Scotland

Scotland. Burst tyres, bunkhouse raves, crossing rivers, camping in ridiculous weather, lake bagging, ice climbing, winter routes, winter skills, mental weather, ice axe arrests (very necessarily), Nevis, Glen Coe, Cairngorms, trifle, and SO MUCH SNOW. Jealous? Full report on last year's adventures below...

Glencoe: Christmas ‘08

Saturday morning, very early, saw 2 landrovers and several cars set off from the Union on the long drive up to Scotland. Several hours later we all arrived at the bunkhouse in Glencoe, excitable and full of energy! The bunkhouse was warm, cosy and had an open fire in the living room- perfect for a week of Scottish adventures! http://www.glencoehostel.co.uk/index.asp

The first two days for most people were spent on a Winter Skills course. Here we learnt all about crampons (and how easy it was to rip shiny waterproofs with them), ice axes and generally how to walk safely in snowy conditions. Meanwhile, the seasoned pros within UBES went off on their various walks and climbs, and met us back at the bunkhouse in the evenings.

The rest of the week was spent walking and climbing in groups, with several people bagging their first Munroe’s, and a few doing their first winter climbs. Doug, Alex, Harry and Gareth established themselves quickly as the climbing contingency, but they also took along a few keen UBESters who had yet to discover the delights of winter climbing. Those that weren’t climbing headed out on walks and several Munroes were conquered. Amongst the climbing and the walking we also managed to fit in an overnight camp which most people would describe as the wettest and coldest night of their lives, and a practice river crossing. Of course, some people were sensible enough not to partake in these slightly crazy activities...but I’d still do them again!

Several people spent a day at the nearby ice-factor indoor climbing centre, where they experienced ice-climbing indoors under the tuition of an instructor, and there was a dry tooling area there as well as the standard climbing facilities you’d expect to find at a normal wall.

Each evening we cooked communally and warmed up in our cosy living room. But Thursday night has to have a special mention for our superb Christmas Dinner, followed by lots of fun games such as body twister, the saucer game and the mini rave which we held in the dining room after dinner!

Friday was forecast to have hurricane winds and a white out by midday, so most people planned to spend the day at the indoor climbing centre. However during the Christmas party on Thursday night Doug, Piotr, Harry and I formed an epic plan to get to the top of Ben Nevis and back down again before the weather could hit. So at 5am we set off and by 8am we were at the top. We were back at the bunkhouse before the weather was too bad...and then it was definitely time for an afternoon nap!
Even after a week of snowy activities some of us still managed a cheeky lake bag in Loch Lomond on the way home before falling asleep for the rest of the journey!

A big thanks must go out to all the drivers for getting us there and back, to everyone who helped with the cooking and cleaning, and of course to Laurence and Amy for organising such an awesome trip!