The July meet was based at the Corrie and Sannox Village Hall on Arran, with the 14 attendees opting for an array of sleeping options from impressive van conversions to tents to blow up mattresses on the floor. This was a great location to be based and the hall was well equipped, midge free and there was a lovely harbour a few hundred metres away that was perfect for evening dips.
The first day saw us split down into 4 groups – a party of scramblers, a party of climbers, Dave Tait and Simon Moore heading out as equals and then Tony Corbett and Eileen Pearson who were joining us at the end of a longer holiday on the island opted for a relaxed scenic walk to the King’s Caves. The scrambling party had a great day tackling grade 1 ground over the north ridge of Cioch na h’Oighe and along the ridge to Goatfell, the island’s highest peak, under the watchful eyes of our civilian instructor, Simon Verspeak, and RAFMA instructor Pete Massey. Whilst descending the West Ridge they enjoyed a skills session on mountain leader ropework. Dave and Simon opted for a similar traverse in reverse, and when crossing paths with the scramblers managed a crafty exchange of car keys which saved anyone an extra trip in the evening. Unfortunately conditions didn’t favour the climbers, who got to the base of the classic ‘Sou’wester slabs’ only to discover it was damp and largely invisible. They embraced the opportunity to take the rope and rack for an extended walk and also ended up going over Goatfell.
The second day conditions were marginal so climbing was again off the menu. Dave and Simon opted to traverse the other (western) side of Glens Rosa and Sannox, an impressive undertaking. A small group went out for some more low level sightseeing and everyone else joined forces to take on the western half of the Glen Sannox horseshoe, a more demanding but rewarding scrambling outing which includes the famous Witch’s Step.
Things started to look up for the climbers on the Saturday, and Jasper Ray, Jonny Cooper and Phil Stride successfully revisited Sou’wester slabs, walking in via Glen Rosa for a bit of variety. They shared the route with teams from RAF Leeming MRT and were able to capture some good shots of Dave and Simon who were on the neighbouring ‘Caliban’s Creep’. Meanwhile the rest of the party scrambled the A’Chir traverse, again notching up the difficulty level and this time including an abseil. It was a brilliant day all round with fantastic conditions, and most people topped it off with a sea swim in stunningly still and clear waters.
This was the end of the trip for most members due to long travel days on the Sunday, but tempted by another day of glorious weather Dave and Simon climbed Sou’wester slabs, and once again were able to wave across to Caliban’s Creep which Simon Verspeak and Lizzi Tocknell squeezed in before their 4pm ferry.
Lizzi Tocknell
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