Dinner Meet Carrbridge Hotel: 10^th– 11^thNovember 2017

The Annual Dinner Meet returned once more to Carrbridge and had a great attendance of 23 members and guests.

Friday night for most of the company was spent in the hotel with food, drink and the usual laughs.

Saturday morning was dry but cold with mostly low walks, golf for two and only Len, Chris and John walking from the Forres road to summit the Graham, Carn Glas-choire.

On Saturday night Len opened proceedings with a very good welcome speech and invited Maurice to say Grace, Chris for Absent Friends and as Frank was unable to attend John presented the Quaich to our Chairman Len.

Len completed the speeches by thanking Gareth and his staff for delicious meals with good service and also thanked Jackie for being the organiser.

Milehouse Cottage, Feshiebridge, Kincraig: 13^th– 14^thOctober 2017

Milehouse is a Scottish Ladies Mountaineering Club hut and is a lovely wee place near the Cairngorms.

Only 4 members turned up for the Milehouse meet. Poor weather meant that only low level walks took place. 

Thanks to Carole for organising.

SMC Naismith Hut, Elphin: 8^th- 10^thSeptember 2017 (3 nights)

Eight members attended at an excellent hut, which has very scenic views of Silvan.

Weather for Saturday was mixed with low clag at first clearing to misty rain with heavier rain at the summits, very wet ground conditions making descents tricky to avoid slipping.

Gordon & Fiona drove to Culnacraig near Achiltbuie and climbed Ben More Coigach summiting Sgurr an Fhidleir plus two other tops.

Ian & Colin decided to walk from the hut to Canisp and back.

Len, Frank, Stuart & John drove up to a parking place near Achfary and climbed a very wet underfoot Ben Stack.

Friday and Saturday night were spent in the hut and after mealtimes both were completed with good chats and a tipple or two.

On Sunday due to the poor weather on Saturday and a really bad forecast of windy and very wet conditions we all decided to return home early.

Many thanks to all for another successful KMC weekend and thanks to John for organising.

Glenfinnan Sleeping Car: 18^th– 19^thAugust 2017

Only seven members attended this meet as two lucky individuals cancelled.

The weather from arrival Friday night through to Saturday lunchtime was atrocious and the group took the train to Mallaig to sample the local food and drink and also met Chris and his two American friends.

On the Saturday evening two of the vacant bedspaces were taken up by a French / Spanish couple who were one day out with their booking. They joined in for a very pleasant evening sampling different whiskies.

On Sunday Bob Ainsworth ascended Buchaille Etive Mhor.

Thanks to Carole for organizing.

BBQ Weekend: 23^rd-24^thJune 2017

This year the club ventured south for the annual barbecue, visiting Fell End on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. 

As one club member resides in the area and is a keen caver, he offered to introduce us to the world beneath the hills. Along with fellow cavers Mandy and Vaughan, Jim guided five novices through Upper Churn to Alum Pot near Ribble. A very eventful experience which involved getting wet, abseiling down a waterfall and a 45 foot ladder descent, the highlight of Joe’s day. A thrilling afternoon which may even be repeated! A big thank you to Jim, Mandy and Vaughan for bringing back out the same number that went in.

Two of the group decided to forgo the pleasures of crawling underground into darkness and water hazards and decided to do a walk over Wild Boar Fell (708m high) returning by a footpath marked on the 25,000 scale map as 'A Pennine Journey' through the valley of the Grisedale Beck and the River Rawthey.  Unfortunately, before the summit was reached they encountered very thick mist and occasional rain showers and had no views at all.  On reaching the valley the footpath was a figment of imagination of the map makers, only a few marker posts indicated that there was supposed to be a footpath over 8km of near bog underfoot conditions.

They would have been better caving!

Sunday dawned brighter and while the rest of us went home, one member walked up to the waterfalls at Cautley Spout. The route to the top went direct from the bunkhouse, took a left turn at the path and continued as far as the cairn, then back to the trigpoint and followed the path around and back down. The weather was perfect for walking – sunshine but with some clouds providing a bit of relief on what couldn’t have been a better day. 

Thanks to Jackie for organizing.

Gloucester MC Hut , Deiniolen, N Wales: 26^th– 29^thMay 2017

The village of Deiniolen is close to Llanberis and Snowdon in the heart of the Welsh hills.

Eleven members attended the meet at this well appointed hut. We were joined by four members of the GMC.

