Barbeque Report, Friday 11 July 2014

Eight members enjoyed a sunny evening, being smoked like kippers, in the garden at El Presidente's abode and subsidised your club's assets to the tune of £40 surplus over the cost of the event.  Conversation was varied but most memorable was that of an airborne lamb trying out its flying skills for the first and only time in finding the fastest way down a crag, somewhat unsuccessfully; another lamb, in the process of being lowered down the crag just wanted to stop and nonchalantly graze on the way down.  Cam the dog entertained with his attempts at telekenesis; willing gravity, through intense and patient staring, to spontaneously assist his faded rubber chicken to descend towards his teeth.

Sunday Walk Report, 6 July 2014

The venue was Brother's Water. Only the meet organiser turned out; he went
up Brock Crags, The Nab, Rest Dodd, The Knott, Rampsgill Head, Kidsty Pike, High Street, Thornthwaite Crag & Gray Crag. Weather was 90% sunshine and very little wind.

Winter meet March 2015

I have various proposals for March 2015 and would welcome your view.

1. We could stay at Slochd Bunkhouse  just off the A9 after Aviemore - Very comfortable, luxurious even and is £20 per night. This opens up Cairngorms and further North. They also have Nordic Skis for hire should there be adequate snow.

2. Culdees Bunkhouse , Aberfeldy.  £18 a night and is a little closer - Loch Tay.

3.  SMC hut below Buchaille Etive Mor   £10 per night

All have pros and cons -  Let me know your preferred option and also dates in March. It will be subject to hut availability!

Sarahkekus@btinternet.com

Meet Report 1st June 2014

The Grasmere based Sunday walk was attended by the usual threesome - they went up Steel Fell, Tarn Crags & Blea Rigg and experienced sunny weather for a change.

Spring Bank Holiday Meet, 23-27 May 2014 at Forest Way bunkhouse, Inverlael.

Seven members made their way North on Friday, overnighting at the independent hostel at Slochd; Dianne and Martin climbed a Corbett to the East of Dromochter summit, en route.

On Saturday, Jake and Chris climbed the Corbett “Breabag”; Sarah climbed Ben Dearg and two of the adjacent Munros; Ross climbed two Grahams in Strath Connon; some members finished the day at various tea shops.  John re-joined the group again having traversed the Ben Mor Coigach group in a mixture of low cloud and sunshine and having mopped up all of the remote Northern Grahams over the intervening fortnight since the Glen Etive meet.  One of the ridges provided about 2 km of scrambling opportunity along a narrow airy ridge.

Sgurr an Fhidhleir Buttress (left), from Ben Mor Coigach
 

Sunday was beset by low cloud.  Dianne, Jan and “Cam” the dog navigated around three of the Fannich Munros in very low visibility.  John climbed the Graham Ben an Eoin in similar conditions (on a “size for irk” ratio, one of the most irksome Grahams, being beset by extremely arduous terrain underfoot).  

Sign at start of access to Ben an Eoin!

 

Jake and Chris had a long day climbing the challenging Beinn Dearg Corbetts in the Fisherfield Forest.  Martin and Sarah climbed on the Ardmair buttresses but were restricted on route choice by the weepage down many of the routes.

Monday, Jake and Chris set off back home with a view to climbing a Corbett off the side of Drumochter Pass. John climbed another Graham, Meall Dubh (“black hill”, an appropriate name for the peat and the socked-in cloud!). Ross part-cycled his way to two Grahams beside Ben Wyvis – a long day with an arduous peaty moorland crossing to the second one and back.  Martin and Sarah climbed a challenging ridge (also managed by “Cam” the dog (84 equivalent years old now, poor old fella)), up on to Cona Mheall and round onto Am Faochagach, involving a tricky river crossing at the end and suffering torrential downpours in the latter stages.  Having had a demanding day on Sunday, Dianne and Jan visited the Inverewe gardens, near the coast, experiencing glorious sunshine!

Climbing meet report, Wednesday, 14 May 2014.

Eeeeh, some dry weather, at last. Three people attended at Shepherds Crag, Borrowdale; “Adam” and “Delight Maker” were climbed in fine weather.

Glen Etive Meet Report, 9-11th May 2014

Eight members attended. After an inauspicious start of rain pattering on the hut roof on Saturday morning and hence a relatively late rise, members got out in various groups to do various objectives, amongst occasional light showers, which had the bonus of providing some very vivid rainbows when the sun shone through chinks in the cloud.  Jake and Chris tackled a compact group (rare) of three Corbetts near Loch Ailort, with a lot more descent and re-ascent between peaks than perhaps they had anticipated.  Ross and Jan took on a pair of Grahams near Inchree and, following the guide book, took their choice of “any of the streams through the forest”; unfortunately they chose one of the several streams other than the only one which leads without purgatorial effort up on to the desired ridge.  Sarah, Martin and Johnny went for Ben Starav and its tops but, instead of climbing back up from the distantly outlying top at 918 metres, they opted to descend the West ridge and then had a long hard tramp around the “interminable” loch shore. John bagged a brace of Grahams at the foot of Glencoe, without incident; these gave magnificent views up the Glencoe valley, through the arch of one of the most complete and vivid rainbows he has ever seen.

Sunday; Johnny went directly home with a gammy knee.  Ross, Jan and Sarah climbed the two Grahams which John had climbed the day before. Jake and Chris climbed a Corbett near to Ben Heasgarnich. John went much further North to Struy and got permission to take a car up Glen Strathfarrar to climb a Graham in the pouring rain before heading further Northwards to start climbing the remote, outlying Grahams of the far North, over the next couple of weeks.