Sunday walk - Spittal of Glenshee

Morna and Scuz headed out to snatch a pre-Christmas Corbett from the Spittal of Glenshee. Fortunately the 100mph winds over hills and ridges didn't materialise so Ben Gulabin was achieved with ease and even a few views! To extend the walk we continued on a round over grouse moorland and was lucky enough to shelter in a high hut for lunch which had a patio heater and supply of beer!!! What moor could one ask for?

A descent to the valley and a wade across a river in spate brought us back to the car. A stop off in Braemar for a cuppa and a cake and a peruse around the 'toy' shop rounded off a fine day out.

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...

Raeburn Hut Meet, Dalwhinnie

Reports from this autumn are starting to sound a bit familiar with another dodgy forecast and another bunch of members heading off on a meet to see what could be salvaged. In the end it turned out OK, the forecast on Saturday being overall better than forecast and Sunday was fairly pleasant for November. What did make this meet unusual was the large number of new members attending, almost half the meet. Luckily they didn’t seem too put off by the rest of us and soon joined in with the route planning for Saturday’s outings.

The interesting hill party selected an unusual route up The Far via the rocky cleft of the Dirc Mhor, which provided plenty of botanical and geological diversions for Denis, Malcolm and Jane.

 

Dirc Mhor

Dirc Mhor

Linda B fancied a crack at Creag Meagaidh and was accompanied by Naomi, Lai Yan, Greg and Roger. Despite rumours of a navigational “wobble” around Mad Meg’s Cairn I’m assured they did reach the actual summit, then carried on round the corrie over the other two Munros. (see Ann & John’s ski round of this route here)

Rod and Bob went for a bit of a yomp over most of the West Drumochter Munros and as expected were easily back in time for tea and cake, as was Giancarlo who bagged the solitary Meall Cuaich. Another solitary effort was put in by Roddy who went on a mission to bag one of the Corbetts above Glen Roy.

That just left John & Ann to tackle the biggest outing of the day, the traverse of the three Munros south of Loch Laggan. Despite being a big day a lot is on landy tracks so the going was quite fast, except for the direct descent north from the summit of Beinn a Chlachair, which has little to recommend it. Like the Creag Meagaidh group, the promised clearance from the west never really happened although a few good views were had.

Brief break in the clouds near Creag Pitridh

Saturday night as usual brought out the culinary flair in members, with an excellent three-course communal meal well up to the high AMC standards.

Most of the group ready to face Sunday

I’m a bit less sure of what went on on Sunday, which was a much better day in terms of weather – cold and clear with some fresh snow on the higher tops. The Creag Meagaidh five went up The Fara, John & Ann did the East Drumochters, Jane & Bob went for a bike-assisted bag of Beinn Mheadhonach from Glen Tilt.

West Drumochters from the east

West to The Fara