A NEW TYPE OF CLUB MEET, EASTER 1950, CAIRNGORMS

By R. E. Chadwick

Apart from his love of good company and his Hebridean journey there is no evidence that Dr. Johnson was ever a member of a climbing club. The definition of ” Club Meet ” does not therefore appear in his dictionary. But what would the Doctor have said about a club ” meet ” described as five days during which the members met only for one night ? ” Sir, a most unclubbable diffusion of conviviality.”

On Maunday Thursday night the dispositions were : at the Dell Hotel, Aviemore – Blair sleeping soundly; at Derry Lodge – Oxtoby. Between Edinburgh and Perth – Fred Booth, Hilton and Chadwick in one carriage and Mail, Watson and Wharldall in another; on another train Spenceley, Driscoll and Bob Holmes ; at home in bed Jack Holmes and Stonehouse ; over mid-Atlantic a deep depression housing the west wind. The latter must not mind being mentioned last; it will soon be seen that it is the chief character in this story.

In the small hours of Friday morning, Mail’s party missed Booth’s party on Aviemore station, and, concluding they had been carried on sleeping to Inverness, proceeded up the Lairig Ghru in as leisurely manner as 40 lb. packs permit. Booth’s party, having come to the same conclusion regarding Mail’s party, quietly broke into the Dell Hotel and having failed to locate Blair’s bedroom by the device of whistling Ilkla Moor down the corridors, waited for breakfast.

By mid-day everyone became aware of the arrival also of the West wind. The forest danced and waved and once clear of the trees, backs already bent double with camping kit and supplies bowed to the blast. Spenceley, Holmes and Driscoll started up the saddle leading to the Shelter Stone ; Mail, Watson and Wharldall pitched their tent in a deep hollow half way up the pass ; and Oxtoby was making his solitary way over the snow fields from Derry Lodge. Seeing itself so disregarded the wind deployed successively mist, rain, hail and snow but failed to confuse Spenceley in his route-finding in the swirling whiteness of mist and snow and his party duly reached the Shelter Stone wet but triumphant, where they met the valiant Oxtoby. Booth’s party were meanwhile busily engaged in anchoring two small tents near the summit of the Lairig Ghru, Jack Holmes and Stonehouse met at the Dell and the morning and the evening were the first day.

The wind counter-attacked heavily during the night. By a cunning change of direction, the wind, hitherto compressed in a funnel by the hills to blow from the South, now blew from the North searching out the vulnerable entrances to the tents. Dawn disclosed several inches of new snow and more falling. Here the wind scored its first victory. Booth’s party had intended an early start and a long day on the tops. But tea at 5 a.m. failed to dispel a clammy prudence and after a long wrestling match with wet breeches and collapsing tents, they plunged and struggled straight down to Inverey. Mail’s party, arising later from a less exposed position, at first held to their plans, but further experience of soft snow and blizzard soon persuaded them to the same course as Booth.

No wind however can dislodge the Shelter Stone and Spenceley and party, starting with high morale, committed themselves to the ascent of Derry Cairngorm. The wind encouraged by its other successes concentrated its efforts on dislodging them. Proceeding a few yards at a time between gusts, wet and weighed down with kit, they fought back gallantly and were worthily rewarded with occasional views.

Stonehouse and Jack Holmes starting dry from Aviemore stamped over the pass despite conditions and made good time to Inverey. That evening at Mrs. Morgan’s fire all members met for the first and only time during this “meet,” warm, well fed and comfortable. Outside the wind blew and the snow fell, but all in vain. No one gave it a thought.

The first party away was Booth’s which departed by taxi to Derry Lodge whence they sought to recover their much tried equipment at the head of the pass. The wind made every effort to stop this enterprise, but finding force in vain, tried guile. On arrival at the forest Blair and Chadwick decided to camp among the pines as the weather seemed better and they were below snow level. The error of their ways was apparent during the night, and the following morning Chadwick’s boots, recovered under several inches of snow, had to be thawed over the stove before becoming bendable. Booth and Hilton meanwhile found lodging in a hay loft. Mail’s party followed the same course with the same mechanical aids at a later hour, but finding their tent in its more sheltered hollow in good order spent the night there. Next morning Mail, finding it still dark at an hour well past breakfast time, was contemplating this phenomenon when a sudden movement dislodged the snow covering the tent and daylight flooded in. Meanwhile Spenceley and Driscoll sought and found fleshpots in Braemar and a bed at Ballater, while Jack Holmes and Stonehouse shared a day of eating and sleeping. Bob Holmes and Oxtoby returned, to Luibeg and made a valiant ascent of Beinn Mheadhoin under conditions even worse than before, spending the night at Luibeg.

Monday saw the beginning of the end. Mail’s party and Booth’s party withdrew in good order through scenes like Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow to the Railway Station at Aviemore. Jack Holmes and Stonehouse had a fine day on the tops to Glen Clova and thence by taxi to Dundee. Spenceley and Driscoll took a taxi to Loch Muich and took possession – with the permission of the keeper – of a bothy on the south east side of the Loch. Then leaving their gear they had a long satisfying day over Lochnagar and adjoining peaks, returning the following day to civilisation via Glen Clova. Bob Holmes and Oxtoby moved to the Corrour Bothy and were forced off the Devil’s Point by bad conditions, but the following day, when all others had left, they reaped the reward of their perseverance. Cairn Toul, Braeriach, Cairngorm and Ben Macdhui all yielded to their efforts in a long day of windowing mists, and sudden vistas. Oxtoby returned the next day via Luibeg and Holmes forced himself through the snow drifts on the Lairig Ghru to Aviemore. The wind was thus left at last in undisputed possession of the battle field.

And the moral ? An occasional meet of this sort is a great success but pick your weather.