Episode 4 The Mountain

Summer has come to the mountain.

The midgies are brutal today.

Welcome to Scotland!

THEY LAUGH

Agh! This is beautiful. Agh!

THEY SHRIEK

It's been a long, hard winter.

But the summer season brings thousands of visitors

to Scotland's top outdoor adventure playground.

THEY SCREAM

And for the people of Cairngorm,

that brings new challenges.

We've just discovered a gas leak.

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Stop. Stop, stop, stop.

In this episode, the fitters bring in the heavy lifters...

I'm standing under here.

HE LAUGHS

..Ruari's up the creek on the way to his wedding...

Right, boys, come on.

..and Spud the piper faces the biggest audience of his life.

Welcome to summer on the mountain.

Whoa! Windy up here.

It's midsummer on Cairngorm.

It's terrible weather.

It's just miserable. It's cold as well.

I mean, it's about two degrees. We've had snow this morning.

This is the end of July.

High on the mountain, Jim Cornfoot and his team are building

new snow fences for the winter season.

But they're in need of some help.

It's not looking good.

It was meant to be clear today.

But with this drizzly rain, it's not looking good now.

The team has ordered up a helicopter to lift tonnes of fencing

and heavy machinery up the mountain.

Have to get Col on the radio

and see how it's looking down there, I think.

Jim, call sign Ops 2, calls Colin Matthew, Ops 1, at base station,

to see if it's any better down below.

Opts 2 for Ops 1.

OVER RADIO: 'Go ahead, Jim.'

Col, how's it looking down there?

Is it clearer to the north, or anything?

Or is it worse than it was before?

'I can't see the north, Jim.

'I can't see the south, west or east.

'We'll sit tight for another hour, anyway, Jim.'

Yeah, understood, Colin. Thanks.

This is the third time this week that Ops 1 has tried

to get the helicopter in, but the weather's been against it.

The plan is to have the helicopter in for a couple of weeks now.

There's about ?100,000 worth of materials,

mainly fencing, some new motors,

a couple of gearboxes going in, and cabling,

so, yeah, busy day.

I just hope the weather breaks.

You can see the mist lifting up the hill now,

so I'm pretty confident we'll get it.

You don't want to mobilise the chopper and it pulls out

and you have to do it twice.

That's a lot of money, so...

And there's no point in worrying about it.

You can't control the weather.

Waiting with Jim at the M2 ski run,

mountain ranger Johnny Porteous is optimistic

about the helicopter's arrival.

If it doesn't, we'll just stand and watch Neil all day

putting posts in. It's quite exciting.

In the valley below, the village of Aviemore, population 2,836,

is bracing itself for an invasion.

It's been chosen by Mumford Sons, one of Britain's biggest bands,

as the only UK venue for their Stopover Festival.

We're expecting up to 20,000 festival-goers over the weekend,

about six times Aviemore's normal size,

and it's got some of the locals pretty excited.

I've got my festival socks on.

They're quite different than my normal socks,

but I feel, you know, the need to wear festival socks.

Spud has been asked to pipe in the festival-goers.

I've just got to grab my jacket and then we're nearly ready.

So, you know what they say, don't you?

What? What do they say?

# We've got the best piper in the world... #

Spud's long-suffering wife Karen has heard it all before.

I think, if you asked the Tartan Army, they might say something else.

# One, two, buckle my shoe

# Three, four, out the door. #

As so often, the weather in the valley is in complete contrast

to that on the mountain.

It's currently 15 degrees - tropical.

Tropical.

It's dry.

Did you hear me? It's dry.

For the businesses of Aviemore,

a festival like this is a huge bonus,

particularly after such a wet summer so far.

I think it'll be great.

Great for the area, good for the village, good for the local hotels.

We've had about a month's rain in the space of a week.

Everything is sodden. Everybody is soaked to the skin.

But, mind you, these mad dafties that are, you know, half my age,

they don't care if it's raining or blinking snowing or what.

They just go in their wellies and have fun.

HE WHISTLES

Here's the next generation of puppy dogs.

Vicious brutes(!)

Frank Law is gamekeeper on the Kinveachy Estate.

