Glasgow University Mountaineering Club had its annual dinner meet on the first weekend of February.
Every year we head to Newtonmore, where we stay in a nearby village hall (this year it was Laggan).
And after a day in the hills, we cast aside Gore-Tex and nylon to don formal attire and have a three-course meal and ceilidh at the Highlander Hotel.
I went up a day early for a pre-dinner meet mountain excursion, as the weather on Friday looked promising.
But the forecast predicted winds and white-outs over the weekend.
The good news was that it would be snowing.
The hill was Carn a’Chlamain, a remote Munro in the Perthshire Highlands.
We parked in Blair Atholl and rode mountain bikes 8km along a Land Rover track to a bridge crossing a small burn at the base of the mountain.
Now on foot, the track continues until nearly at the summit, making it an easy Munro.
The peak was quickly bagged with no faff, then back down to the bikes for the best bit: a downhill cycle to the car.
As promised, Saturday brought rain at low altitudes, with wind and snow up high.
But the club was, for the most part, undaunted.
A few people went climbing in Coire an t-Sneachda; some up Fiacaill Ridge; and others squeezing climbs out of the corrie’s frozen turf, rocks, and old snow.
There, nothing was quite in condition due to the frustrating failure of winter to fully appear.
Two ice axes were lost (one was found). Another group hiked up a Munro called Craig Pitridh, and a few more, including myself, had lazier low level walks.
I looked at some class V rapids on the Spey and got lost in some forestry, while another party tackled the beach at Loch Morlich and the Aviemore Tesco.
That evening, everyone arrived at the Highlander Hotel in their best suits, kilts, dresses, and skirts.
It’s the same tradition every year: the three-course dinner, the president wearing a silly costume giving the annual awards for 'Mountaineer of the Year', 'Climber of the Year', the 'Golden Boot' (for whoever has done the daftest thing that year, often but not exclusively in the mountains), and the 'Drinker of the Year' (self-explanatory).
This year it was Katie Bowen dressed as a knight. Katie had been benighted in the mountains a few times, or descended very late, so she was thusly “Beknighted” at the dinner meet.
After the awards, the ceilidh kicked off.
People duly flung each other around the dance floor to jigs, reels, marches, and strathspeys for two hours.
Most people don’t think of the Gay Gordon’s as a contact sport, but at GUMC ceilidhs, it is.
We returned to the Laggan Village Hall after the ceilidh, and the real party started, not finishing until well after sunrise.
Several climbers who woke up early to get on their routes found some of the lads still at it, swimming in the Spey at 7am.
Those who didn’t leave early to go mountaineering had the traditional late morning hangover-curing greasy breakfast at the Newtonmore truck stop.
https://youtu.be/n73GU30cO9U
Watch: Glasgow University Mountaineering Club mix climbing with partying. Video credit: John Nelson.
Afterwards, I went mountain biking around Loch Morlich for a couple hours, while a few others went for a cold swim in the loch.
Several climbers tackled Fiacaill Ridge in a bid to search for the ice axe that had been lost in the corrie the previous day.
Everyone had a good day, but the ice axe remained missing in action.
* 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.
