Glasgow HF Outdoor Club

Glasgow HF Outdoor Club (established in 1917) offers a programme of walks throughout the year. Members enjoy the countryside and visit new places in friendly company with an experienced organiser. For information about the history and heritage of the club see: https://glasgowhfoutdoorclub.co.uk/sharing-heritage/

Membership
The club welcomes anyone aged 18 and over – whether new to walking or with substantial experience. We also offer a joint membership where a young person aged 12 or more can come out on suitable walks with a responsible adult member of the club.

Membership fees
Includes membership of Mountaineering Scotland.
• Full membership is £30 per year. 
• Concession membership is £25 per year (unwaged/student/60+).
• Youth membership is available - Regular Adult plus Youth £43.00 with additional Youths at £16.00
If you join between the 1st of April and the 30th September in any club year 100% of the membership fee is due, if you join between 1st October and 31st March 50% of the membership is due.
Payment direct into the club bank account: TSB, Sort Code: 87-37-55, Account Name: Glasgow HF Outdoor Club, Account no:78845860, providing your name in the reference box

Joining the club
To walk with the club please firstly register with Meetup, find the “Glasgow HF Outdoor Club” meetup group and join by hitting the button "Request to Join" on the HF Meetup page. You will be taken to a few questions, please read / confirm. Thereafter, complete the electronic membership form (Jotform), you will see the link when you join HF and there will be instructions on how to pay. If you have problems with completing or sending the Jotform, please contact our membership secretary, Neil McCluskey ([email protected])
Once payment has been received you will be on our webpage and can RSVP to walks.
Note: The information you provide on HF's membership form is not available on the website and is only shared with Mountaineering Scotland for the purposes of affiliation or with others on a need-to-know basis (e.g. in the event of an accident, with the Mountain Rescue/police).

Trying us out

If you would like to come on one of our B or C walks on an informal basis, prior to joining, please contact the walk leader direct or Paul Harrison ([email protected]) or Neil McCluskey ([email protected]). Only paid-up club members can directly RSVP for walks themselves.

Glasgow HF Outdoor Club code of conduct - Respecting each other

Our club welcomes diversity and will not tolerate discrimination on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex; sexual orientation, political or other opinion in accordance with Equalities legislation.

All members and guests are required to abide by our code of conduct given below.

This document outlines the appropriate behaviours expected of all members, guests and anyone working on the club’s behalf.

To:

• Uphold the values, rules, code of conduct and other policies of the club and Mountaineering Scotland to which the club is affiliated

• Promote and preserve the good reputation of the club and Mountaineering Scotland

• Treat others fairly and with dignity, courtesy and respect at all times. The club supports diversity in all forms.

• Raise any concern regarding the behaviour of a club member, guest or anyone working on the club’s behalf with the club committee secretary or another committee member, in accordance with the club’s complaints procedure.

• Ensure that any concern regarding the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults associated with the club or its activities is reported to the committee.

• Follow health and safety protocols and avoid any unnecessary risks or behaviour that may affect the health, safety of welfare of others or themselves.

• Follow the principles of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code including respecting property and privacy of local residents and property and livelihood of landowners.

Members, volunteers and helpers must not behave or condone others:

·      behaving in a manner liable to bring the activity of low and high level walking, the club or Mountaineering Scotland into disrepute.

·      engaging in unacceptable behaviours including using inappropriate language, bullying, harassment, discrimination, physical or verbal violence, drunkenness or use of illegal drugs.

Members, volunteers and helpers engaging in such behaviours may be suspended from the club whilst such allegations are properly investigated.
HF subscribes to Mountaineering Scotland’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy: https://www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/business-matters/equality-policy

Club policy documents

The club has a privacy policy which new members are made aware of when they join.

Our club has a formal complaints procedure for dealing with any complaints by members or guests against other members or guests or about the management of the club by the club committee or club officials.

Our club operates according to its constitution, which includes its code of conduct and complaints procedure.

The club has a standard walk safety policy and arrangements for weekends away (described elsewhere in “About Us”.