He's off to check on their grouse stocks

ahead of this year's glorious 12th, the start of the shooting season.

When the red jackets or the red collars come out,

the dogs know exactly that it's work time,

so they don't mind this at all.

Ready to go?

Hup! Hup!

The 30,000-acre Kinveachy Estate strictly controls

the number of grouse to be shot.

But on larger sporting estates,

a shoot of driven grouse can bring in ?30,000 a day.

In a year when there are good grouse numbers,

and everyone round us is shooting grouse,

then the amount of revenue that's brought in to all the villages,

to all the estates, is really important, but when it's a bad year

for grouse, all the hotels suffer, all the petrol stations suffer,

everywhere, so that's the importance of doing these counts.

Frank has records of grouse numbers on the moor going back to 1983,

so he needs to compare those with the number he counts today.

Well, it was supposed to be the middle of summer up here.

I don't know what the temperature is, but it's very, very cold.

It might only be seven or eight degrees up here.

And it's been like this for the whole of the summer up here.

Hey!

It is not just the grouse Frank needs the good weather for.

His son Ruari is about to get married.

Of course, we're hoping for better than this for Ruari's wedding.

We just need 24 hours of sun for a happy old family occasion,

so we've got our fingers crossed.

Until then, we'll try and keep going

with all our duvets and jackets and stuff on.

Here, here, here.

I just grabbed three packets of it cos I didn't know...

It is Ruari and Adele's wedding. Wey-hey!

Wedding of the year! Pretty excited.

So, we're just doing some final decorations.

Ruari, a ski patroller on the mountain,

is marrying Adele McCaughey,

a local schoolteacher.

Where should we put this? It's our last wee bit to hang up.

So far, they've organised most of the wedding themselves,

and they've called on their pals for the last big job -

decorating the wedding hall.

We're getting there, I think. This is all the wee bits.

So it's, yeah, scary.

But it's just all the wee last bits that we need to do.

I need to double-check my list.

So, this is the room where... we're getting married in here.

Which looks nice.

We've still got to do some wee decorations and stuff in here.

Ruari has got his own idea about what makes the perfect wedding decoration.

The main decoration is already in position there,

which I don't think Adele was too happy about,

but I think it's a work of art in itself.

It's my new spear gun...

Which my brother got me.

His friend built it out in Indonesia.

Double bands for extra power, double barb there, for the pollock,

and also, it's a wee warning for people who step out of line.

They're going to get pronged.

HE LAUGHS

Sadly, that's Ruari's idea of romance!

I don't think that should stay up in the ceremony room, though.

It doesn't say romance, does it? Spearing animals!

To do his grouse count, Frank walks a set number of representative plots.

In any one, he would expect to find

between 12 and 20 pairs of adult grouse.

There's something there, isn't there?

The numbers he finds will determine whether there are enough

both to shoot and to preserve stocks for future years.

It's Sophie's job to find them.

When she finds a scent,

she'll indicate and her tail will be wagging,

but when she actually locks onto the animal or bird,

her tail will go rigid.

So, just now, there's a good scent here.

The adult grouse are territorial and nest in pairs,

well camouflaged in the heather.

She's indicating something, whether it's a grouse or a hare,

but the wind is coming perfectly into her nose here,

so there'll be something sitting out here.

Here! Dizzy.

Stay. Stay.

Good dog. Gone away. Gone away.

That was five old birds sitting together,

but no breeding success for those adults.

OK.

That's fine. Try again.

The grouse need a good supply of insects to raise healthy chicks.

If there's no heat in the ground, no insects. No insects, no chicks.

There they go. It's a barren pair.

And there's... Was that a barren pair too?

I just saw two more going over the ridge.

Stay.

Sophie's the latest in a long line of pointers

that Frank has worked with.

You stay where I tell you.

Dizzy's still learning the ropes.

Sit. Sit. Good dog.

Those are another five old birds.

You could see the feathers coming off them when they took off,

and that means they're moulting,

and they usually moult if they don't rear broods.

Here's a hare here, as well.

In a normal year, Frank would expect to find

between four and six chicks with each breeding pair of grouse.

There's young ones, look.

