Christmas Meet, Milehouse, Kincraig

Rarely, if ever, has the booking sheet been as dynamic as the one for this meet. There were almost as many cancellations as attendees, and that was with us making good use of the overflow camping facility. So with a wild and wintry forecast the committed headed off to Kincraig and a bit of a snowy shock. Despite the wintry weather in Aberdeen the sight of a good few inches of the white stuff in the hut car park still caused us some surprise, and a few parking problems.

Saturday was pretty much like the forecast; some clouds, cold but hardly a breath of wind. Most folks set off for reasonably big days out for the time of year. After failing to agree on a start time the popular choice of Bynack Mor saw two parties. Ann and John were the early birds who paid the price of breaking trail most of the way up, until caught by Stu and Juliette who had been delayed by dog issues. Their payback was getting down in the light, unlike the tardy tailenders of Roddy, Evie and Malcolm, despite having a ploughed trench to follow. Sadly the fine weather didn't hold and high up it was cloudy on and off, and there were some ferocious gusts too. Meanwhile, Jamie, Naomi and Linda B headed for the Glen Feshie hill and club members can see more of their exploits on the Facebook group. Sticking in Feshie, Scuz went for an ambitious double Corbett bag at the southern end of the glen but even she was defeated by the deep snow after just one, and Denis and Susan stuck to a low level walk around Achlean.

Deep going near the old Bynack stable

Bynack Mor in sight, but the clouds rolling in

 

Nearly there...

Getting a bit wild as we came down

Looking over to Ben Avon

Bright spell as we headed down

Saturday night brought on the usual excellent communal feast, with Malcolm's turkey terrine and Naomi's huge banoffi pie deserving special mention. There then followed what for me was a first, a bit of festive singing due to some secretive pre-planning amongst the musical types. All very festive.

Time for carols (singing chefs not shown for hygiene reasons)

Waking to the sound of heavy rain is never good, and less so with so much snow around. Given the exertions of the wading the day before most folks were happy with a long breakfast in preparation for some enthusiastic car pushing, before heading off to various cafes, gear shops and getting their skis out of storage. There have been some unconfirmed rumours about biking and some wee wanders...