Monday 7 December 2009

Big Hobnailers, the SMC and todays conditions in the Cairngorms!


Curly Ross leads the club song at the 121 annual dinner of the Scottish Mountainerring club ( SMC) held at the Ben Wyvis Hotel on Saturday 5th December 2009.
Rab Carrington, guest speaker and President of the British Mountaineering Council looks on with Des Rubens and Alan Hunt while Curly sings !
Oh, my big hobnailers! Oh, my big hobnailers!
How they speak of mountain peak,
And lengthy stride o'er moorland wide!
Oh, my big hobnailers! Oh, my big hobnailers!
Memories raised on joyous days
Upon the mountain side!
Today in the Cairngorms it started out windy and cold this morning with paths dangerously slippy and well frozen. The afternoon turned slightly warmer , but its freezing again as we left the hill. Many signs of recent avalanche activity were seen and a hasty pit suggested Cat 2 + on hot spots. The Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) starts up around the 14/15 December ( mid next week) so that will be extremely helpful to us mountain guides. I forgot my camera today, but clouds were down most of the time but climbing conditions are generally pretty OK and the melt freeze cycle is really helping the routes come into better conditions for climbing!

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