Thursday 28^th October Indoor Meet Thaw Mountain Clothing.

For those who stayed away thinking this was a girlie event, you missed some excellent slides, from a woman with a past. The more discerning enjoyed spectacular views taken from some of Alison’s adventurous holidays including her gap year from university.

The gap year was spent in Tibet. She and her friend Helene Diamantides spent 10 days hiking across Tibet, more or less trying to live off the land. This wasn’t entirely successful, with problems caused by over-long days and insufficient food. Still, nothing daunted, they pushed on with their "warm up", as this in fact was. The real objective was the run from Everest Basecamp (at 17,000 feet) to Kathmandu, which they duly accomplished at the end of their trip. This took them around 3 days, setting a record which stood for 15 years, and which remains the women’s record almost 20 years on. Tough cookies.

It was after one such action packed holiday that Alison and friend Tracy decided they needed some decent clothing, to fit women’s many shapes and sizes. Also suitable for all types of mountaineering and would look good après the hills. (what’s French for the hills? ) This was when the idea to create their own clothing factory was born. Being a trained engineer has obviously helped in the design process as Thaw clothing, for those of us who have already experienced them, really do work.

The real, does my bum look big in this, fun began after the slide show, when there was the opportunity to try on the samples Alison had brought along. There was much activity as women of all shapes and sizes disappeared into corners throughout the church trying on trousers, tops and fleeces. I’m sure there was some lycra in there somewhere.

For those of us interested in psychology it was a good opportunity to study the expressions on the faces of the male species; feigned boredom was the most apparent, also a fair amount of fear as the cheque books and credit cards were appearing in abundance. In the near future those who missed this evening should have the opportunity to see the clothing modelled on the hills. The new winter catalogue will be in print shortly and Alison has promised to send us some. Glenmore club members get 10% off all mail orders.

Kate Stewart.