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Well, the Cairngorms was fantastic, There was the heaviest snowfall in 10 years we had an epic day and a half, 34 miles round trip, we topped out on Ben Macdui and had a near disaster.

Briefly, from Mar lodge, A sumptuous pile built as a Victorian hunting lodge. Duncan, Kevin, (Mountain Rescue) Dave (porn) Star, Henrick, Claire, Guilemette, Sue and Myself were up earlier than usual for an Outac trip and set off after a hearty breakfast of bacon, cheesy beans and meatballs and lashings of tea and toast. By 7:20 the first light of the day, we were out into a dusting of snow. Up the road to the Linn of Dee and then the Landrover track up Glen Lui arriving at about 10:30 to the Derry Lodge where the Derry Burn meets the Lui.

At Derry Lodge Sue turned back ( and then there were seven) and the rest carried on. We left the landrover track to follow the path up Glen Derry and by 12:00 we had reached the Hutchinson hut, a small 3 x 9 metre shelter. After a half hour lunch stop Duncan turned back (and then there were six) At this point the wind was up and we knew that the summit plateau would be bad but we were all in good spirits and confident of getting to the top. As we reached the head of Glen Derry the full force of the easterly wind took hold and the snow and sky merged into a strange greyness with no horizon and no features to focus on we were getting slower. The GPS navigation was playing games with us saying we were on another hill. Reduced to micro navigation, and counting paces we managed to get to the summit plateau. The GPS started agreeing with us again and helped us to find the summit cairn in 20 feet visibility. Normally 12 feet high there was only the top three feet showing. A very short stop where we had the group photo and Guilemette had a pee, the thermometer said -10 and the wind was gusting at 50 mph.

Navigation from Ben Macdui down Sron Riach was not easy. Dave was navigating with his GPS. Dave was a Major in the Army now in the legal side of things and is hard as nails, well experienced an and runs training courses on Orienteering so we were in good hands, so we thoughtt!. It was slow progress buffeted by the wind and skirting the cliffs to the right and the snow was slipping in slabs down to the left ready to avalanche, the safest route was hard to find.

Dave disappeared, he'd fallen through the cornice (down towards Lochan Uaine) and I thought he was done for. About 150 feet down I could see he was not moving. Without really thinking I scrambled down after him and promptly fell through the cornice which was considerable, 12 foot high with a 3 foot overhang fortunately into deep soft snow. As I dusted myself off Dave started moving, I was relieved, He had chosen the only safe place on the whole cliff edge (at 998,980) We spent an hour trying to recover the ridge but the cornice was soft and too high and the party above were getting cold and had to head off down (and then there were two) There was no way back up so the only way was down. The slope eased and eventually ran out into the frozen tarn, we were so pleased. It was 4:00 pm, we had a long way to go and we were split up the others had no map but Kevin is a sensible and well equiped leader. We followed the stream down in the gathering loom and by 5:30 it was dark.

At the meeting of the two streams there was no sign of the others we put on our torches and started up the other valley shouting and whistling for them. Eventually they saw us and flashed lights. We were reunited. We returned to the meeting of the streams (010, 957) and by 6:30, exhausted we were following the Lui water down to Derry Lodge By around 8:30 we had reached Derry Lodge, the bridge over the Derry Burn was gone but we were too tired to worry and splashed through, the stream was only 6-8 inches deep. We followed the Landrover track back down and were welcomed back in Mar Lodge by 10:30. Hot baths, warm food and a few jars. A grand day out!

Editorial comment: for those of us still at Mar Lodge it was a scary night. At breakfast the snow was light but steadily increased throught the day. The cairngorm weather station data shows that the temperature decreased steadily all day. By the time 10.30 pm came there was some concern that nothing had been heard of the team. The Mountain Rescue were called, but thankfully the team returned to Mar Lodge by 11.00 pm.

And the moral of the story?

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE WEATHER IN SCOTLAND IN THE WINTER!