Magic Mountain
A weekend of cosmic grooves, tall tales, and mountain energy. Celebrate the coming of the light - rise up and get down.

Hannah Bailey
Film maker and Photographer Hannah has made a career out shooting “the lesser told stories in action sports and the outdoors” her 2022 film A Land Unknown re-contextualised skateboarding in a rural vernacular and enjoyed critical acclaim.

Philippa Batye
Philippa is a force - bicycle rider and architect. She co-devised one of the most famous and gruelling bike races in the UK, the GBDuro. Phil lives aff grid in a cabin she designed and built, and divides time between design practice and long two-wheeled trips and races. Sometimes, she rides with her crew - The Adventure Syndicate, who enjoy “taking unsuitable bicycles into unlikely places”.

Fergus Clark
Fergus is a quarter of 12th Isle - a cosmic cupboard of a label, full of trippy warped electronic gems. When he’s not doing that, he slings discs and wears out USB’s for NTS radio and tours prolifically as a Dee JAY. He has eclectic taste in wild rare shamanic tunes, weaving narrative stories into sets. He also knows how tae fill a dance floor and keep the people ‘pon it, with 4th dimension party joints.

Cloth
Signed to Mogwai’s imprint Rock Action, Glasgow’s Cloth make raw tunes that manage to convey a sense of emptiness while feeling sonically full. Their melodies seem familiar, yet their style is unusual - being both paradoxically light and dark. Post-rock origins are evident, but a driving pulse and pop sensibility means your gutties will be gliding while you stare at em.

Finlay Wild
Cuillin Ridge record holder - need we say more. Finlay’s love and encyclopaedic knowledge of hill running, culture, and heritage is evident in his podcast - Go Mountain Goats. His ability to move fast, whether on techy mountain stuff or epic rounds, coupled with a cast-iron nerve and aptitude for climbing, make him hard to follow, and near impossible to catch.

Isa Gordon
Appropriately, signed to Optimo’s record label, Isabel makes future tunes that have been shaped by time on dark dance floors. Techno and bass influences often shine through, but her melodies are rooted in something far more ethereal and folky. Her music manages to feel both weighty, yet at the same time whimsical in a uniquely Scottish way.

Jugs
Think of them as the boygenius of climbing - a female supergroup comprising Michelle O’Loughlin and Kirsty Pallas. Michelle, star of ‘A Feather in the West’, is hardcore. Her life echoes the origin story of rock climbing, living to climb lots of different stuff and doing so with grace and joy. Like many athletes, she’s dealt with a plethora of injuries and surgeries, but her attitude, experience, and desire to adapt make her a really inspiring person to be around and an invaluable resource. Kirsty Pallas is a mountaineering instructor, climber, part-time roller-skater, and full-time provider of good vibes. She uses her position at Mountaineering Scotland and her own group, Our Shared Outdoors, to make the outdoor industry a more inclusive place with a focus on gender and ethnicity. Together, they are Jugs and will be running a women-specific climbing clinic looking at everything from injury to inequality and movement to monthlies.

Lauren Macallum
Self-professed climate gob-sh*te Lauren spends her days shredding what little snow we have left, destroying single track and campaigning for systemic environmental change. She is a writer, broadcaster, managing director of Protect our Winters, and a captivating bleatherer. Her unique blend of patter makes activism accessible and her passion for outside space is infectious.

Cal Major
Cal Major is a veterinary surgeon, ocean advocate, and world record adventurer with a vast knowledge of marine conservation. She's paddled around Skye and Scotland on a SUP board and in 2019 become the first person to paddle Lands end to John O' Groats. Through her wide-ranging film, television, and presenting career, Cal aims to bring stories from the natural world to life and inspire positive change through education. Cal set up her charity Seaful to reconnect people to ocean spaces.

Andrew Black
Andrew Black is an artist and filmmaker based in Scotland. His work explores hidden and obscured stories found within the British landscape. Black’s films look at how the infrastructures and ideologies of capitalism, militarism, and nationalism have shaped the land and its inhabitants. Often working closely with local people, his work shows ways that communities can imagine and create alternative and oppositional ways of being. His 2021 film Dàn Fianais, Protest Poem, provided a film portrait of life in Skye and Lochalsh. Commissioned in partnership with Skye Climate Action and made in the midst of the Covid pandemic, at a point where the effects of capitalism and its impact on the environment were particularly globally poignant. The piece seeks both to understand the past and imagine the future by connecting with a diverse group of inhabitants and exploring their relationships with the area. We’ll be looking to explore some of the themes within local culture, identity, housing, land ownership, and more - as we gather collective responses on how to progress.

