Page 41 - AMA Summer 2023

A beautifully sunny forecast for the 26th February led to one of the climbing groups opting for a spot of trad rock climbing up at Polldubh Crags in Glen Nevis, a hidden gem offering some exceptional cragging literally minutes from the car. Suitably
rested, the next few days was a starred ridges triple act; Tower Ridge (IV****), Curved Ridge (II/III****) and the Aonach Eagach Traverse (II****). The end of the week saw one group return to The Ben for a final time, whilst the other ventured out
to the little visited Creag Meagaidh for a trip up Raeburn’s Gully which offered a lot more atmosphere than its Grade (I) would suggest – two axes definitely advised!
Naturally no trip to Glencoe is complete without a visit to the Clachaig Inn and Chris’s choice of accommodation combined with some rather thirsty members of the winter skills groups helped ensure that the inn was suitably well patronised throughout the week. And no, claims of seeing the Northern Lights on the walk back from the pub one evening wasn’t just the babbling of some ‘well hydrated’ club members!
Overall, whilst the snow wasn’t as we’d have liked it to have been, what had initially looked like the makings of a disappointing week had ended up with a very decent haul of stars and Munros to look back on.
As ever, these Meets wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for our members being so generous with their time and so for this one we really owe it to both Martin and Chris for pulling off an excellently organised Winter Meet with great accommodation and top class instructors – fingers crossed for some more snow next year! It’s worth mentioning here too that as well as a wide spectrum of individual objectives for the Meet, we also had a real mix of ages and genders represented so for anyone in the AMA that may have thought about the Winter Meet previously but ruled themselves out, please do give it a second thought and be reassured that you’ll be welcomed and matched with a group at the right level for you and your goals. Hope to see some more of you up in Scotland next winter!
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 41