Adventure calls

The Des Rubens and Bill Wallace Grant gave six more people the opportunity to seek out life-changing experiences in wild places around the world in 2024.

The grant commemorates two former presidents of the Scottish Mountaineering Club who each led inspiring and adventurous lives.

This year the grant funded six dedicated conservationists to undertake adventures with a scientific or education focus. The recipients of the 2024 grant were as follows: 

• Caroline Pakenaite’s (pictured above) grant funded a winter skills course to support her goal to be the first deafblind person to summit Everest (see her film) and read Caroline's inspiring and ambitious trip report.

• Phoebe Sleath's (pictured above) planned sketching tour of the Alps was scaled down to a one-week artist's residency/sailing expedition to the Small Isles. Read Phoebe's beautifully illustrated trip report.

• Scott Pallett (pictured above) joined a human-powered ski expedition to northeast Greenland to test diagnostic disease kits in polar regions. Read Scott's informative and cool trip report.

• Paul Bartlett's (pictured above, third left) expedition to northern Mongolia to study native flora, habitat and companion species yielded some interesting results. Read Paul's amazing trip report.
• Lizzie MacKenzie is still to produce a film which studies the ecology of Eriskay ponies, which are endemic to the Western Isles.
• Sadly, Richard Adams has had to postpone his scholarly and artistic exploration of food sustainability on the Western Isles.