Note: As of July 2024 the Meetup website no longer offers the facility to store all these club policy documents in full so they were circulated to all current members in September 2024. We are currently developing a new club website which will offer among other things a new convenient place where the documents can be accessed by members. But meantime they can be may be obtained if needed from Paul Harrison (President) or Laura Nav (Vice President) at any time.

Mountaineering Scotland Membership

Our club and all our members are affiliated to Mountaineering Scotland, the cost of which is included in our membership fee: this offers many benefits, including liability insurance (note this is not personal accident insurance - members must arrange this themselves if they want it) .

Mountaineering Scotland is Scotland’s national representative body for hill walkers, climbers and ski-mountaineers which works hard to look after their interests. Our club members have access to all the benefits of MS membership: https://www.mountaineering.scot/members/members-benefits

There is a wealth of information on all aspects of hill walking and mountaineering to be found on their website www.mcofs.org.uk and all novice walkers should take advantage of this as part of their preparation for attending walks.

Contacting club officers

Once you have registered with the club, if you have a question for one of the committee members, you can make contact directly through the HF home page on the Meetup App by clicking on the membership list at the top of the page and then select the person from the drop-down menu.

COMING OUT ON OUR WALKS

New members

If you are a beginner we ask that you consider whether your level of fitness is appropriate for the type of walk that you want to do. We don’t want you to feel under pressure on your first walk, so think about the grade of walk that you believe you can comfortably manage.

If you need a lift to the start of a walk, check in the comments section on the webpage for the event to see if anyone has already offered to give a lift - or post a note requesting one. Please also see the section 'Using members' cars' below.

Types of walks

We have three broad grades of walk: A (hard) B (moderate) and C (easy). These walk descriptions are explained more fully below.

The published programme shows the distance, amount of climbing and estimated duration for each walk, so members can confidently choose one that suits their level of fitness.

The club organises walks every weekend as well as several weekends away on public holidays and at other times.

This website shows our programme, where to meet and what to bring. If you have any questions, please email a member of the club committee.

Grade A+
Very strenuous: arduous traverses involving steep ascents/descents over rugged terrain – for experienced, energetic hillwalkers who enjoy a long day out of 8+ hours. Typically >1200 metres ascent + 20km.

Grade A
Strenuous: fitness, stamina & experience required for ascents of 900-1200m + 10-20 km walking at a brisk pace for 6/7 hours. Steep ascents/descents over rough ground.

Grade B+
Moderate to strenuous: for regular walkers or newcomers who are used to sustained aerobic exercise. A steady pace will be required for ascents between 600-900m (expect some steep gradients) + 10-15km usually covered over 6 hours.

Grade B
Moderate: usually on paths/tracks, 300-600m ascent (with possibly some steep sections) + 10-15km or up to 20km on flatter walks. Expect to be walking for 5/6 hours.

Grade C+
Easy to moderate: typically up to 300m ascent (gentle gradients) + 9-12km or up to 15km on flatter walks which should take 4/5 hours. Suitable for anyone with average fitness/limited walking experience.

Grade C 
Easy: a maximum of 4 hours to cover 12km with minimal ascent on paths/tracks/roads always at a comfortable pace.

New members who want to go on a more strenuous walk (grades B+, A or A+) should contact Richard Botting (07884 198997) or Paul Harrison (07920 510734) prior to their first walk - this is especially important in winter.

The website www.walkhighlands.co.uk contains detailed descriptions of many of the hill walks (and lower level walks) that appear in our programme – consulting that may provide you with more information on what a particular walk entails.

Booking on day walks

Our arrangements for booking on walks are designed to try to be as equitable and reliable as possible for participants, and to discourage last minute changes in those who are going, so that those on the waiting list have maximum notice of vacancies that arise.

- For safety reasons in the event of an accident or a participant becoming unwell on a walk, there must be a minimum of 3 in the group for a walk to proceed.

- RSVPs open 7 days before the walk: hopefully, by this time members should be pretty certain of their plans for the following week and not engage in pre-emptive booking.

- RSVPs will usually close 24 hours before the walk meetup time.

