Meall Glas, Sunday 20 Feb. 2011

Meall Glas, Sunday 20 Feb. 2011--

Once again, the weather forecast threw a spanner in the works of the scheduled walk. The walk was supposed to be on the Saturday, but the forecast was for strong winds and snow, with blizzards possible. It looked very likely that it would be dangerous to try to even get to the start point in Glen Dochart. So we chose to give it a miss, and try on Sunday instead, which had a much better forecast.

By we, I mean Ralph, Sue, Bruce and me. Sunday did look much better and the drive was uneventful, although there was a little snow at the roadside (from Saturday?).

The start of the walk was up fairly easy slopes, with the snow level low down. As we went higher, the snow became deeper, which was hard going. It didn't help when I walked across a flat area of snow to discover that it covered a deep, water-filled hole. Cold, wet feet after only less than an hour!

We were navigating by map and compass as all the hills were covered with cloud. Then we came across some footprints that were going in our direction (there had been a couple of cars at the start point). As they had kindly broken trail for us, we decided to follow them, while constantly checking that they were still going our way! Nevertheless, the going was still hard work and it became steeper and craggier. We were using our ice-axes, but did not need crampons as the snow was very soft.

Close to the top, we met our three trail-blazers coming down. They had been contemplating doing Sgiath Chuill as well, (as had we), but decided against it as there was the possibility of avalanche.

The summit was windy and cold, so we beat a hasty retreat to find somewhere for a break. Then it was down, following the tracks again. Another Munro to add to the lists of Ralph, Sue and Bruce ( I had already done this hill, but years ago in much better conditions). Altogether a successful, but viewless day.

John Burton

Email Lists

 I am sorry to report that the club email lists (NHCmembers and NHCcommittee) no longer work. Any emails sent to them disappear without trace. They will not be delivered. I am not sure exactly when this change happened but I would recommend that any emails sent on or after Monday 31st January be re-sent by other means.

With hindsight, this was bound to happen sooner or later. The lists depended on email features provided by my Internet Service Provider - Freedom2 Surf, who  have  been swallowed up by Talk Talk Business, a very much larger company and they have  "consolidated" their email services. When I signed up with Freedom2Surf  (5 or 6 years ago), they promoted themselves as "an ISP for IT professionals" and provided a more functional service that most other ISPs but without the marketing gizmos (six free downloads from Itunes etc !). In today's Internet, this is probably not a viable business model. Nowadays, it is all about numbers of customers and very large numbers (millions) at that.

I am investigating alternative ways of providing the mail list facility.

Nevis Hillwalking Club Evening Meeting

The Nevis Hillwalking Club is holding an evening meeting, open to all, at the Loch Leven Hotel, Old Ferry Road, North Ballachulish, on Thursday 3rd March 2011 at 19h30.  This is an opportunity for a sociable evening for members and their friends and acquaintances.  The main subject of the evening will be:-


                            “Climbing the Munros and Munro Tops”


        An illustrated talk by Norman Wares, our latest “Compleat Munroist”

Norman joined the Nevis Hillwalking Club in 2006.  He has now climbed all 283 Munro summits, and the 227 subsidiary Tops.  He is keen to make this presentation as a way of thanking the Club and its members for all the support given to him over these past few years.


Norman has numerous photographs, many featuring Club members.  He will show pictures of the more interesting outings that led up to his completion of the main summits, and then describe what was involved in bagging the Tops.  He is aware that his audience will include hillwalkers more experienced than him as well as others who aspire to meet the challenge of finishing the Munros, and has prepared his presentation accordingly.

All members, past and present, members of other clubs and anyone who shares our interest in the Scottish Hills are welcome.  The Hotel will make no charge for the use of the room, and hopes therefore that participants will avail themselves of refreshments from the bar.

Andrew Gilbert (Chairman)

Beinn Dubhchraig--alternative walk, Sunday 30 Jan.

The forecast was for strong winds and low cloud, so to avoid possible disappointment after a long drive to Drumochter, Ralph and I decided to try nearer to home. Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss seemed like a good idea.

We arrived at Dalrigh just after 8 am, having driven through some sleet showers. But the weather at Tyndrum was OK, so we followed the track towards the hills looking for the bridge over the Allt Coire Dubhchraig. After a short distance, the bridge had not materialised, so we crossed the river on the rocks, joining a path on the other side. Here we were walking through the lovely remnant of the old Caledonian pine forest, which seemed to make the walking easier.

Coming out of the forest on to the floor of the coire, we encountered the first of the snow. Behind us, we could see quite clearly, but ahead the hills were in cloud. After climbing towards the ridge for a while, we put on crampons, and then entered the cloud. There was a breeze that was cold, but not too strong.

On reaching the wide and lumpy ridge, with poor visibility, we took out the GPS and discovered that we were not very far from the summit. After navigating over the confusing terrain using the GPS and map and compass, we reached the summit cairn. We could only see for around 15 metres, and the wind had become stonger and was bitingly cold. So we decided that Ben Oss would have to wait for another day.

On retracing our tracks down the hill, we found ourselves on a different path to the one we had ascended. This followed a delightful burn leading back into the forest. This path was boggy in some places, but frozen hard in others, and led us eventually to the bridge that we had missed on the way up.

The drive home was uneventful, (not like a previous one!) and we arrived home unusually early before 4 pm.

John Burton