Last weekend saw me heading up to Braemar with SH and two of his mates to stay at the Rucksacks bunkhouse with the aim of getting some cross country skiing done.  Unfortunately the snow levels weren’t enough to allow for the skiing so Chris will be going off to join SH on his Icelandic adventure having never put a pair of skis on his feet before!  Brave chap.

Saturday morning saw us head off to tackle Lochnagar.  Having driven about 6 miles down a single track road I was surprised to find, at the end of it, not only a whole load of other cars but also a toilet block and visitor centre.  That did explain the inordinate amount of grit on the road but make me feel slightly cheated as I thought we’d have the place to ourselves.  I needn’t have worried however as after we passed a couple of people on the way up we only saw about another three groups all day.  (And I’m sure it wasn’t just because everyone else was hidden in clag. )

We set off in bright sunshine and had this until the plateau just short of the summit of Cac Cairn Beag.  On the summit, SH decided to try out his new satellite phone and struck a pose reminiscent of Del Boy in ‘Only Fools and Horses’.

Descending from the summit we dropped down beside the waterfall and finished off by walking around Loch Muick.  About half way round we encountered a gr oup of young lads who told us a woman who’d hurt her leg was just around the corner.  The cold sweats set in thinking I’d have to put into practice my first aid training from last week (Step one: jazz hands.  Step two: don the elbow length gloves.)  but fortunately her husband had already patched her up and set off to call Mountain Rescue.  ‘A ha,’ thinks SH ‘I’ll help save time by calling from my sat phone.’  Erm, maybe not.  Not only did the normal phones have no reception down by the loch but neither did the sat phone.  Lets hope the guys don’t find themselves behind anything tall when they’re stuck in a snow drift in Iceland.

As we neared the car park we were passed by the two Mountain Rescue jeeps and as the light was beginning to fade we picked up the pace and headed off to the pub for pints of Caledonia Ale and venison burgers.

Sunday morning started misty but you could just tell it was going to be a stunning day.  The sun was already trying to burn off the mist and, again, there wasn’t a breath of wind in the air.  We parked just below the Glenshee ski resort and struck off along the stream and up to our first Munro of the day.  (I believe we did three but I’m yet to find out what they were.  Sorry but I can’t pronounce the Scottish names let alone remember how to spell them!) It was wonderful to have the grouse fly out in front of us and see the mountain hares, in their white winter splendour, chasing each other across the hill side.

The sun was so warm, and it was such warming work walking through the snow on the ascent, that I stripped off and resorted to walking in my bra in an attempt to cool down.  I got a slightly odd look off a guy at the top but the rest of the local wildlife didn’t seem to mind.

The views from the summit were amazing and you could see for miles in every direction.

We continued round and on reaching the next summit spotted some cross country skiers.  You could see SH go green with envy but  we managed to distract him by having a go at making an impromptu sun dial in the snow.

The way down at the end of the day saw us donning the crampons and making our way down the pistes of the Glenshee resort.  There was just enough snow left on them to make us all jealous and determined to get in a morning’s session before heading back home the next day.

It wasn’t to be though: lying in bed on Monday morning it was quite clear that the weather had taken a turn for the worse.  You could hear the wind howling outside and looking up the only view was of a dark and stormy sky.  I phoned the ski centre in the unlikely hope that it was better up there (as if three miles was really going to make that much difference!) but when she was clearly not trying to sell me any tickets I realised it must be bad.  So, reluctantly, we packed up and set off for home.

It had been a great weekend in a lovely bunkhouse which I can’t recommend highly enough.  (Not only did we get a clean bathroom towel each day but we also got a clean dish cloth each day and she put the lads’ toothbrushes into mugs for them!)  Hopefully next time I go there I’ll be able to get some cross country skiing or some snowboarding done but even without the snow sports it had been well worth the trip up. 