On Saturday with a relatively good weather forecast, seven of the group set off to do a horse shoe route on the Carnedds including Carnedd Dafydd and Carnedd Llewwelyn, both hills over 1000m, starting and finishing in the outskirts of Bethesda.  Unfortunately, although the weather in the first hour was fine, in which we could see what would have been an excellent round of hills, the mist soon descended and as the visibility became a matter of a few metres, we had to resort to map, compass and GPS to complete the route.  

Partially through the route, the compass being used reversed its polarity, which according to Silva Compasses is due to having a GPS being kept switched on near to a compass – a point very much worth taking heed of.

Using another compass the route was completed but by this time the mist had increased to driving drizzle together with high winds. (45mph winds were recorded on Snowdon about the same time).

A somewhat damp group arrived back at the hut but all felt we had achieved a good day out despite the weather.

Saturday saw the four ladies in the party following a route through the very impressive Dinirorwic slate quarry to Llanberis.

On Sunday the mist did not abate till early afternoon so the ladies decided to visit Penryn Castle while the male contingent repeated the ladies route of Saturday.

Ian’s 65^thbirthday was very well celebrated at Sunday’s evening meal by ourselves and the GMC members, and the evening was concluded by all taking part in a Welsh word quiz produced by Jan. 

We left Deiniolen on Monday morning in yet another heavy driving drizzle which did not abate until over the English border.

Regardless of the somewhat disappointing weather the group enjoyed their stay at Deiniolen and it was good to meet up with members of the GMC.

Thanks to Chris for organizing.

Muir Cottage, Inverey, Braemar

Friday 21st April - Sunday 23rd April

The April meet of the Kyle Mountain Club (KMC) saw 9 members head to the eastern Cairngorms, basing themselves very comfortably in the Cairngorm Club hut on the road from Braemar to the Linn o' Dee.  The cottage provided everything necessary for a convivial meet after a long day on the hill.  Having breakfast in the old forrest watching the red squirrels was a great way to start the day.

The good weather saw Carole and Clare arriving early on Friday via Dinnet after a walk up Morven.  

Saturday saw us on Munros, Corbetts, Glens and bikes; Carn an Fhidhleir, An Sgarsoch, Cairn Liath and Culardoch.  Three of the team headed to Corour bothy via Derry Lodge.  All-in-all an active day.

Sunday saw Chairman Len up and away early heading for a day out on Mount Blair while the rest of us had a lie in.

The team minus Chairman Len

Colin taking the bike for a paddle on the way to Geldie Lodge

Looking south to Braemar

View from White Bridge, north to Beinn Bhrotain

Lunch at Geldie Lodge

Looking towards Ben Avon

The tors on Beinn a' Bhuird

Alex McIntyre Hut, Onich: 17^th- 18^thMarch 2017

The Alex McIntyre hut is a Scottish Mountaineering Club hut.

Eleven members of the club attended the meet.

On Saturday we split into various groups with walks up Sguilard and the Papof Glen Coe being completed along with various low level outings.

Unfortunately on the descent of Sguilard, one of the team slipped and fell.  His resulting injuries meant that the Mountain Rescue was required.  Oban MR assisted by Police Scotland MR evacuated him and he was transferred first to Oban hospital and then onto Paisley RAH.  He has since made a full recovery.

Thanks to Ian for organising.

Raeburn Hut, Dalwhinnie: 17^th– 18^thFebruary 2017

The Raeburn Hut is one of the Scottish Mountaineering Club huts.

6 members attended the meet. As it was a rather wet weekend, the group decided to walk up to the highest point of the Corrieyairack Pass. Having made the top of the zig zags, two members decided to carry on to the summit of a rather wet and windy Corrieyairack Hill. (Formerly a Corbett, but now demoted in favour of its neighbour.) 

Upon return to the hut, a communal meal was enjoyed by all and the drying room proved to be efficient at its purpose. 

Thanks to Len for organising.

Burns Supper, Ochills MC Hut,Crianlarich: 27^th– 28^thJanuary 2017

11 members and two members’ sons attended the Burns Supper.

Despite poorish weather three ascended Ben More whilst others walked a section of the West Highland Way.

An informal Burns Supper was held, also attended by three Polish mountaineers staying in the hut. (They were in Scotland for a weekend visit and managed two days on the hill!).

Everyone enjoyed the meal which as usual was concluded by a communal reading of Tam a Shanter, including our new Polish friends.

Thanks to Jackie and Ian for organising the weekend.