiences, ideas and visions. To showcase these ideals, it stages annually a programme of events within the Lochaber area, called The Fort William Mountain Festival.
