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| 7th September 2007 - Dinner Meet - Newtonmore Following the traditions of the club, the Dinner Meet was held to mark the end of what passed for summer this year. Fittingly, the weather was pretty rubbish over the weekend, just as it had been for the rest of the year. The majority of folks headed up to the very comfortable Strathspey Mountain Hostel on Friday night. Most notably Neil, who was surprised to find out that everyone knew it was his 50th birthday on that very day. There are no secrets here. It's amazing though, he doesn't look a day over 35 (we did agree on £10 to put that in here didn't we Neil ?) He declined the birthday cake, as it would have been his third one that day. So we ate it on Saturday instead ! In proper mountaineering fashion, we decided on a reconnaissance to make sure that we were properly prepared for the weekend's activities. This meant making a bee-line for the bar of the Braeriach. It turned out they do serve beer there, to the relief of one and all. Also, there was a karaoke machine in the corner. Most folks were happy to be entertained by the songs on offer, but one member couldn't resist the lure of the microphone. There are actual photos of Rab singing, but they're not very easy to make out. So instead, there is a computer simulation of what it might have looked like below. Music lovers beware ! Saturday morning dawned a little cloudy & windy. But not enough to spoil folks plans. Lucy, Dave & a friend from home headed off into the Monaliadths for a day's hill running. They covered 24km and 3 Munros. Dan & Jane were disappointed to find that Jane didn't have a jacket with her. So, seizing the perfect retail opportunity, they headed off to Aviemore High St, replaced the missing garment & went for a walk around Rothiemurcus. Anne & Kevin decided to go & climb Deep Cut Chimney on Hell's Lum. Gordon, Ken, Colin & Monica set off in the direction of Coire an Lochain, planning on Savage Slit or something close, Rab & Mike headed for Coire an't Sneachda. However, all the would be climbers were met with low cloud / drizzle and strong winds. In the event, they all decided against climbing and went for a variety of walks on the plateau instead. Dave & Alison Simpson also headed up to the Cairngorms. Neil & Ronnie decided against the mountains earlier than most and actually got a few routes done at Kingussie Crag. Most impressively though, Gav & Ally made their way up to Newtonmore via Polldubh, after having climbed Edgehog, a route Gav has been after for quite a while. Impressively, Gav was able to find a guidebook that gives it E3. A fine effort ! Saturday saw us eat the eponymous dinner. And then we were entertained by club member Keith Partridge. Keith gave us a slide show of three of his recent projects, called "A Day At The Office". As if he'd know what to do in an office ! The first part concerned a film (by the team that made Touching The Void) of Joe Simpson's book, The Beckoning Silence. Keith's part in this was filming actors in period costumes climbing the North face of the Eiger. The second involved filming John Arran as he and his team climbed up a sheer rock tower in a rain forest in Venezuela. We were introduced to John Arran's "J" grades, standing for "Jungle". These describe the solidity of the vegetation on the climb. They range from J1, which seems to be a massive tree you could belay a bus from, to J4, which is some mossy creepers hanging in mid air. There were 2 J4 pitches on this climb ! The final section was a trip to a very fast moving glacier in Alaska. Did he really say 3m a day ? This trip involved putting on a dry suit, being lowered into crevasses with melt water streams flowing through them, and filming people climbing back out, "sub-glacial ice climbing" if you will. The images from under the glaciers were like abstract paintings at times, just beautiful. A very entertaining & lively talk from Keith, many thanks are due. On Sunday, the weather hadn't really improved much, so some folks drifted away home. Some headed off to Aonach Mor to see the mountain bike World Championships. This provided an exciting way to spend a drizzly afternoon. Bloody hell they go fast ! Others headed to Weem Crag near Aberfeldy for some bolt clipping action, not quite hot rock though. Robert, Mike & Gordon headed for the same place, but didn't find it. They made do with some new routing instead !
Robert singing Karaoke (this picture is not real)
Neil introduces Keith's talk, with a picture of Keith as a choirboy
At last, a climbing picture ! Robert at a crag near Aberfeldy
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