The Moray Mountaineering Club’s Hogmanay meet was held at Carn Dearg Mountaineering Club’s Breadownie Hut in Glen Clova. The hut was opened in 2016, after ten years of planning, fundraising and hard-graft. It certainly ticks all the relevant boxes for facilities, space and location. The only downside is that it takes hours and hours and hours to get there. The meet was spread over three days, with most folk arriving on Tuesday 31 December. Tuesday was a glorious warm sunny day and various parties made the most of the weather. Alan and Fiona Duncan called in at Strath Isla and climbed Monamenach. Evelyne walked from Glen Clova Hotel to Loch…

Date:          Nights of 7 & 8 February 2020 Venue:       Inbhirfhaolain, Glen Etive, 7 miles from the A82.  Google Streetview, Grid Ref NN159507. Facilities:  Sleeps 13 on two sleeping platforms.  Mattresses are supplied, but bring a sleeping bag. Electric lighting, heating, cooking and refrigeration; utensils provided; multifuel stove; water from burn (100 yards); Clivus composting toilet. No shower. Cost:            £15pp  (plus coins for electricity meter) The Grampian Club’s Inbhirfhaolain mountaineering hut in Glen Etive is a basic, but comfortable hut.  It is situated in close proximity to a plethora of mountains, hills, humps, bumps and classic climbs.  Wet weather options…

Mill Cottage is a wonderful bunkhouse situated in the woods at Feshiebridge. Being December it seemed to be dark most of the time, nonetheless, through the trees the River Feshie was occasionally visible. Alistair started the weekend early with a quick nip up Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair where he met a couple from Cornwall who were having a year off to climb the munros. The BRB “it was OK”. The weather forecast for Saturday threatened rain from about lunchtime, so there was an incentive (not necessarily actioned) to start early. Evelyn Droege and Debbie Raymont started at “8:30am from Auchlean car park while it was vaguely dry and walked through…

It’s November so it must be Inchnadamph. The tradition of the annual meet to Inchnadamph was upheld in fine form by twenty members this year. For some the weekend again started early on Friday. Evelyn walked up Glen Kirkaig to the falls and further up for the views of Suilven, Stac Pollaidh and Cul Mor enjoying the lovely autumn colours of the birchwoods. Simon climbed Ben Stac in an increasingly strong and cold wind.. Frustatingly there was mist on the summit so views were limited but not so limited that he couldn’t see that Arkle was totally clear and bathed in sunshine all day. The mountain weather forecast for Saturday…

Date:           Nights of Tue 31 Dec 2019, Wed 1 and Thurs 2 Jan 2020, i.e. 3 nights. Venue:        Braedownie, Glen Clova, OS Grid Reference NO 286 757 Facilities:  Kitchen, shower, toilets, alpine bunks (bring a good SLEEPING BAG) Cost:            £30 total for the holiday The hogmanay meet this year is based at Carn Dearg Mountaineering Club’s brand new Braedownie hut located in Glen Clova.  The meet is traditionally a great opportunity for some eating, drinking, socialising and even a little outdoor activity.  Folk usually bring some food to share for evening meals and sometimes folk even put on their best…

Date:         Nights of Fri 6 and Sat 7 December 2019 Venue:      Mill Cottage, Feshiebridge. Google Maps. Grid Reference NH 847 047 Facilities: Full cooking and dining facilities, all electric. Shower, toilets, drying room, multi-fuel stove in lounge, firewood and coal (kindling not provided). Cost:         £10pppn This is a great location for exploring the wonderful Glenfeshie, or the less well know Glen Tromie. The obvious big hills are Mullach Clach a’ Blair and Sgor Gaoith with its lofty summit sitting high above Loch Eanaich.  If the weather does not cooperate, then there are plenty of low-level wanders through the ancient pine woods.  Some good mountain…

This year’s traditional meet to Skye, with a good crowd of 20 people, was notable for several reasons – the organiser actually attended for the first time in six months; we had the key code in good time so we knew we would get in and everything worked. It was also notable for the sheer length of all the entries in the big red book, so this report will be a heavily abbreviated version. For several the weekend started early and Friday saw Adrian M and Minnie (his dog) on Blaven enjoying the great views in the late afternoon. Meanwhile Carol J and Adele N, before Carol started writing War…

Date:           Nights of Fri 1 and Sat 2 November 2019 Venue:        Inchnadamph Lodge (Google Maps) Grid Reference NC 252 218 Facilities:  Well equipped kitchen, drying room, loads of space, log fires, bunks Cost:           £17.50 pppn  for the dorm and £27 pppn for the twin rooms, (£5 pppn camper’s charge applies) A mere two days is grossly inadequate to do justice to Assynt.  Activities include lots of great hills (Ben Mor Assynt, Conival and Glas Bheinn are all on the doorstep), caving (See Caves of Assynt by SNH), climbing at Reiff and kayaking. Saturday night is traditionally fancy dress.  This year’s theme…

On Thursday afternoon #Fa’sTheLingKey, #FtShallWeDo and #TheBoot were all trending on the MMC social media platforms. We had a problem: the Ling Hut key had not arrived in the post. Those in the know may suggest looking under the “obvious” stone. But in Torridon there are a lot of stones, most of which are pretty obvious. After some considerable head scratching, we decided that that the situation was so serious that we needed to call Burghead Mountain Rescue. BMR duly supplied a key, for which we are very grateful. My first memories of the Ling hut are from the MMC’s Hogmanay meet over ten years ago. In those days the…

Date:           Nights of Fri 4 and Sat 5 October 2019 Venue:        Glenbrittle Memorial Hut, Glenbrittle, Skye Location:   Glenbrittle, Skye. OS Grid Ref: NG412216, Google StreetView Facilities:  18 bunks (sleeping bags required), well equiped kitchen, drying room, showers, WCs Cost:            £10.00 per person per night (usual £5 pppn camper’s charge applies) The Glenbrittle hut is ideally situated for access to the Cuillin Ridge. Literally walk out the door for access to the hills from Sgurr na Banachdich to Sgurr nan Eag. Nearby Hills: Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Frithe, Sgurr Mhadaidh, Sgurr Ghreadaidh, Sgurr na Banachdich, Sgurr…