To avoid style conflicts, I've put Bootstrap in a separate namespace as described in this answer:
.bootstrap-styles {
  @import 'bootstrap';
}
Now using a Bootstrap variable such as @gray-lighter gives an error:
.footer {
  // NameError: variable @gray-lighter is undefined in ...
  border-top: 1px solid @gray-lighter;
}
How can I access a variable defined in a different (non-parent) scope in less?
 
     
    