6-7 March 2010 OS 51 Accommodation: Braveheart Backpackers, Cost: £17.50 pppn Facilities: All the usual stuff for a posh hostel…bedding, kitchen etc Braveheart Backpackers is located next to the Killin Hotel in a small courtyard behind the church. There is very little parking at the hostel, so please use the car park at the Village Hall. Do not use the Killin Hotel car park. This is hillwalkers’ and (ski mountaineers’) paradise: Ben Lawers (1210 m), Bein Ghlas and the Tarmachan Ridge are on the doorstep, and there are numerous Munros within a 20 mile radius. The hills of Glen Dochart, Glen Lochay and Glen Lyon are all within striking distance.…
Ceilidh!
Friday, 26th February 2010, Elgin Town Hall Supper Room, 8.00pm – midnight. £8 including stovies! Our toes are tappin’ already! We thought it was about time we had another Club ceilidh. We have a fantastic band, Inverness-based Champin’ at the Bit lined up. We need this to be a great success, so please tell all your friends and bring everyone along for a great evening of dancing and crack. Tickets available from Committee members and at the forthcoming Bus and Weekend meets. Graham Milton (Email Graham)
Feb 2010 Weekend Meet Report: Kinlochleven
Sat 6 – Sun 7 Feb 2010 Fourteen members and guests made it to the Blackwater Bunkhouse at Kinlochleven. As usual, the weekend started off on Friday night with a few drinks…but wait, what’s the matter…it was tea not whisky! There will have to be changes next time! Alcohol, or no alcohol, Fiona was in full flow on the fiddle. Everyone was up early on Saturday morning. Ali Erginsoy , Bob MacDonald, Graeme Morrison and Simon Jacyna headed for some downhill sliding action at Glen Coe. The snow conditions were great, but the visibility above about 900m was not quite so good. Ali (aka “fog puppy”!?) led the way off…
J Alister Sword Memorial Photography Awards 2010: The Winners
A very good turnout and some really high quality submissions in this year’s competition, held on Thursday, 21 Jan at Glen Moray. Congratulations to Elliott Harbottle and Dave Whitelock for the winning entries. The event was judged by Bob Bruce, Chief Photographer of the Northern Scot. All the submissions will be uploaded onto the Flickr page in due course, but meantime here are the winning entries: Winner: JAS Awards 2010 – Scottish and overall winner Winner, JAS Awards 2010 – Intenational
February 2010 Bus Meet: Fannaichs
Fannaichs – Sunday, 21 February 2010 O.S.Map(s): 21 Bus Stop: Loch a’Bhraoin Est. time of arrival: 9.30am Time of departure: 16.30pm Leave Elgin: 7.00am The popular Fannaichs area has a splendid wilderness quality to it despite the proximity to the Garve/Ullapool road. The numerous options allow shorter days searching out the Corbetts of Beinn a! Chaisteal, Beinn Laith Mhor a! Ghiubhais Li, Beinn Enaiglair and Creag Rainich, which can be reached from the Lochavroan Bothy. Then there are the Beinn Dearg group of Munros with Am Faochagach on the east side of Loch Glascarnoch and another group of 4 Munros on the west side including the prominant Sgurr Mor. From…
February 2010 Weekend Meet: Kinclochleven
Sat 6th – Sun 7th 2010 O.S.Map(s): 41 Accommodation: Blackwater Hostel, Lab Rd Cost: £14 pppn Facilities: Fully equipped kitchen, showers etc., linen, luxury Hey ho, back to Glen Coe (nearish anyway) and beautiful Kinlochleven. From here, the Mamores, the Glen Coe hills and the Nevis range are all easily accessible. The hostel is situated just behind the Ice Factor, so if you fancy having a go at the ice wall, this is your chance. Or if the snow stays in condition you can just go for the real thing! Book with Dan Moysey by email
Cairngorm Bus Meet CANCELLED
The Cairngorm Bus Meet on Sunday 17th Jan has been cancelled due to the horrendous conditions. The mountain has been stormbound all week and road clearing crews failed today (Thursday) to get through the 15′ drifts that have built up in places. More high winds are forecast for Friday and Saturday, possibly reaching 100mph, so further redistribution of the snowpack is inevitable, and on a southerly, in the wrong place! Even if it were possible to get up there, which it is not, the avalanche risk on many aspects will be high. We did consider the possibility of a low level walk, but felt this would be unfair on folk…
Climbing: Roadside Ice A-Go-Go
With classic winter routes in the Northern Corries buried under powder snow, roadside ice crags have been getting all the action in this last spell of exceptionally cold weather. Oui Oui (III/IV), an icefall just off the road in Creag Dubh has been getting a lot of traffic – not least from MMC members. Heavy Whalley, Martin Collins and Phil Whitfield all report climbing it in the last week. With the thaw now setting in, it might be some time before it forms again. Heavy also did a wee route in Glen Kishorn that he has dubbed Farewell Falls (III). “Mark Sinclair MMC and I did this at Kishorn in…
Jan 2010 Bus Meet: Cairngorm CANCELLED
Sunday, 17th January 2010 O.S.Map(s): 36 Est. time of arrival: 9.30 am Time of departure: 16.30 pm Leave Elgin: 7.00 am The first Bus Meet of the New Year and time to burn off all those excess calories! The bus will be going as far as the Ski Centre carpark, where it will wait for the day. Members should choose their itineraries carefully. At time of writing (8 January) the forecast is for another week to ten days of sub-zero conditions, so do check the MWIS and SAIS websites for weather and avalanche risk and plan accordingly. Remember you are responsible for your own safety! Needless to say, ice axes…
J Alister Sword Photo Awards 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010, 8.00 pm Glen Moray Distillery, Bruceland Rd. Elgin For this, the second annual J Alister Sword Photo Awards, we are changing the format from an online competition to a real time event! There are two categories again – Scotland and the rest of the world. Members should only submit a maximum of 2 photos per category. Members are asked to print off their selected photographs and take them along to the event for judging. We have invited Bob Bruce, Senior Photographer for the Northern Scot, to come along and judge the event. Also, Alan Duncan and Dan Moysey will each be making a short slideshow presentation…