This month’s meet saw a long-awaited return to the SMC’s Raeburn Hut at Laggan, the one and only previous meet there being back in March 2016, when the relatively recently-formed club enjoyed a great weekend of weather and wintry conditions.

The weather was set fair once again, coinciding with the beginning of a cold snap and the surrounding hills all snow-capped.

The hut has a decent-sized, well-equipped kitchen with ample dining/seating space.  It’s centrally heated, has a good (gas) fire and also a shower, toilets and drying room on the ground floor.  The sleeping area is within the well-insulated roof space, accessed via a central staircase, with comfortable mats and the beds all at low level (& low falls risk!), with space for up to 16 (including the usual SMC member allowance).

No wifi obviously, but data available on some networks and, while there was no phone signal for most at the hut, EE seemed to work for those that had it.

Car sharing and considerate parking helped ensure there was sufficient space for everyone’s vehicles in the compact area in front of the hut.

Members Attending

Ania Borg (Fri); John Calder; Angus Campbell; George Henderson (Sat); Susan Henderson (Sat); Louise McCulloch; Duncan MacLeod (Fri); Tina MacLeod (Fri); Alyn McNaughton; Adrian Mowat (Fri); Mike Partington; Norrie Shand; Lorn Smith; Tim Woodcock.

Apologies

Jim Aire.

Friday

While everyone focussed on getting to the hut today, George and Susan – the dynamic duo – were in the Mamores enjoying a less windy than forecast day, tackling the two most Westerly Munros of the Mamores, the mighty Stob Ban and Mullach nan Coirean.

Saturday

There were a few early starters on Saturday, but Norrie didn’t have to be one of them and enjoyed a leisurely start to his day, with his ankle recovery keeping him off the hills.  He made up for this later with an enjoyable 24km bike ride through Glen Tromie and had a drive along the single track to Glen Truim.  Packing a lot in to his day, he saw the monument to Ewen MacPherson of Cluny, the Jacobite leader; a stone marking the alleged Centre of Scotland and a nice bothy in Glen Tromie (sadly locked).  Having worked up an appetite, he headed for a hearty dinner at the Truckstop Grill in Newtonmore.  Rumours that he was hoping to re-acquaint himself with the rednecks that once rescued him from the woods at the Loch Treig munros are, so far, unfounded.

Earlier on, Duncan and Tina were first out the blocks and heading West for the two Loch Lochy Munros.  Unfortunately, Duncan felt unwell and they were forced to beat a retreat.  They had the presence of mind to leave a note back at the hut on their way home, so we knew they were safe.  Thankfully, it appears to have been a 24-48 hour thing and Duncan was feeling better by the following day.

The forecast was improving all week & even though it was to be fine on the hills nearby the hut, Angus and Lorn had opted to head even further West, towards Kintail in search of “one of those days” & that’s exactly what they got.  Angus even got to endure another outlying Munro Top (A’ Chìoch), though even he would admit it added to the day and allowed them to get the summits of both Munros (A’ Chràileag & Mullach Fraoch-choire) clear.

The bulk of this weekend’s crew, Louise, Tim, Mike P, Ania & Adrian, teamed up for an assault on Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain.  They too were rewarded with wintry, sunny, blue-sky conditions and brought Louise’s Munro tally to 163.  You can really tell from the photographs that they’d enjoyed themselves (head over to the Facebook page for more of those).  While Louise, Tim and Mike headed back to the hut afterwards, it made sense for Adrian and Ania to return home from there.

Unfortunately for Duncan & Tina, George and Susan also headed to the Loch Lochy 2 (Meall na Teanga & Sron a’ Choire Ghairbh), after their day in the Mamores the day before and their photos probably won’t have helped Duncan feel better!  Both pairs missed out on a bit of company, apart from their other halves of course!!  These photos probably made the two that got away hard to take for Duncan and Tina, they’ll still be there next time…but will the weather!

Alyn and John meanwhile, also had eyes on Kintail and were rewarded with a superb day out on The Saddle’s Forcan Ridge.  They were reminded that it had been almost 19 years to the day since they’d last climbed it together in Winter (20th Nov 2004).  One guidebook description of the route has it as “A classic mountaineering route with the feel of an Alpine ridge.  Long, wonderfully airy and engaging from start to finish.”  After today, John was moved to add that, at the grade it is one of the finest mountaineering routes in Britain and we can’t argue with that!

John and Alyn recalled that it was buried in deep snow all those years ago, while this time it had a fresh dusting of snow with ice and frosted-up rock from top to bottom…absolutely brilliant!  They saw one other person set boff from his campervan just as they arrived and never saw him or another soul. 

As fine a day as it was, it wasn’t without drama as John managed to ladder his tights…sorry…rip a hole in the knee of his breeks with a crampon point and then he broke a fingernail!  Alyn offered him the use of the nail file on his Swiss army knife but, being the hardy mountain man that he is, John politely declined and soldiered bravely on until he was reunited with his manicure set back at the hut where he was able to rescue the situation and self-medicate for the rest of the evening.

Sunday

All too soon, Sunday was upon us again and the morning comedown commenced (along with the 

tidying and packing up).

Although not a patch on Saturday, Sunday was decent enough to allow Angus and Lorn a pleasantleg-stretch on Meall Chuaich on the way home, another new tick for Angus.

Until next time!