New Plastic BMC Map Wins Award

Yay for the British Mountaineering Council which has won an outdoor writers award for its new plastic map, developed in partnership with Harvey Maps, which is due to be launched at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival this weekend.

The award for innovation, made by the Outdoor Writers Guild, recognises the ground-breaking nature of the BMC's new Lake District map. It's printed on a very thin and light waterproof plasic paper that's far more compact than laminated map sheets,- think less than half the weight - yet seems to be incredibly tough, being waterproof, highly tear resistant and easy to fold. Nearly indestructible if the paper sample we have is anything to go by.

It's not just the paper that marks it out. The 1:40,000 scale map covers most of the major Lakeland peaks on one sheet and, on the reverse side, includes detailed 1:20,000 scale enlargements of Scafell, Gable, Bowfell, the Langdale Pike and Pillar plus detailed crag information for climbers, a geological map of the Lake District and much more besides.

Harvey has used the 1:40,000 scale for years and in our experience, it's a good compromise between the two commonly used OS scales of 1:50,000 and 1:25,000.

The map's priced at £12.95 and you'll be able to purchase it direct from the BMC - www-thebmc.co.uk - or from outdoor retailers everywhere. Any surplus made by the BMC from the sale of the map will be used to fund work programmes including access, conservation, safety and good practice, it says here.

You can also buy the map on line from Harvey Maps at www.harveymaps.co.uk