Lesley McKenna
Lesley is a snowboarded and coach, she’s represented Scotland 3 times in the old Olympics and has been on some pretty important podiums throughout her career. She directed the first ever all female snowboarding film in 2004. She lives in Aviemore in a cooperative housing venture.

Craig Gallacher
Multi-talent Craig Gallacher has produced a wide variety of projects from site-specific installation to radio plays. These include A Concert in a Coire - a gig in Coire Lagan, and a swathe of events for Glasgow Film Festival. Music and mountains seem to always be at the core of what he does. As a DJ he held down long time residencies in Glasgow and Dundee and organised parties with 12th Isle. He ran cult label Esk - responsible for the critically acclaimed Resono project and a rake of experimental Scottish artists. A prolific hill runner, his knowledge of mountain subculture is only surpassed by his musical. We’ll be releasing a mixtape this year at MM - Wild Raver, which Gallacher mixed and co-curated.

Peaks
The musical partnership between multi-instrumentalists and composers George Smith and Duncan Strachan, one half of the internationally renowned Maxwell String Quartet. Their experimental style marries the boy's love of Scottish folk, twisted electronics, and ancient classical melodies. Previous partnerships with the likes of Anna Meredith and Brìghde Chaimbeul build a picture - expect transcendental melody and hypnotic patterns.

Morag Skelton
Morag studied jewellery and metal work at art school but has produced work in a variety of mediums, all with a focus on her love of the mountains and life outside. She works as a mountaineering instructor year-round in Scotland and spends her free time on the hill and at the crag with her friends and her dog, Aila. Morag's first language is BSL, and she outlines in her recent Ascension series film that she hopes to get more deaf people involved with climbing and show them the joy of an outdoor lifestyle.

Ailsa McLellan
Ailsa is a marine biologist based in Wester Ross and has worked with fishing and aquaculture industries, marine conservation organisations, wild salmon trusts, and marine policy making bodies. She runs a commercial oyster farm and currently works for Seawilding, rolling out their marine habitat restoration work in the North West, the charity is at the forefront of seabed habitat restoration in Scotland. She hopes that one day Scotland’s seas and land will be managed for the benefit of the many, rather than the few.

Torque
Nomadic artisan route-setting lads Johnny and Angus will be concocting a complete set of new routes and the now legendary magic mountain climbing comp, expect wild moves and toilet plungers (if you know you know).

Keri Wallace
Keri Wallace is a runner, climber, writer, instructor, and guide. She owns and runs Girls on Hills - the first ever UK company to offer guided trail, fell and sky-running for women. The crew's aim is to empower women with the skills and confidence necessary to become self-reliant in the mountains through courses, recce events, and guided adventures. Amongst her many personal achievements, Keri holds the female fastest known time for the winter Tranters round and completed the first Glencoe classic rock round in under 24 hours.

Daniel Cullen
Daniel is a Skye-born journalist, writer, actor, and director. His play, The Chariot, the Flag and the Empty, Empty Houses, ran in Portree this summer to rave reviews. The piece gives a nuanced and keenly observed insight into potentially contentious issues, including identity, tourism, gentrification, language, and culture. Cullen has an inherent ability to speak to a diverse audience without diluting his intent or coming across as phoney. His desire to break away from preconceived notions of art and performance is evident. Ultimately, he wants people to enjoy themselves - in part because he is a natural performer, but mostly because that’s when they are truly engaged.

Innis Chonnel & Casha Mack
Deep like sea - the duo come together for a rare performance, Flute and synths are manipulated live and married with curated samples. This unique performance will be accompanied by live Visuals featuring footage from Skye.

Kevin Woods
Kev is a filmmaker, photographer, musician, climber, and prolific mountain person. He’s clearly motivated by hefty, weird physical challenges, but it’s his sheer love of the Scottish mountains and culture surrounding them that comes across in everything he does. Kev battled through relentless storms to complete all the Munros over one winter - which is pretty radge. As he says himself, it doesn't have to be fun to be fun.

Scottish Mountaineering Press
An award-winning publisher of authors and artists that takes inspiration from Scotland's outdoor spaces and subcultures. Alongside their more unusual output, they produce climbing guidebooks for SMC, but their creative flare and energy elevates the genre.

Food and drink
Local legends of street food Allan and Jackie from the Hungry Gull will be with us all weekend, dawn tae dusk serving up hot and tasty treats. Expect hearty vegan and veggie fare, perfect to fuel your sends.

Magic Mountain Workshops

Screen Printing Up cycle you favourite t - shirt with print maker Lesley Sharpe. Lesley will teach you how to screen print your own Magic Mountain merch

Yoga Local yogis Pauline and Gareth will be hosting a class in aid of Skye Mountain rescue team. All abilities welcome.

