Its not often that the BBC makes a glaring error, particularly with mountaineering and outdoor programmes in general being of a very high standard, however it was incredibly irresponsible to air Ben Fogle, a well respected presenter and outdoorsman, climbing (or walking depending on your point of view) to the summit of Cairngorm wearing Jeans. This is seriously dangerous stuff, why ?... read on ....

True, you may say that it was filmed in summer, but as Ray Mears pointed out about 5 seconds into the very next article, it was snowing in July ! As if to rub further salt into the wound, Ben Fogle even points out that weather can change rapidly and to have the right equipment is essential. ( watch the programme at your peril : http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pjjm4/Country_Tracks_Cairngorm/ )

The big problem with jeans is that once wet they stay wet and get very cold sapping energy and commitment even from the most ardent outdoors enthusiast. Even in good conditions, the chill imparted by wet cotton clothing in a hostile environment such as the Cairngorms or indeed any other mountain is considerable; debilitating and can even lead to hypothermia or even death. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU TAKE TO THE HILLS WEARING JEANS AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR.

Proper walking trousers are designed to keep the wind off, dry quickly and be lightweight and wick away sweat and moisture that could cause chafing on an extended walk. Use anything less and you are literally asking for trouble and with even a minor change of weather will be sure to get it.

The two young guides that showed Ben up the 10 feet wide man-made path to the summit of Cairngorm from the incredibly ugly Ptarmigan restaurant were at least wearing proper walking shorts that would be vastly superior to jeans in poor weather though not really adequate for the task unless they had some over trousers with them.

Normally I would have laughed at the rediculousness of  the article on a mountain like Cairngorm which is exceptionally well equipped to deal with less experienced mountaineers except for the fact that programmes like this are designed specifically to appeal to the less experienced and immediately put them in danger by using celebrities that are inadequately briefed to make the presentation safely.

Our hard-working mountain rescue teams have enough to do without the BBC promoting such appaling dress sense.

PS. Ray Mears is usually excellent too, but from a freezing summer Cairngorm illustrating the problems caused by a failed rucksack, he shows how to survive the ordeal by whipping up a new back pack from twigs and nettles but in the process was magically transported to a sunny warm forest in order to do the demonstration. All well and good but on Cairngorm in a snow storm it would have been an impossible solution - why show such rediculous scenarios ?... My feeling is that Country Tracks is a sham of an outdoor program that the BBC should be ashamed of.