The Ochils Mountaineering Club

On Saturday afternoon Jen, Freya and me took a walk up Creag Uchdag above Glen Lednock, and gave Freya's carry-sack a test drive. There was heavy rain and a wee bit of thunder over the Central Belt, but we stayed dry. Photos here

Today I went up to the East Face of Aonach Dubh with my father and climbed Spider Right-Hand, which is an excellent shortish route which I found quite hard! We might have climbed a bit more, but the rain came on. Photos here

How did others fare?

Just came doon from the Isle of Skye.
Congratulations to Trish for climbing the In.Pin, to Jean for leading it and to Lucy for cycling from Sligachan to Fort William.
Saturday. Trish,Jean, Mhairi,Moira,Colin,Ian,Adrian and myself slogged up the west ridge of Sgurr Dearg in drizzly rain under a mass of ropes and gear (except for me ((sore shoulder))).
As we got higher the mist grew thinner and the rock drier. Adrian led Tricia and Colin up the In Pin. Then Jean led Ian and me and then put moral pressure on us by standing on the Bolster Stone.
The mist had been swirling about revealing tantalising views into Coire Lagan and then it slowly lifted revealing all the Cuillin peaks as if in a white sea of liquid nitrogen and we were bathed in brilliant sunshine. A great day.
Lucy and Nigel climbed part of the way up up Sgurr nan Gillean but gave up due to the weather.I must apologise to Allison. I didn't find out what she did but I doubt if she got above the cloud.
In the pub in the evening we were joined by Elke, Roddy and Andy who had come up in the morning and had traversed Sgurr a Mhadaidh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh.
Sunday. Lucy left in the morning with the intention of cycling as far down the road as she could before we caught up with her. Nigel joined Ian, Adrian, Andrew (Moira's nephew) and myself on the Bhasteir Tooth and Am Bhasteir. Elke,Tricia,Roddy and Andy climbed Bruach na Frithe. I don't know what everyone else did.
Like Saturday the weather improved throughout the day but the contrast wasn't as marked. It ended up so warm however that Adrian decided to take a dip in the river on the way down.
We eventually caught up with Lucy in Fort William. She had cycled down through heavy rain and against strong head-winds and was doubtless unimpressed by our accounts of the weather in Skye.
Thanks to all for the company and to Nigel and Lucy for the lift and the use of your camper van when my gas ran out.
A memorable weekend.

Rod and I had a 75th birthday to attend on Friday night and as the forecast was for improvements on Saturday afternoon, we made our way to Skye on Saturday morning, picking up Andy en route. Andy persuaded us that Sgurr a'Mhadaidh and Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh could easily be done on an afternoon (we had previously done them as part of a great horseshoe). The fact that these two Munros were missing from his 3rd Munro Round list persuaded us that his was a good plan. Saturday afternoon saw us heading for An Dorus, with the clouds still hanging low, making route finding slightly difficult. However, once we had decided on the correct route, the clouds suddenly cleared to reveal a blue skye. On reaching the ridge, we were rewarded with cloud inversion and views from Sgurr nan Gillean to the In Pin - where we presumed the rest of the OMC contingent to be, with Tricia fulfilling her long-harboured dream of climbing the In Pin. A good day was had by all and we even made it back in time for dinner at the Sligachan. Contrary to expectations, Sunday dawned cloudy, which caused us a few problems deciding what we were going to do. Eventually, we got ourselves sorted out and Andy, Roddy, Tricia and I headed for Bruach na Frithe (1st time for Tricia, 3rd time for me, 4th time for Andy - Roddy has lost count of how many times he has been up the hill). Another group set out to climb the Basteir Tooth (we had 1st class seats to watch this spectacle just down from Bruach na Frithe!) while others went up Am Basteir, relaxed in Portree and at the Sligachan or went up a Marilyn (?) near the campsite and 2 at Kyle of Lochalsh and headed for home. The weather improved greatly - nursing a sunburn today! We passed Lucy, the intrepid cyclist, shortly before Fort William. She had cycled ca. 88 miles by this point (!) and it had started to rain heavily. Great weekend - thanks for organising it, Moira!

P.S. Posted this without having seen Jim's post.

Hi

Indeed a marvelous weekend, well done Trish for bagging the in pin! I dibbed out of doing the pin with the rest of the clan on sat due to having done it twice before in cr@p weather and wanting to see something the 3rd time. Having seen the photos I wish I had joined in! The weather Gillean side was maybe a wee bit worse, with us getting to about 650M up the right hand side of the Corrie and still seeing nowt. A combination of no views, and Lucy being a wee bit nervious of the scrambling meant we were down for 5:30PM, and shopping for apple pie/wine in Portree by 6!

Going back to sat morn... daylight revealed that some daft bugger had practically parked in a ditch, and could not move his camper! (guess who!?) The troops lent a hand, shovel, rope & car and between us we managed to shove it out before the cavelry arrived in a 4x4 with nowt to do! Cheers to the troops for the hand, and hope you liked the wine/pie!

