Sunday, 16 March 2008

A perfect winter day rewarded all 24 members and guests who attended this bus meet.

Ken Ross headed off for the east end of Glen Quoich via Mam na Selig and enjoyed a great day spotting lots of wildlife.

Alan and Fiona Duncan ascended Corbett Geal Carn from Loch Garry. The plentiful amount of deep, soft snow was deemed a nuisance but they still had a fantastic day with excellent views. Alan recommends climbing the hill from Loch Arkaig rather than from the north, as it took over four hours to reach the summit!  Graeme Morrison went up the same Corbett and continued to Meall na h-eilde. Fiona thought she would spice up the day by “misplacing” her crampons: It is still unclear whether she has lost them or if they are still hiding at the bottom of her rucksack.

Further west, John Henderson and Graham Milton set off at breakneck speed via the track on the south side of Gairich to do the Corbett Sgurr an Fhuarain. After a long pull up to the top in soft snow, they were also greeted with spectacular views of the rugged hills of Knoydart, which inspired our club bards to pen the following “rhyme”:

“I must go down to the sea again
To the lonely sea and sky
I left my towel and trunks there
And I wonder if they are dry”

Simon Willatts also set off from the dam and reached the summit of Gairich in good time. He continued west to descend and returned via the south side of the hill along a decent track through the glen. He encountered a lot of frogs.

Drummond Beattie and Val Kemp also enjoyed an excellent day on Gairich with amazing views in all directions.

Graeme Bartlett completed a traverse from the east ridge of Spidean Mialach over to Gleouraich and descended via the hill’s south shoulder. David Brown Douglas, Graeme Gunn, Ray Harron, Bob Macdonald, Lee Madden, Natacha Mihajlovic, Rob Murray and guest David Strathdee followed the same route taking in some amazing winter views and unnecessary risks for the best cornice picture.

Sgurr na Mhaoracih was the hill Corinne Ferguson, Simon Fildes, Illona Morrice and Maggie Paterson chose to climb. They enjoyed fantastic views of Knoydart, Rum, Eigg and Skye on their way up. They headed down over the Am Bathaich ridge and had to put their crampons on as it was quite icy. Back at the loch side, they headed south and were back at the bus in a timely fashion.

Moira Baptie and Morven Bridges also had a good day out around the west end of Loch Quoich.

Natacha Mihajlovic

See more pictures from this meet on the Flickr page