Mono-printing with Tessa  Working with a variety of mark making tools including climbing gear and foraged elements, participants will learn how to shape an abstract landscape using a mono-printing process. Hosted by the Scottish Mountaineering Press.

Coasteering and Conservation Think of coasteering as sea kayaking without the boat. This unique session with local Marine Biologist and Our Seas advocate Hayley Wolcott, will give you a dose of excitement and an opportunity to explore and learn about the rich and diverse coastal environment. Suitable for all abilities, all kit provided.

Make your own Chalk Bag  What better way to express your personality than with a hand made powder pouch. Artisan gear builder and talented climbing man Will Hempstead of Broken Spectre guides you stitch by stitch.

Trail run This guided run with Skye Adventure is open to all abilities - expect muddy trails, class views and plenty of chat.

Vegetable fermentation This course includes an introduction to gut health, fermented produce and kombucha. You’ll make your own sauerkraut, learn about brine fermentation and the benefits of all things pickled, under the expert guidance of Hannah from Gut Feeling

Films
Arnow
Jack Whitfield’s 45 minute surf feature on big wave legend Tom Lowe is a beautiful, dark, twisted assault on the senses. The film follows Tom's journey from vagabond youth on the peripheries of gentrified postcard Cornwall, to globe-trotting, big wave charger. Shot entirely on film, Arnow showcases Whitfield's stylised depiction of landscape and interest in traditional English folk culture. The black metal soundtrack over the surf footage gives a sense of impending doom, but there is also an inescapable joy and lightness in seeing someone living so fully.

Women on the Move
Women on the Move starring the Adventure Syndicate and Aneela Mckenna is a film about the historical struggles women faced to be active. Both fashion and societal perceptions of what it was to be female combined to restrict women from taking part in outdoor pursuits. Along with Dr Katrina Jungnickel, sociologist and seamstress, the crew brought to life and tested a collection of sportswear patents from the 1890's and the 1940's designed to overcome the issues fashion of the time created. The film brings to light the ingenious and creative responses women had to the barriers faced in accessing the outdoors, and the continued struggles and the impact this has had on performance.

Running Order
Friday
3 - 6 pm Check in, Third Ridge
7 - 8 pm - Dinner, Gathering Hall
8 - 8.30 pm - Catherine MacPhee opens the festival
9 - 10 pm - Fergus Clark x Jamie Johnson
10 - 11 pm - Cloth

Saturday
8 - 9 am - Yoga, Studio 1
9 - 10 am - Breakfast, Third Ridge
10 - 11 am - Screen Printing with Lesley Sharpe, Studio 2
10 - 11am - Jugs, Third Ridge
11 - 2 pm - Chalk bag workshop, Studio 1
2- 5 pm - Chalk bag workshop, Studio 1
12 - 1 pm - Philippa Batye, Studio 2
1 - 2 pm - Lunch, Third Ridge
2 - 3 pm - Keri Wallace, Girls on Hills, Studio 2
3 - 5 pm - Climbing comp, Third Ridge
5 - 6.30 pm - Thrawn screening & talk w/ Lesley McKenna, Lauren Macallum Hannah Bailey and Andrew Black, Gathering Hall

6.30 - 7.30 pm - Dinner, Gathering Hall
7.30 - 8 pm - Daniel Cullen, Gathering Hall
8 - 9 pm - Innis Chonnel & Casha Mack
9 - 10 pm - Craig Gallacher
10 - 11 pm - Isa Gordon
11 - 1 pm - Fergus Clark and Ru

Sunday
9 -10 am - Breakfast, Third Ridge
10 - 12 pm - Coasteering & conservation , meet Third Ridge
10 -11 am - Mono printing with Tessa Simpson, Studio 1
10 - 11 am Films Woman on the move (44 min) & Sendero Del Jaguar (17 mins) , Studio 2
11 - 12 pm - Trail run with Skye Adventure, meet Third Ridge
11- 12 pm - Veg fermentation workshop, Studio 1
11 - 12 pm Film screening, Arnow (46 mins), Studio 2
12 - 1 pm - Morag Skelton, Studio 2
12 - 1 pm - Lunch, Third Ridge
1 - 2 pm - Kev Woods, Gathering Hall
2 - 3 pm - Custodians screening and talk with Cal Major and Ailsa McLellan, Gathering Hall
4 - 5 pm - Finlay Wild, Gathering Hall
5 - 6 pm - Peaks close the festival
6 - 7 pm - Dinner with the Hungry Gull, Gathering Hall