Our standard safety policy

A central tenet of our walk safety policy is that it is the combined responsibility of everyone, not just the walk organiser. Experienced walkers on the walk should practically support the walk organiser, especially if conditions become difficult.

We expect members never to act in such a way as to compromise the safety of others: this includes not only the physical safety of others but also their  emotional, personal and sexual safety, as stated in our code of conduct.

Walkers should respect the walk organiser’s advice but ultimately they are responsible for their own safety.

All our club walks are organised by one of our leadership team of experienced walkers.  As part of our effort to enhance the skills of our walk organisers, we use funds from our membership fee to subsidise training courses on navigation skills, leadership skills, the silver NNAS award; winter skills; and mountain first aid.

A new aspect of our safety policy to be introduced at the beginning of 2025 is each walk will have a ‘Late back’ Monitor, someone not attending the walk who can be contacted to confirm that everyone in the party is safely returned, or if there likely to be a late return, been any accident or illness on the hill requiring assistance. The monitor has the discretion to decide whether or when to call the emergency services if a safe return is not confirmed.

There must be a minimum of three members on any club walk: if this criterion is not met a club walk must be cancelled. This is so that in the event of an accident or injury, someone can stay with the injured party whilst the other seeks help if it cannot be summoned by telephone; or so that they can accompany someone who has become unwell or unfit during a walk back to safety.

Walk organisers have the right to exclude anyone who they objectively do not consider fit or experienced enough for the walk or who do not have the essential kit or equipment.

In general we discourage splitting of the group except on safety grounds or in the event of an emergency.

No one who is is unable to keep pace with the group, becomes unfit, injured or unwell on a walk should be left to find their own way back to the walk start point.

What Equipment Do I Need?

For your own safety and enjoyment, when coming on one of our walks you should be properly equipped for the conditions. The walk organiser may exclude anyone they believe to be not properly equipped, or who they think may not be able to complete the walk in the required time.

Basic kit list:-
Rucksack, about 35 litres capacity; Walking boots with a treaded sole; Comfortable outdoor clothing (avoid cotton under layers & denim trousers); Waterproof jacket and overtrousers; Spare fleece or jumper, hat & gloves; Small First Aid kit (plasters, blister kit, bandage, disinfectant wipes); Survival bag, whistle; Liquid (at least 1 litre, more in the summer if it’s hot) and/or flask if hot drink required, especially in winter; Enough food for a full day's walking + something extra, just in case; Map & compass; Mobile phone and power bank backup.

Summer extras:- Sun hat, sunscreen, midge repellent

Winter extras: Ice axe, crampons, head torch (300-700 lumens power advised for hill walking). Also advised are: personal 1-2 person bothy shelter, gaiters, walking poles,

You should also have in your rucksack emergency contact information: your name, address, telephone number and any relevant medical information, plus name and phone number of someone to be contacted in an emergency. If you carry an android mobile phone an emergency contact phone number can be inserted onto the lock screen. For iphones a free app to hold all the above emergency info can be downloaded.

Weekends away

The club organises walking weekends away where members can walk and socialise together, wherever feasible providing both low and high level walks. These are usually arranged for the major public holiday weekends, but sometimes at other times as well.

Since these are designed to be 'club' weekends, attendance is restricted to paid-up members. Guests of members may be allowed on certain, mainly social, weekends.

Members are able to sign up for weekends well in advance in order to be able to book their accommodation. If a weekend is fully booked up, members who are seriously interested in attending are encouraged to sign up on the waiting list since invariably places (and often also accommodation) become free later for various reasons.

The club arranges organisers in advance for some walks at each weekend away but these may change during the weekend due to the weather or other factors such as tiredness after a first hard day. But attendees may decide and organise amongst themselves other walks during the weekend, provided those walks abide by our standard safety policy.

They are deemed to be club walks if:  the walk organiser is one of our leadership team; there is a minimum of three on the walk; a late back monitor has been arranged and given in advance a physical or digital route card; and the walks are open to all attendees who are interested (subject to safe maximum numbers, sufficient experience and fitness considerations).

