The December meet once again coincided with a named storm – heavy precipitation on Friday evening made the prospect of a car journey not particularly enticing, and the pictograms on the MWIS website indicated that storm Darragh was making any activities at higher ground impossible on Saturday. It’s probably not surprising, that a total of 5 people therefore decided not to come along to the meet, in particular as busy work schedules, lots of life admin and various winter bugs were also at play.

Some of us who were lucky enough to be off work on Friday managed to get out into the hills before the bad weather arrived. Bethany and Kai did a bike & hike up Carn a’ Chlamain and although slightly debating if they should turn left or right along the A9 after their adventure, the promise of great company at Lagganlia was enough to motivate them to not go back to Edinburgh. Emily enjoyed her day on Geal-charn Mor. I had convinced Tim D and Iain R that the Munros plus their tops on the Eastern side of Drumochter was a worthy target for the day. We put crampons or microspikes on at around 700m, as there were plenty of icy patches about. Views were (a little bit) coming and (definitely more) going, but everything looks rather pretty if covered in snow. The rough ground to Glas Mheall Mor was slightly character building, and maybe a slightly tough introduction to the club for Iain R – but he did say he would be back for another meet! Andrew T had decided on the same Munros but opted to give Glas Mheall Mor a miss. Alan H had a failed attempt at procuring a G’s Pizza from Kingussie, so had to resort to making his own dinner once arrived at Lagganlia. Pauline, Dave and Chris Wo were the last ones to arrive at the Sgorans lodge to complete the ensemble for the weekend.

With storm Darragh bringing rain and high winds to the UK, local expert Claire H provided a range of suggestions for low level options and we devised a linear route along the East Highland Way from Inverdruie back to Lagganlia with a visit to Drake’s Bothy. Everyone joined into this very sociable walk, the trees providing a good shelter from wind and rain, and the bothy a welcome dry spot for lunch. The fancy new drying room in the Sgorans lodge was extremely popular after this outing. Afterwards, Claire defeated Kai and Bethany at squash in Aviemore (there was a bit of grumbling about yellow dotted squash balls afterwards), whilst Alan H showed us all of his 6000 photos of penguins and sea leopards taken during his stint on the Falkland islands. Bethany and Kai had also brought a selection of board games to pass the rest of Saturday, and others resorted to working on their laptops or reading a book.

Sunday arrived with slightly calmer weather. I had upset my calf quite a bit during Friday’s walk so headed straight back to Edinburgh. Alan, Iain and Tim went up Meall a’Buchaille (surprisingly not meeting Fiona M on the way), unfortunately it wasn’t really photo taking weather on that hill. Kai and Bethany went for a very wet but very fun gravel ride around Lagganlia, whilst Claire H had a minging day on Geal Charn Mor. Pauline, Dave, Chris and Emily got the best weather on Beinn a’Chuallaich – they even had some sun!

Thanks to everyone who made this such a lovely weekend despite the rather grim conditions – I certainly didn’t regret coming along.

Martha