I was a little worried about the weather this weekend as I had applied a little pressure on Elizabeth to finish her Corbetts before the year turned, partly as I knew she would have difficulty waiting and partly because I wanted the hill myself ( four to go). So on the Friday night 10 keen Glenmorons assembled at the National Trust bunk house at Morvich to take the Sgurr Gaorsaic challenge. The forecast was not promising.

Elizabeth, Phyllis, Gill, Arthur, Garrey, Rosie. Gordon, Sue, Mary Cox and Mary Cunningham acted as witnesses. John A and Ania were unable to make the ceremony but sent a telegram.

Saturday was as wet as predicted but luckily the wind was comparatively light. The trip up Gleann Choinneachain was enlivened by a couple of trick river crossings which were even wilder on our return. Needless to say we didn’t see any other parties on the hills. This Glen is particulary atmospheric and at times the cloud hung low in the valley. The Falls of Glomach would have been particularly fine.

The river and lochan outflow in Glen Affric were tricky to pass and few, if any returned with unsodden feet. The summit party was granted a panorama by the mountain Gods and a brief party occurred in the shelter of a hummock.

After a leisurely return we spruced up and celebrated in the dry with a fine meal, drinks and even a toast. Too much coal had been brought and the roaring coal fire resulted in the radiators being turned off and windows opened. Gentlemen even removed their jackets before the port.

On Sunday Mary Cunningham came up the Brothers with Garrey, Rosie, Sue and myself. Garrey parked their new campervan at the start with my Skoda and ended up sheltering in Mary’s Berlingo at the end. What a waste when they had heat and warm clothes just down the road. We set off up a newly restored path that led to Sgurr nan Spainteach. This route option was advertised on a leaflet we had picked up in the NTS bunkhouse. While it was easier than my previous direct assaults on Bealach an Lapain below Saileag it turned west and took us away from the bealach. This left us with an awkward traverse back over to gain the main ridge. About this point some snow started to fall and lie on the hills. While it never became a complete cover, it was enough to throw us off route when coming off Sgurr a Bealaich Dheirg the second Munro.

Garrey and Rosie bailed out after two Munros but Mary took the third before we had a tricky descent through some cut forestry. We made a mistake of following an old stalkers path too far, towards Clunie, rather than taking the intended steep drop off the edge. However, I’ve had more unpleasant experiences coming off hills. Mary Cunningham spent the night at Cluanie Inn and Garrey and Rosie joined her for dinner, after tea and scones we hit the road and returned to Glasgow.

Congratulations to Elizabeth on her 1^st round of Corbetts.

Gordon