Keeping up tradition, the Moray Mountaineers headed to the Charles Inglis Clark hut on the north face of the Ben with the promise of poor weather but great craic. Whilst the rest of the UK basked in glorious sunshine, the thirteen intrepid mountaineers faced the rain and wind, but at least it was better than our last trip in 2016.
Having both had busy weeks, Alistair and David decided to convene over coffee and cake at Costa in Fort William on the Friday. They agreed a leisurely day of climbing on the Poll Dubh crags was in order. Given David’s hectic work schedule (working in 6 locations!!) he appreciated the forced lack of screen time. And what better place to sit and appreciate the scenery than Glen Nevis. Following Pinnacle Ridge and The Gutter, they again reconvened at Costa over coffee and cake in preparation for the 700m ascent to the hut.
Although the first club members to arrive at the hut, they were not alone. They were greeted by a postgraduate student from the University of Amsterdam, studying Landscape Anthropology, with her thesis in particular on the human impact on Ben Nevis. I wonder what she thought of the merry band of mountaineers slowly arriving at the hut throughout the evening, pulling out boxes of wine, cans of beer and bottles of whisky. Maybe the MMC will feature in the Journal of Anthropological Research in the coming months!
Given the poor weather on the Saturday, most decided The Ben was out of the question. Therefore, Anta, Adrian, Alistair, Maggie and Fiona all agreed – lets go to the pub! When you’re in a hut, 700m up, this was no easy proposition. They managed to get to the Ben Nevis Inn without a hitch. After some much needed watering and feeding, Alistair’s shandy maybe got the better of him. He had a proposition. Lets avoid the throngs of people on the tourist track. Lets go cross country to the north face cycle trails and head back up to the CIC from there. Who knew mountaineering involved limboing under hydroelectric pipes!
Dan, Joe, Martin and David had more traditional mountaineering aims in mind, with Ledge Route in their sights. Despite the clag, their weather was kind and they safely reached the summit in no time. To avoid the crowds, they quickly descended onto the CMD arete for lunch, then enjoyed a grand walk over to Carn Mor Dearg. A quick descent meant they were down in time for tea and cake.
The 3rd and last group to leave the hut (Alan, Jule, Ben and Wendy) made a direct and very steep ascent to Can Mor Dearg. Alan and Jule then traversed the arete and climbed up on to Ben Nevis. Having only seen 6 people it was a bit surreal to suddenly come across hundreds of people on the summit or making their way up and down the Ben. After “queuing “ to get a photo at the trig point they descended to the half way Lochan, left the crowds and took the path back to the C.I.C. hut. A great day with much better weather than expected.
That evening, a new annual event in the MMC calendar was initiated. Dan Moysey now has the prestigious title of the inaugural loser of the MMC CIC hut Jenga competition. As the CIC has already been booked for 2023, Dan will be counting down the days until he competes to hold the title for another year.
Sunday dawned in a gloomily similar way to Saturday. The would-be climbers looked to the cliffs and saw cloud swirling around wet rock. It’d be possible to climb something like Tower Ridge or Castle Ridge but it wouldn’t be pleasant and it might not be that safe either. While others packed up to follow the Allt a Mhuillin towards the car park Joe decided to take the opportunity to find some snow.
The fact that there will always be snow somewhere in Scotland has been well known amongst hill-goers for generations. But the climate is changing and with it, the interest in snow patches has increased. Social media has driven this rather niche interest, as well as the increasing uncertainty of the survival of snow from one year to the next.
Snow has completely melted seven times in Scotland in recorded history. These are 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017 and 2018. 2022 may well become the eighth time, and with this in mind Joe was keen to reach and document some of the dying snow. While others took sideways glances at such an eccentric outing, Dan is always up for an unusual adventure, so the pair ascended the damp and loose boulders of Observatory Gully.
After a fair amount of ascending and litter picking (the gully not only collects wind-blown rubbish and dropped climbing gear but was the official waste disposal point of the observatory for many years) the snow was reached. It was surprisingly solid and lying at quite a high angle would have required ice axe and crampons to climb up it. Photos were taken and a couple of tunnels were cautiously crawled into, the blue light filtering through the snow giving an ethereal and unworldly beauty at odds with the sharp wet rock of the gully.
As the pair descended, the cloud gradually lifted, giving tantalising glimpses of the surrounding rock architecture and the classic ridges – Tower Ridge, Observatory Ridge, Northeast Buttress and more. Another time, a drier day, next year perhaps.
Not enthused by the prospect of snow hunting in the clag, Alistair and David both agreed a Corbett was in order. They had a fantastic day on Beinn Bhan. Surprisingly no ticks were found following their bushwhacking through bracken taller than them. They enjoyed a pleasant ridge walk and had fantastic views down the Great Glen.
The only other brave soul looking for a Sunday adventure before heading back to work was Jule. She had Beinn a’ Chaorainn and Beinn Teallach in her signts. She started the day in great weather; blue skies, sunshine. But that didn’t last very long. Just as she arrived at the summit of Beinn a‘ Chaorainn the clouds sunk down, it started to rain and it never stopped. Waterproofs are a great invention, and they certainly help keep you dry. Until you face-plant into a bog. She laughed this off and enjoyed the colourful moss in her hair!
As always, a fantastic weekend with the MMC. Even when the weather doesn’t play ball, it just means we will have to head back in 2023!
