Meet to The Cabin, Laggan, 15th–17th April, 2016
Present: Audrey Litterick, Morag McDonald, Graeme Morrison, Brian Shackleton, Douglas Vipond & Andy Walker.
First to arrive at The Cabin on Friday were Douglas and Graeme, closely followed by Morag, who had driven down from Inverness. By the time Brian reached this comfortable hut in the late evening, the stove was radiating an abundant and soporific heat. Despite his late arrival, Brian was up at 5.30am on Saturday and away by 6.00, travelling north to Inverness where he collected a Canadian acquaintance, Artem, for a visit to Wester Ross. They climbed the Terminal Buttress of Liathach followed by the magnificent Northern Pinnacles, then traversed the mountain on virgin snow before descending to the road around midnight.
Rising at a rather later hour, Douglas, Morag and Graeme drove to Moy and followed the long ridge northwards to the summit of Creag Meagaidh. It was an exceptionally cold day for mid-April, with the northerly wind bringing excellent visibility but a few sharp snow-squalls too. From the summit they descended to the Window, cutting a step or two in the névé, then continued over Stob Poite Coir’ Ardair and Càrn Liath before coming down to Aberarder, where Douglas’s car had been left in the morning. A lasting memory of the day was the impressive retrospect of Coire Ardair, with ample snow still filling the Posts. Remarkably the car-park, which is such a hive of activity at winter weekends, had been deserted despite the evidently good conditions. Does everyone assume that winter climbing must end at Easter?
Radio Scotland’s Take the Floor gladdened the heart on the drive back to The Cabin, where Andy and Audrey had arrived in the early evening and rekindled the fire. After a leisurely meal, and taking their cue perhaps from the inextinguishable Robbie Shepherd, the girls played a medley of tunes on the fiddle, until fresh air and exercise presently exacted their toll of drowsiness.
Next morning the early risers were astonished to find Brian stretched asleep on the settee by the fire. He had returned to the hut at 3 a.m., after fourteen hours on the hill and a long drive south from Torridon. Outside the hut, Artem snored parsimoniously in his bivouac tent.
Sunday was a day of stronger winds. Andy and Audrey took to their bicycles and approached Meall Cuaich with the NW wind at their backs. They were glad to find some shelter on starting their descent from the stormy summit. Meanwhile Douglas and Graeme followed Wade’s road towards the Corryarick Pass, before striking off to climb Gairbeinne, a Corbett with a pleasantly rocky summit. Morag joined her friend Rona at Roy Bridge for a walk, while Brian and Artem, having driven hopefully to Coire Cas, decided there was too much wind and new snow to allow winter climbing.
It is a shame so few members were able to attend this meet, as the hills were a fine sight in their snowy garb beneath the April sun.