Saturday 4th Feb Broad Gully

Tom, Ross, Ali and I Got up extremely early for a Mercian meet and we left the hut by 8am despite Tom’s best efforts to faff .  We headed up the path by the side of the river to Pen y ole wen enjoying pleasant weather.  as we approached the lake at the back the cloud cover came in which made it difficult to find where we started our climb.  Just for fun the boys sent me up ahead to the start of the gully and then pretended that it wasn’t the right way so that I was able to walk up the steep bit of the path through deep snow TWICE!!!! Thanks Ross. Continue reading →

Early last Saturday Ian Archer and I headed south down the M5 bound for the Brecon Beacons intent on climbing a winter route on Pen Y Fan.
The are five gully climbs between grade 1 and 3 and a rib at grade 2. An hour and a half of sweat and toil brought me to the foot of the mountain. Ian, the youngster, on the other hand had skipped along easily.

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Having not slept during the night  because it was so cold in the room, I really wasn’t too keen to get up when the alarm went off at 6.30am.  There wasn’t time for a lie in though and the adventure started straight away as during the night we’d used up all the money in the electricity meter so I had to grab the torch and a £1 before I could even start to think about putting the kettle on.

Most of the others were soon up and about as TG,RP, JM and AW were heading off to do Broad Gully on Pen y Ole Wen and needed an equally early start.

By 8.30am we were at the Ogwen Cottage carpark and SH, Muffin and I set out up the path little realising how long it was going to be before we’d be coming back down it.  What was planned as a quick skirmish turned into a full blown battle against knee deep snow, darkness and SH’s navigational skills.
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Saturday 28^th January

On the Friday evening inspired by a reasonable forecast Alan Hardie, Jon Massey  and Iain Carter headed up over the border for a weekend raid in Glencoe.

We slept inside and outside the car at Loch Lomond and after a good four hours sleep continued onwards arriving at eight. The objective was Summit Gully a 450 metre grade 1 snow and ice climb, a worthy tick in anyone’s book. Continue reading →

This weekend saw the Mercians head up to the Low Hall Garth hut, in Little Langdale, for some outdoor adventures.

Getting there proved to be the biggest adventure as we slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid a couple of rocks which were blocking the road to the hut.  Had I  been travelling in a banger of a car, or with less heroic Mercians, we might have got there without getting soaked and crippled back but as I was in a very posh car with a couple of macho men I was in for a soaking.  The ‘these’ of the “We’ll just get these out of the way,” fame rapidly turned into a full blown landslide as the lads showed why the never win when we play Jenga.

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The walk-in

On January 2nd, Karl, Tom and Sarah L walked up into Stob Coire nan Lochan above Glen Coe to see if we could get some winter climbing done. It had snowed to quite a low level over night, and as we got into the corrie we were wading through two foot drifts, an indication as to just how much snow had fallen higher up. This put paid to our plans of checking out the gullies, as the risk of avalanche would have been too great, and we’ve have had to swim up the gullies, rather than climb them. Continue reading →

Okay, so we all chickened out of going on a dip in the Loch but in fairness it was bloody freezing – and that was inside the hut!

Instead, after seeing a number of Mercians off on their way home a group of us went on a stroll up to Inchree Falls.  It was still cold and damp weather wise but we did see a brief glimpse of the sun. 

After our soaking we retreated to the pub in Onich where we encountered a couple of waifs and strays.  In order to escape the attentions of Mr Boom (he’s from the Moon don’t you know?) we took ourselves into the games’ room where we were forced to play pool and giant Connect Four.  We forgot to take the muzzle though and we nearly got booted out for a certain member’s use of bad language in front on small children.  Suffice to say, her New Year’s resolution is to swear less. I’ve got a fiver on it not even lasting until tomorrow.

Having had enough of the bad weather, some of us decided to guarantee we had a dry day by heading over to the Ice Factor, in Kinlochleven, to climb.  Two different groups went and so I got to spend a very happy five hours there although I was forced to sit through two lunches which was, in my opinion, a waste of valuable climbing time.  

Back at the hut the food was being prepared for the evening’s feast and we were treated to a four course Mexican meal.  The chefs did a great job catering for the 20+ guests and became more and more creative with their presentation as the evening wore on and the wine started flowing. Continue reading →

The 30th of December saw a small group of Mercians attempt the Ballachulish Horseshoe but again bad weather forced a retreat and again the summit was not reached. 

Corbetteer tried to get up Tom Mheadhoin and Beinn Na  Gacaig but didn’t get up either because of the miserable weather and solid rain.

The only expedition which was successful was that of the party who ventured to Fort William and managed to accomplish buying fresh fish for the pie that evening.