"Does anyone at that end of the room fancy doing the log book?" But I’m the only person at that end of the room!

A little later in the evening we experienced one of those moments when all of the conversations except one died at exactly the same moment and we were all left eaves-dropping on a lovely Lady saying in a delightful light Yorkshire accent "… but there are no old men in this room." As I have said a lovely lady.

The delights of Cannich Youth Hostel in case you need reminding -

. Minimalist heating,

. fully automated condensation to the windows,

. a hot water tank sufficient for two showers (between 50 people),

. 3 number ancient gas hobs all partially non operational and broken and giving off the smell of gas,

. 1 number modern cooker (circa 1950) in which the oven was not working,

. 1 electric kettle and no urn (between 50 people),

. No gas available on Saturday morning leaving only the one kettle amongst the multitude,

. a warden who was never around when required,

. top beds which can be accessed without a ladder but bottom bunks can only be entered with a roll, and then you are at great risk if the person on the top bunk is heavy.

. and add your own gripe here -

.

.

. On arrival 5 of our party immediately cut their losses and booked into the comforts of a nearby chalet.

Luckily, to the Glenmorons, adversity is but a challenge so the limitations of the hostel were soon overcome with good banter, a drink of ale and, for some, by going out for a good meal in a warm restaurant.

Weather forecasts just aren’t what they were. This is my 3^rd club meet in a row when we were promised dire weather only to be ‘disappointed’ by some lovely days. In fact I came back dry every day of the weekend and had fine views from every summit visited. The conditions underfoot were mixed with a lot of soft drifted snow (particularly in the approaches) but with a lot of good water ice both on the paths in and on the ridges. On the Sunday we had nearly 5 hours continuous use of our crampons.

It is probably a first for the club on a Scottish meet to have 3 separate sightings of Lizards on the same day but on separate mountains. Also spotted in the snow at 2,500ft was a tiny field vole. Obviously Spring is on its way.

In short a good weekend.

On the Saturday we had two parties on Tom Chonnich and Toll Creagach (Dave & Alice Harrison, Roger + Ann Dean, Daves Broadfoot & Foster, Ian McNab, Mary Cox and David Young), one on Carn na Gobhar and Sgurr na Lapaich (Sue Johnston, Brian Mcdaid, Phyllis Smith, Liz Maitland, Chris Everet, Gill & Arthur & Johns Anderson + Donnelly), one on Sgurr na Fearstaig, Sgurr Fhuar-thuill and Sgurr a’ Choire Ghlais (Colin + Malcolm Farrow + Jo Clements) with the final party of Alan Stevens, Caroline Thompson, Stella Lowder, Elspeth Kennedy, Monica Farrow and James Smith climbing Beinn a’ Bha’ach Ard and Sgurr a’ Phollain.

Sunday saw the above persons in differently grouped climbing Carn Gorm , Sgurr na Ruadhe, Beinn a’Bha’ach Ard, Mam Sodhail, Carn Eighe, Sgurr na Lapaich (Glen Affric), Bac an Eich, Carn nan Gabhar, Sgurr na Lapaich (Glen Cannich), Sgur nan Clechan Geala and Glas Toll. Dave and Alice Harrison however are now getting their kicks in a different way, going one up on Confluxes, by bagging grid references with NH 289426, 273439 and 259430 all safely ticked.

On Monday most folk were for heading home except for Dave and Alice who were really getting into their grid references with NH 361435.