Meet Report
1st to 3rd December 2002 - Raeburn's Hut
There was a full contingent for the last hut meet of the year with
an overspill at the nearby Pottery bunkhouse. In theory we had 12 spaces
in Raeburn's hut with 4 reserved for Scottish Mountaineering club members.
However the number of places and bed spaces appeared to be based on people
of midget like proportions or a need for some rather intimate contact.
Anyway we spread out to the two bedrooms and hoped the SMC would not
arrive.
Gillian was most distraught to discover on Friday evening that the
planned double Corbett trip would only be a singleton following a demotion.
This prompted a rapid change of route plan to ensure that the "real"
Corbett was done first.
Saturday morning was particularly dark even for December and the
kitchen resembled a war time bunker - that was until we realised that
the shutters were still on the windows.
It was one of those days when there were about 100 different shades
of grey around. West was definitely best with the main group's circular
walk being right on the cusp of the east/west divide. Cloudy on Beinn
a Chaorainn and sunshine on Beinn Teallach. Martin and Alan did two
Corbetts and then came back over an unconnected Munro and top on the
basis that it was easier to do this than come back along the track.
I wasn't convinced myself. David and Fiona left at the crack of dawn
and continued their early season blitz of routes in the Northern corries,
the technical term for the conditions being "stonking". Lesley and Owen
enjoyed an extended breakfast before tackling their Graham and expressed
concern about the arrangements for the key. The rest of us were not
too bothered, knowing that they would be back first anyway, even after
the obligatory tea room stop [and yes they did get back first].
There was a tense moment on Saturday evening when headlights shone
and 4 people strode purposely up to the hut. Fortunately it was only
the Pottery overspill bearing gifts of mince pies and left-over wine.
Most of the conversation that evening cannot be repeated for fear of
self-incrimination. The cultural section of the club panned art flick
Morvern Callar which had not had a bad review until then. It is not
clear whether Anne's view could be taken into account though since
she walked out of the film after half an hour.
Sunday seemed to be more of the same, but a bit colder and clearer.
Good bleak winter walking. Apparently lots of Corbetts and Grahams were
done by more or less the same groups as the day before.
Alison C