Gillean, Am Bastier, tooth & co all came out to play in the evening, offering us some splendid views and evening sunshine on the site.

Well done Loops on Sunday for beating us to Ft Bill! I can only echo Jims comments about sun. Naismiths is a nice wee route, with a hell of a feeling of exposure at the top! Bagging the tooth and laying down and peering off the edge revealed how far down it was. The scramble up to Am Bastier from the tooth was also very enjoyable.

Weather for sky today is supposed to be wonderfull - in complete contrast to the rain out the window at the moment in Edi... Shame I am here and not still there...

Of note is that this is the third weekend in a row that the MWIS forecast has been complete boswolocks!! Rain... wot bl00dy rain!!

Photos: http://www.ochils...om_gallery2/Itemid,87/?g2_itemId=8625

Nigel

Skye sounds great, and we'd like to borrow Lucy for our cycling holiday, to pull Freya's trailer.

Nigel Webber wrote:
Of note is that this is the third weekend in a row that the MWIS forecast has been complete boswolocks!! Rain... wot bl00dy rain!!
I'm going to defend them here! It has certainly been a bit pessimistic, and was way out the past couple of weekends, but for the NW this weekend past it said there'd be some light rain on Saturday morning, improving later, and mostly dry with some cloud on Sunday.
I wasn't on Skye, but isn't this exactly what Jim just described?
The Southern Highlands on Saturday were predicted to have scattered afternoon showers, which they did (though they were well scattered, with many places staying dry). It said Glencoe would start cloudy on Sunday, clearing up, with showers likely in the afternoon, and that's exactly what happened (though it was bone dry and sunny at Crianlarich on the way home). I think they got the gist of it right this time, it was just a bit better than they thought and they got the track of the crossing front a bit wrong.

two Marilyns on Saturday -- no views on the summits - went back to sea level between them so quite a hike - lovely just watching the view from lower down

Sunday - Ben Lee - before the rest of you got up !
then Auchtertyre Hill from Auchtertyre (where else!) - 450m high and a brilliant view
I just could not comprehend what was Skye and what was not - trackless and untouched
fourth time lucky for a view

sign at the start saying 'killer horse in the field'
now Elke had told me a story earlier about someone she knows with an unusual method of calming down horses........
but I chose to avoid the field instead -


met Lucy as I waited for a lift back to my kit in which was left in Kyle
- she very kindly gave me some sun cream , much appreciated
so four Marilyns and a brilliant weekend


unfortunatlely for the woman who was waiting at the bus stop with me in Sligachan a less happy outcome , she had had to abandon her Skye trip after falling on Sgurr Dubh Mor on Saturday ,although not badly injured she said she had taken a battering from the rocks

newsletter article anyone .....

perhaps Saturday's ropework ..........

Added Jeans Pics...

http://www.ochils...om_gallery2/Itemid,87/?g2_itemId=8625

Ha! Ha! Thought you'd got off lightly there, Nigel, but Ade can tell you that I am trigger happy with a camera when there are view about, so there are a futher 16 of the In Pin trip now uploaded, and about 9 of the Am Basteir trip John, Janet and I did. Can you add them please? (I did send you an e-mail when I'd done them all). And Ade, that was less than half of what I took!!!

Now that I have figured out how to do them individually (a bit convoluted at this end), there may be some retro ones of Swanage etc turning up. You never know...

Great weekend. Well done Trish. I will put all pics on a CD for you as a memento of your trip.

Jean

Kate and I enjoyed a late start up Meall Greigh in the Lawers range on Saturday setting off about 4.30pm. Parked up at the dam past the NTS centre overnight. A wee wander to add to Kate's tick list on Sunday up the eastern end of the Carn Mairg ring in baking hot weather. Pints in the Fortingall hotel to rehydrate on the way home.
Good stuff
jd

Our weekend started on Sunday morning when we headed down to Borrowdale in the Lakes. There was perfect sunshine and a forecast of thunder did not deter us. However, a shower at the base of Quayfoot Buttress caused a delay and an Owls nest on the route would have rendered it an aberration to climb. Detouring via the Bowderstone to the car we spotted a crag, Woden's Face. The sun was out again, everything dry, and scorching temperatures (mid 20's) urged us to climb. We decided upon Woden's Face Direct and Jeanie led off with a clap of thunder. Rumbles accompanied her throughout the route and as she placed her final hex the thought occurred to her that she was in fact holding aloft a lightning conductor atop a crag during an imminent thunderstorm. Having arrived at the stance, Jeanie coiled both ropes in the time it took me to tie my shoe laces and we fled. Not a moment too soon as the heavens opened as we departed the crag.

Monday was glorious with wall to wall sunshine and roasting temperatures, another shorts & t-shirts day. Gillercombe Buttress proved to be a fabulous climb in a great setting. It's the second time I've climbed the route (first time with Iain) which proved usefull as we'd forgotten the guidebook. Mind you, on a classic rock lakes route the way forward is usually obvious - follow the polish!! We lounged about in the sunshine at the top.