This was our winter skills meet in Glencoe when the mountains are at their best and most beautiful - but undoubtedly most dangerous.
Staying in Ballachulish Village Hall, we had hired guides to teach our new members the skills for staying safe while enjoying the hills.
They learned how to walk with crampons, arrest falls with ice axes, navigate with a map and compass, and assess snow conditions for avalanche risk.
The more experienced club members also got out on the hills.
On the Saturday, it was snowing above 800m and the mountains were in cloud, but nonetheless, we had parties on Bidean nam Bian, the Ballachulish Horseshoe, the Buchaille Etive Beag, and Crypt Route on the Buchaille Etive Mor.
I tackled a mountain near Kinlochleven called Garbh Beinn, but our summit bid was unsuccessful due to a slight navigation error.
Once we fixed it and realised we had to go down a significant way and then back up, we had too little daylight left to make the top.
Backing off is par for the course in winter.
Saturday night we celebrated a belated Burns supper.
Two of our club members brought enough haggis, neeps, and tatties to feed more than 20 people and got straight to cooking after a long day on Bidean.
A Burns supper would not be a Burns supper without all the trimmings, so we were sure to give it the full treatment.
I piped in the haggis, albeit on uilleann (Irish) pipes, and Duncan Butler, who is from Fife, gave an excellent address to the haggis in Scots that would have made Burns proud.
A few people had a late start on Sunday, enjoying a lazy day of lie-ins, yoga, tea, and slacklining.
But with the forecast looking better than Saturday, a few groups headed for the hills.
The guides took out more new members for winter skills training, while other parties climbed Curved Ridge on the Buchaille Etive Mor, the Ballachulish Horseshoe, and Sgor na h-ulaidh.
A couple experienced climbers took some novices up the Buchaille Etive Beag for an impromptu winter skills day.
Emily Donoho:
"I tackled a mountain near Kinlochleven called Garbh Beinn, but our summit bid was unsuccessful due to a slight navigation error.
Once we fixed it and realised we had to go down a significant way and then back up, we had too little daylight left to make the top.
Backing off is par for the course in winter."
We went up Na Gruagaichean, a Munro in the Mamore range. The weather was not quite as advertised – the tops remained cloudy and snowy – but we made our way around the narrow ridges sweeping down from the mountain’s pointy summit.
On the descent, we joined the army. Really, we joined the army, catching up with about 30 recruits doing some kind of mountain skills training.
It was a successful meet. Mountains got climbed, and our new members got some winter skills that will make everyone safer and happier in winter conditions.
Now we just need some more snow.
* The Glasgow University Mountaineering Club is one of the largest sports clubs at the university, with just under 200 paying student members as well as an active community of alumnae. The club was founded in 1938 and joined the Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA) in 1941. It accommodates students of all abilities, from experienced climbers to people who are venturing into the mountains for the first time.