One, two, three...

And two. OK.

So, after searching for about an hour,

we've finally got three young ones.

You could see the size of them and the colour of them taking off there.

One more. The dog's just found another one there. Going away.

So, we've got four young, but it's not brilliant.

Good dog!

It's been a disappointing morning so far.

At the wedding hall, things aren't quite going to plan either.

You're shoogling it! Right...

Time is pressing, and the festive lights won't stay in place.

No, Nick, don't.

As long as he's doing something, I'm not bothered what he's doing.

As long as he's busy.

She's home for now, but there's noises coming out of it.

This is slowly bending.

Can we get a bit of string on Ruari as well, just in case he falls.

Because we can't afford that, the day before the wedding.

I've had this problem with conger eels before.

Just bend the hook, straighten it out and then they're off.

But we just need to overcome this little problem.

As the spear gun suggests, Ruari is an avid diver.

For the 80 wedding guests,

he's provided hand-picked scallops for starters.

Whoa-ho!

And for the table decorations too.

Here are the shells from the scallops that we'll be eating,

which have worked quite well, and there's also going to be

some scallop shells down either side of the aisle for Adele to walk down.

So, that's really nice.

We're all set. Yeah, it's looking good, isn't it? It looks good.

Will we put the deer's head peeping through the lights?

I think you should leave them where they are. There are two.

But we're going to put the spear gun across the antlers.

No, you're not.

Hmm... And is it going to stay up in the ceremony? Tough crowd.

I don't think it should. OK. We'll see. We'll see.

The lights look good. I might just try and see if they work.

Have these been tested?

LOUD GASP

Finally, Frank and Sophie have something to show

for their day on the moors.

(Sophie. Sophie, Sophie, steady.

(Steady, steady.

(OK.)

You can see there's a tiny little grouse chick here.

It should be twice or three times that size,

and there's too much wind today.

It's sitting very tightly because it's so young,

so we're not even going to count this covey.

We're going to take the dog away here because,

if we disturbed that bird, it's vulnerable now.

On a good year,

Frank would expect to find around 60 chicks on a plot like this.

Today, he's found five.

(Good girl, come on. Come on, Sophie. Sophie, come on.)

For the first time in his 40 years on the moors,

he's going to have to call off the Glorious Twelfth.

Probably, we'll cancel absolutely everything this year.

Which is life. That's the way it goes.

If you live out here, you take what it throws at you, you know?

There you go.

Apart from that, nice day on the mountains now.

Digestive, anyone?

The weather has cleared on the mountains,

but there's still no sign of the helicopter.

Jim and Johnny are still waiting for their fence posts.

Ruari would have been leading the fencing detail if it weren't for

the wedding, but he's left a page or two of instructions for his team.

It's a fair essay that has been written here.

I think he actually just gave us his wedding speech

from what I can make out of it!

It starts off... What does it start off with?

On behalf of my wife and I! Wey-hey!

If we'd delayed it till Saturday, we had could have given him a trip

in a helicopter to the church. Could have hooked him up.

Hooked him up by his sporran!

And flown him to the church!

The day is slipping away.

Concerned that they'll run out of daylight flying time,

Colin makes the call.

Well, at long last. It's 1.30 but it's looking pretty clear...

The valley towards Inverness and the top station is clear.

All the drop sites are clear, so we'll give it a go.

There he is. Yes!

I know my lesser-spotted helicopters when I hear them.

The first of the huge motors, weighing in at 800 kilos,

is picked up from base station.

Its destination is the West Wall Poma.

It's dropped with inch-perfect precision.

And that's him. Back to the car park for the next one.

It's cool to think how much effort it would take to do that by hand.

Then it's the turn of the cabling.

Here's your cable. You can land it.

All Johnny can do is stand and watch in admiration.

We should just have a helicopter on site all year,

just for moving stuff round the hill,

like lunchboxes and flasks.

The helicopter can lift up to 950 kilos at a time.

I'm standing under here!

Ops 1 had originally planned that the helicopter would make

25 individual drops, but it's clear they're going to have to do more.

And they're running out of flying time.

It's going to take a bit longer than we thought.