Any walks undertaken by members on a weekend away not complying with these criteria are not considered club walks and the club accepts no responsibility for them.

We especially strongly discourage walking alone at a club weekend since then there is no help immediately at hand in the event of an injury, serious accident or medical emergency. We recommend anyone who does nevertheless choose to walk alone against our advice to carry some form of satellite locator beacon or tracking device - see https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/essential-skills/mountain-rescue/calling-for-help

Any member attending a weekend away and not joining a club walk should let the organiser of the weekend know if their plans in advance if they are considering any A or B walks.

Members should note that they would be very unlikely to be able to make a successful liability claim against the club in the event of an accident in circumstances where our safety policy had wilfully not been adhered to.

Together with individual walk organisers, the overall organiser of the club weekend will arrange a meeting of all attendees on the evening of the day of arrival (and subsequent evenings if necessary) to discuss and plan all proposed walks for the weekend (including what each walk involves and the weather prospects) and to decide who is doing which walk taking into account the weather forecast, safe numbers for each walk and the experience of participants.

Cancellation policy - block booking of accommodation for weekends away by the club

Unless the accommodation venue or HF cancel the weekend for any reason, the club will only issue refunds for accommodation paid for if there are no beds still available and someone on the waitlist wishes to take the unwanted bed. This because the club has to pay the whole cost of block booking the hostel well in advance and therefore needs to break even.

Weather Forecasts

Checking the weather forecast 1 - 2 days in advance of a walk is a good habit, particularly in winter when the weather may make a walk much more demanding. The recommended website for mountain conditions is www.mwis.org.uk which provides detailed forecasts for areas in Scotland (plus Lake District, Snowdonia). The MetWeather website allows you to check the weather at the top of most munros and some other hills, if you type the name of the hill in the search field. For lower level walks the local Metweather forecasts are valuable.

In the event of an extremely poor forecast the walk organiser may decide to walk in another area or cancel the planned walk – this will be notified in advance via the club website but please note this could be as late as the evening before a walk.

Using Members Cars

Club members’ cars are the main means of transport to the hill walks in our programme. We encourage car sharing as far as possible. We expect car drivers who offer lifts to be appropriately insured, drive safely, responsibly and legally, and in a manner which their passengers feel comfortable with.

To compensate drivers for the costs involved a mileage charge of (currently) 34p per car, with the total cost of a journey being divided equally between car drivers and passengers.

Please respect the car you are journeying in – don’t wear walking boots in the car, bring a change of footwear and a bag for your boots.

Dogs on walks

Walk organisers may opt to allow up to 2 dogs on their walks at their discretion. Such walks will be clearly designated as 'Dog Friendly' in the walk details.

Attendees wishing to bring a dog should inform the walk organiser in advance.

Dogs must be kept under control at all times. Dog owners must provide their own transport and make it clear when offering lifts that there is a dog on board. Members are not obliged to accept a lift in a car with a dog. Dog owners must adhere to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code: https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/practical-guide-all/dog-walking

The Meetup website – Security & Intellectual Property (IP) matters

As a condition of using the Meetup website you are obliged to always be careful about: being respectful, about sexual content, about asking permission, about respecting privacy, about acting with integrity (not being manipulative or exploitative), and about not being threatening or violent.

These terms cover uploading and using information on their (public) website. This means your (Meetup) name, home town, optional biography and interests (if you provided one) and any information you post, including any photos taken on walks or social events that you post, which is naturally a very popular feature of the website.

Note your email address is not public information (and Meetup does NOT ask you to provide your address or telephone numbers).

One of the Meetup terms you signed states that you respect the IP rights of others so posting content that violates another's IP rights is prohibited. So only post your own photos (or other information), over which you own the IP rights.

If you wish to use any photo or other information posted by another member, even for a club publication, you MUST obtain permission from the person who posted it and holds the copyright.

The Meetup website reminds you that you are solely responsible for any information you supply or post on the website and that you should understand that your public Information may be accessible by and made public through by search engines and other similar programs.