Rannoch Mountaineering Club 

www.climbrannoch.co.uk

Miracle on the Mountains, by Rhona, 27th April 2004

After months of arduous preparations the time to depart for the Ling Fling came to pass. The A-team plus One, determined to maximise the experience, set off immediately after packing the car, topping up the wine supply, cooking 5 curries, arranging sufficient food supplies for 5 kids to be released electronically over the course of the weekend and dropping said kids at school. By 10.30 we were speeding along the wide-open highways in excited anticipation of the events that would unfold. First stop petrol - always good to be truly prepared in advance. Second stop lunch in Newtonmore - not a big success as we arrived at the back of a chain-smoking bus-party and Shaz was so excited by the whole experience she couldn't eat a thing. Next stop M-point No. 1 of the weekend - the diminutive Geall Charn of the Monaliadh. Shaz and I set off feeling fit while Bish resorted to an hour's sleep confident he would pass us easily before the top.

The challenge was on. Such was the rush to be first that we were lost within 1 mile of the car - skilled navigation got us out of that situation and set us off on the well trodden path to the top.  It was not a relaxing day - continual scanning of the horizon for approaching runners left us wearied and nervous.  Soon the pressure hotted up as Bish was now visible on the lower reaches of the mountain.  We had lost several valuable minutes already due to navigational errors, adjustments of new boots, Shaz needing help with zipping up her jacket and Shaz being shown that gaiters zip up the front rather than the back - a light went on as suddenly the ease of putting on gaiters was revealed.  No time to dwell on team inadequacies as the gap was narrowing.

The top was in our grasp when the mist descended and, in a moment of confusion as we whipped out map & compass, Bish slipped past reaching the top 53.4 seconds before we did - prior knowledge acting in his favour.  A quick descent was called for complete with a lesson on boot-laces for Shaz before Challenge No. 2 of the day presented itself.  The river. Bish bragged he'd had a swim so it just had to be done - in we went. Glacial meltwater would be warm in comparison to the experience we had, Shaz didn't find it too bad but she went in fully dressed.  Afterwards Bish admitted he hadn't actually been in. The day ended with the A-team standing firm on the moral high ground.

The next challenge of the day was to get to the pub before the key. After a week of keyless angst Shaz had used her charm and persuasion to wheedle it out of Colin's sticky grasp (are there no ends to achievable miracles). However, it now looked like we might end up arriving last.  No choice but to go for it screaming into the pub carpark, through a hail of gravel to arrive minutes before Colin and his B-team. Luckily the drinks were flowing in all directions and no-one noticed our late entry. If Sharon ever asks for the key - just say no.

Day 2 (for the A-team) dawned bright and early. Plans were formulated, dissected, discarded, re-formulated, ground down, altered, changed, modified, revised adjusted, re-visited before being finalised at the hut. The various teams walked out and by the carpark plans were now in a furore, disorder and tumult of confusion. Shaz and I stuck to our intended plan of M-points 2 & 3 (Liathach) regardless of the weather (overcast, smirring, cloud level at 2,000 feet. Colin stuck to his plan of climbing regardless of the weather (overcast, smirring, cloud level at 2,000 feet) while everybody else flitted endlessly between the options of achieving success, being sociable, having a good time or suffering. Most exemplified a total lack of control of their path in life.

Shaz and Rhona managed to achieve all aims  - success, sociable, had a good time and suffered but best of all got back after the food had been not only portered in but cooked.  Bish just got suffering after being rescued several times on the ridge by two navigationally astute women. Nothing better than being passed by a smug runner only for him to re-appear from behind several hours later and lost. Big Al, after boasting about his fine selection of glasses (5 was it?), seemed to have forgotten them all and fell down a rabbit hole 300 yards from the door of the hut. In his favour he crawled on all fours to bag a Corbett and got the Joe Simpson Suffering Award of the weekend.

The B minus team went to the crag on a 'doomed-to-failure-before-it-started' expedition, got 2 moves up a slippery rockface before bailing out and running off in all directions with neither success nor sociability to add to the list of merits: Colin did a corbett alone while the Johns went for a run on the same path at the same time, alone. Andy and Wee Al said they had done Beinn Eighe and made it off the hill by 3pm - but remembering Wee Al's mountaincraft ability no-one was convinced that they had made it anywhere. Mary set of as planned, did her walk and got back in time to rescue the men from the brink of starvation as they wrestled with the Tupperware.  Maximum activity points go to Fiona & Roger who only just managed the walk in arriving at 9pm.  The party was in full swing , the curries had been consumed the wine was flowing and the day's events were being wildly exaggerated: Liathach now rivaled the Matterhorn in height and Annapurna in complexity; the Johns 7 mile run had taken only 12 minutes and they won; Colin had socialised with the enemy and Bish had run from the top of Liathach to the road in 21 minutes. However, the strenuous events took their toll and even the most avid party goer (Shaz?) had collapsed by 2am. Poor show team.

The good thing was that Day 3 (for the A-team) dawned with a spectacular absence of hangovers. The cloud was lifting and the day promised to be good.  We then revisited the planning fiasco of the previous morning with the added complication of a coffee & cakes option. Eventually only two groups emerged: a Corbett Hill Race Group and a Hot Rock Desperadoes Group. One would have assumed in the growing climate of socialism and glasnost that Group 1 would have had lots of fun, summitted together and shared sandwiches. But no, very quickly the team was strung out across the hillside with the first top being a sprint finish between Roger & JD, Roger won the £100 bet. JD insisting it was fixed. Top 2 was also a sprint finish where Fiona was rudely bundled aside just inches from the cairn. Robust positioning? I don't think so. On the positive side, Shaz was noted to have a halo throughout the day, which just goes to show that all those genuflections pay off eventually. Group 2, in a diversion from the norm, allegedly antagonised fellow climbers thus accounting for their lack of halos. Both teams, by luck & good looks, converged simulataneously on the car park in response to the mating call of the black throated diver and ended the day picnicking by the loch - consuming chocolate cake, cheese cake, apple pie, pear pie, cherry pie (who ate them all?) and any other crumbling remains.

Grand prize of the weekend goes to Shaz for going in swimming in the loch (mind you she had been bet a bottle of wine that she wouldn't do it) - it was worth it to see JD's face as he handed over his last £10 bottle of wine.  Almost as good as the confusion on the face of the other black throated diver when he saw Shaz in the loch…..

Wooden spoon award goes to the B minus team - caught napping in a lay-bye off the A9 on the way home. 

Thanks to all the team for a superb weekend.