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This project successfully funded on 10th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Don Whillans & Alex MacIntyre Hut refurbishments
Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
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Aim
Support your huts! The Don Whillans & Alex MacIntyre Memorial Huts need urgent refurbishments to keep them open for future generations
Why support your huts?
The Don Whillans and Alex MacIntyre Memorial Huts are low-cost, volunteer-run, self-catering, bunkhouse-style huts in the heart of the mountainside and exclusively available only to British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and Mountaineering Scotland members, affiliated club members and their guests. Both are currently in urgent need of refurbishments to future-proof them for the next 50 years.
Don Whillans Memorial Hut is run by the BMC and Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut is run by both the BMC and Mountaineering Scotland.
What refurbishments does each hut need?
The iconic Don Whillans Memorial Hut, built out from a cave in the gritstone cliffs of The Roaches in the Peak District, is hugely popular with climbers and walkers alike. This 12-person hut is fully booked every weekend and most weekdays, with over 1,000 bookings every year. However, this hut had to be closed for over a month this autumn due to water damage. Now repairs and a sensitive retrofit are urgently needed to protect this well-loved, highly-popular hut from further closures, and enhance comfort and sustainability for years to come. Plans include improved heating, an upgraded water pumping system, better ventilation to reduce damp, replacement windows, and refreshed décor whilst still maintaining the character of this quirky, unusual building. The BMC leases this hut and is donating £10,000 towards these costs. Total refurbishment costs for the Don Whillans Memorial Hut are estimated in the region of £100,000.
Over the last four decades the Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut has welcomed an estimated 60,000 walkers and climbers to the Western Highlands, with over 1,700 annual bookings for this 16-person hut. Now there are ambitious refurbishment and sustainability plans to future-proof the hut for the next forty years with a new ‘warm roof’, solar PV with a new heating system, replacement double glazing, bunk bed upgrades and refurbishments of the kitchen, common room and bathrooms. The BMC and Mountaineering Scotland look after this hut and have committed to a loan totalling £35,000, the former loaning £25,000 and the latter loaning £10,000. Total refurbishment costs for the Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut are estimated in the region of £300,000.
How we’ll spend the money raised
All monies raised will go towards the vital refurbishments of the Don Whillans and Alex MacIntyre Memorial Huts.
If you are from a corporate enterprise, local business or wish to give a significant individual or club donation to a particular hut please contact us using the 'contact project' button at the top of this Crowdfunder.
WOW! All donations over £500 will have their name added to a new 'Friend of the National Huts' area on the huts webpage.
- £10 could help to buy a roofing slate
- £25 pays for a pot of fresh, new paint
- £50 pays for a new set of cooking pans
- £125 buys a sheet of roofing insulation
- £250 helps upgrade a bunk bed or radiator
- £500 lists you as a ‘Friend of the National Huts’ on the BMC’s website, Bronze category
- £1,000 lists you as the above, in the Silver category
- £2,500 the above in the Gold category
- £5,000 your individual/organisation name on a hut plaque
- £10,000 funds one bedroom refurbishment at the Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut, you choose the room name (within reason - no Maccy MacMacfaces please!), 5 rooms available
- £10,000 funds a new heating or water system at the Don Whillans Memorial Hut, with your name on a plaque or similarly appropriate memorial at the hut
- Leave your legacy to our huts and we will remember your generosity with a lasting memorial at your favourite one
- Please contact us for other options through the 'contact project' button at the top of this Crowdfunder
Thank you so much for your support!
Who are we?
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and Mountaineering Scotland are the national representative body that champions the interests of climbers, mountaineers and hill walkers across Great Britain. We co-own the Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut in the Western Highlands and the BMC leases the Don Whillans Memorial Hut in the Peak District. Both huts are run and maintained entirely by dedicated volunteers and available for BMC and Mountaineering Scotland members, affiliated club members and their guests to stay in at a fraction of the cost of regular accommodation.
Who are Alex and Don?
Both huts have been established in memory of outstanding climbers.
Alex MacIntyre was a hugely talented mountaineer who tragically lost his life to a falling rock while climbing Annapurna’s South Face, aged only 28 years old in 1982. The Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut is a tribute to his adventurous spirit and beloved by many as a springboard for climbing and walking in Glencoe and around Loch Leven, including classic Munros and knife-edge ridges like Bidean nam Bian, Aonach Eagach and Buachaille Etive Mòr.
The Don Whillans Memorial Hut commemorates Don Whillans, one of the titans of early rock climbing in the 1950s and 1960s who set new routes throughout the Peak District and Eryri and made dramatic first ascents in the Alps, Patagonia and Himalayas. A complex individual, renowned for his cutting wit and prone to excess, Don Whillans died of a heart attack in 1985, at the age of 52.
Images above: Chris Bonington archive (left) and Nick Colton (right)
Help support your huts!
There are four easy ways to help us reach our target:
1. Make a donation. Buy a roof tile, pot of paint or even a bunk bed! You could even club together as an organisation or community group and get listed as a 'Friend of the National Huts' or your name on a plaque or bench.
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get. Thank you for sharing this fundraiser with all your friends.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out in return.
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored run or walking/climbing challenge – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Good luck!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made