We thought it could lift two bundles of posts, but it can't.

It's too heavy.

So we need a few more or lifts than what we anticipated.

The first load of fencing is on its way,

but yet again, Jim and Johnny are going to have to wait their turn.

OVER RADIO: 'OK, next, we'll start on the fencing.

'The West Wall area.'

What?!

'Yeah, understood.'

The news doesn't go down well.

It's tough.

And there were only six drops here.

Six rails... Six drops of posts and...

Where has Ruari Law's wedding speech gone?!

We're working to midnight here, Johnny. Aye!

Oh, you look stunning, absolutely stunning. Thank you.

It's time for the bride-to-be to head to the church.

I made it. First success of the day, getting down the stairs!

Wait till Ruari sees you, Adele.

I know. He'd better cry.

# Don't rock the boat, dear

# Keep our love afloat, dear... #

The groom has chosen a rather different route.

Whether he gets to the church on time is slightly dependent on the rapids.

We're going backwards down the rapids, and there's not many rapids,

so we've decided to go the back route. But it's all right.

I mean, we've got 20 minutes to dry off if we do go in the water,

so that'll be more than enough.

Perhaps more conventional transport would have been a wiser idea.

I'm excited. Have I said that if I could pick someone to marry you,

it would have been Ruari? It really would have been.

If you would look at each other...

A proud moment for Dad.

Do we look the most handsome couple you've ever seen?

Right, boys, come on.

We're at the most treacherous part of the river,

and I've got confidence in my men.

INDISTINCT

You are joking me.

Ruari's nervousness is fully justified.

The rapids prove a bit more hazardous than anticipated.

Now, straighten up, boys. We're not out of it yet.

Stranded in the middle of the River Spey,

the church is still a long way off,

and Ruari's marriage is on the rocks.

Adele is blissfully unaware...

On the river, calm waters are restored.

Well done, men. We did it. We're all still alive.

Ruari's off the rocks.

The wedding is back on schedule.

Now all that's left is keeping the feet dry as they land.

THEY LAUGH

We're not in till we're all in.

THEY CHEER

Oh, no!

The weather is not being kind to the wedding outfits.

Those wellies may still be needed.

At the Stopover Festival, Spud the piper is getting the VIP treatment.

Crew.

Crew!

Mumford Sons' crew.

18,000 fans are descending on a muddy field in Aviemore.

SHE SHRIEKS

Spud is on hand to lead them in.

Hat, keys, boot...

Ready. Let's do it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

HE PLAYS

SPUD CONTINUES TO PLAY

Not everybody is off to enjoy the festival.

We've been here all day.

We might be here all night.

So I'm creating some shelter.

I'm going to set up a snare, catch some mountain hares.

Oh, for goodness' sake.

BAND PLAYS

Having finished his end of the helicopter drop,

Ops 1 wastes no time in getting into the festival mood.

What a day. It's cold, warm, wet, windy, warm, wet, cold, windy.

People you're speaking to are just getting such a buzz

thinking how beautiful this areas is for a concert, or a festival.

The sun's out. It's great.

Help!

Help me.

# We've got the best piper in the world... #

Spud's still blowing strong.

# ..We've got the best piper in the world

# We've got the best piper in the world

# We've got the best piper in the world

# We've got the best piper in the world! #

CROWDS CHEER SPUD'S PLAYING

That's it.

Cheers, guys. Thanks very much.

CHEERING

CROWD: Spud! Spud! Spud!

Finally, the helicopter flies in to deliver the fence posts

to Jim and Johnny.

In the end, it took 55 drops, not 25,

but in half a day, it did what would have taken weeks of hard labour.

The preparations for the winter season are on target.

In the valley, the rain has stopped.

The wedding is over, and Ruari and Adele head off on honeymoon.

# I wanna be with you all the time

# Because you're gonna be my girl... #

Next time on The Mountain,

Mike's given a run for his money by his son...

At least I'm keeping on him here and maybe make him safe.

..Connor's left in charge of the zip line...

It's braking him...

What happens if you're not here?

He'll hit the tree.

HORN BLOWS

And a strange herd of wild animals descends on Aviemore.