WATCH: Figurehead environmental campaigner Dave Morris wins top mountain award

Organisers of The Fort William Mountain Festival have announce that Scottish environmental campaigner Dave Morris is the 13th recipient of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.

Nominated by the public and his peers as a mountain hero who celebrates achievement, accomplishment and the spirit of adventure, Mr Morris joins previous esteemed winners including Colin Prior, Andy Nisbet, Dr Adam Watson, Jimmy Marshall, Myrtle Simpson, Ian Sykes, and Dr Hamish MacInnes in the hall of fame.

The Newtonmore man has devoted most of his life to protecting and promoting access to the wild landscapes of Scotland.

His career highlights include battling the Lurcher's Gully extension of the Cairngorms ski area in the 1980s to masterminding the campaign for access in Scotland prior to the publication of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

Festival organisers described Mr Morris as a stalwart figurehead environmental campaigner.

A spokesperson said: "Without his painstaking work over many years, the country would not enjoy the world leading access legislation that so many take benefit from today.

"As a director of Ramblers Scotland for many years, Mr Morris made great use of the media to persuade politicians, landowners and the general public to see the enormous benefit our wild landscapes give us.

"On his retirement from this post in 2014, well-known outdoor writer Cameron McNeish described Dave Morris as the ‘closest thing we have to a John Muir figure …, a wild-country champion who could lift up the eyes of an uncaring public and show them that in wildness lies the hope of the world'."

Julia Stoddart, chief operating officer of sponsors JAHAMA Highland Estates, said: “We are delighted once again to show our support for the festival by sponsoring the Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture and congratulate this year’s winner Dave Morris, an outstanding recipient.

“A tireless campaigner for public access rights and for the environment, Dave is a seminal figure in the Scottish outdoor access world and it is right that his dedication and commitment are recognised through the award...

“The benefits of SOAC to the public have never been clearer than during the pandemic. Outdoor exercise has taken a central role in many people’s wellbeing during the past year, and JAHAMA continues to work with local stakeholders to ensure that recreation forms a key part of ‘building back better’ from Covid-19.”

Mr Morris also represented the interests of Scotland on a world stage as the President of the Mountain Protection Commission of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) for eight years.

He is a lifelong climber, skier and hillwalker.

Mr Morris has been an incredible source of inspiration in the last few years having battled with a Laryngectomy operation, due to throat cancer.

Now breathing through a small hole in his throat, he has defiantly managed to climb to 20,000ft in the Himalayas, ski mountaineer in Alaska and climb alpine rock routes in Norway.

Dave Morris recently became just one of two recipients for 2020 of an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society – the other went to the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen.

Dave Morris joins illustrious ranks

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.