The Relative Hills Society is a friendly, informal outfit, aimed at helping folk meet their climbing and walking ambitions, and have fun in the hills. We have several hundred members across Scotland, Wales, England and beyond, but keep the spirit of a smaller club since most trips involve a few tens of members.
Our members' join us to...
Read our printed journal Relative Matters
Relative Matters is the Societyās printed Annual Journal. It is published in March/April each year and includes over 100 pages of articles, photos and Baglogs by our members. Baglogs are hill bagging recollections of the past year.
It includes the Halls of Fame listing. Members like to see how many people have added to their tally of different relative hill lists. Some can be fiercely competitive.
It covers mainly British hills but there are usually a significant number of articles on international bagging, from Ireland to Australia.
There is also an online version available in the members-only website area, which has even more pictures and articles which is handy if you don't have the paper copy for previous years.
Attend Events and Trips meetups
RHSoc organises a number of events each year for its members; including AGM and annual dinner, a number of 'Bagger Rambles' get-together events around the year at interesting locations, plus coordinated trips to islands and hard to summit/restricted hills.
Currently planned trips
Read our Relative Mutters E-newsletter
Published several times a year, this keeps our members up-to-date with the trips that are available and shares stories about previous trips.
Tune in to our Relative Chatters webinars
We usually run these in the winter months. They are given by members and invited speakers who have included Seven Summit baggers and well known moutaineers such as Mick Fowler and island baggers such as Lisa Drew!
All members can access past talks in the online Members' area.
Gain Mountaineering Scotland affiliation benefits
The Relative Hills Society (RHSoc) is affiliated to Mountaineering Scotland, the national body for climbing and hill walking clubs in Scotland. This provides the liability cover that protects Members and the Committee from claims of negligence that may be made against the Society (N.B. it is not travel insurance).
If you pay for affiliation, the benefits of membership of Mountaineering Scotland include receiving their Scottish Mountaineer magazine four times per year, getting discounts on your outdoor purchases and winter access to Glen Strathfarrar.Ā However, those who are already members of one of the National Mountaineering Bodies in the UK need not pay the MS fee to RHSoc, but don't receive the magazines.
Details of Mountaineering Scotland limited liability insurance
Combined civil and public liability cover for your mountaineering activities is an automatic benefit of membership for registered members of our Mountaineering Scotland affiliated clubs. This covers a wide range of legal claims that may get made against you for negligence, for instance:
- Damage you cause to people or property while out on the hill or at a climbing wall
- An accident that occurs while you are belaying a partner indoors or outdoors
- You share knowledge with a colleague on the hill and a claim results from advice you have given
You can learn more on the Mountaineering Scotland site here.
Join us today for 2023 using our online payments system.
Become a member of the Relative Hills Society for 2023
YourĀ membership fee depends on whether you are currently a member of any national mountaineering body since the annual fee is made up of two parts:
- The RHSoc fee (Ā£10)
- The Mountaineering Scotland fee (Ā£20)
If you're already a member or a national mountaineering body such as Mountaineering Scotland (MS), Mountaineering Ireland (MI), or the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), either individually or via another Club, then you will not need to pay the Mountaineering Scotland fee since you already have the liability cover required by Mountaineering Scotland.
Join us today using our online payments system or Contact Us if you have any questions about membership.
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Benefits summary
The benefits of RHSoc Membership are:
- You can attend any events or trips organised by the Society. These typically involve Hostel meets throughout the year as well as the Annual Dinner in early Summer, and may include trips to the St Kilda islands and stacks.
- You will receive our full-colour printed annual Journal Relative Matters which includes articles by members and is richly illustrated with hill photos from the UK and overseas.
- You can access a members' area on the website which has more articles, photos and stories about members' activities
- You will receive regular member articles and updates to the Relative Hills via the RelativeĀ Mutters e-newsletter.
- Subscription to Mountaineering Scotland is also included and you will receive their excellent printed magazine four-times a yearunless you join as a Member of another Mountaineering club.
- You will receive a Membership Card which you may use to collect discounts from retailers negotiated by Mountaineering Scotland.
- You can submit contributions to the Editor for consideration for publication in Relative Matters.
- You can attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting which takes place immediately before the Annual Dinner.
Other types of membership
We have two other options for joining us that are occasionally used by folks.
Do Contact Us if you are interested in either of these or have any questions about membership.
Subscriber to Relative Matters
If you don't want to join as a member and receive membership benefits, you can just subscribe to our annual Relative Matters Journal for a fee of Ā£10: Join as a Subscriber to relative Matters
Prospective Members
Anybody who is considering joining the Relative Hills Society may attend up to two trips or events, including social events, before formally becoming a Member. Just contact us to discuss.
N.B. This does not apply to trips to St Kilda which require all those boarding the boats to be Ordinary Members of the Relative Hills Society. You should also note that Ordinary Members take prio