UKC

Gwen Moffat shares a story about a salutary walk to the CIC hut in the fifties...

There were snow clouds in the north and only an hour of daylight left. The path was no more than a three-mile trudge to the hut but I was loaded with gear and food for a week's climbing. Progress was slow, the light was failing and the northern clouds shifted south, sinking to settle on the Ben. There was no sunset. A vagrant breeze wandered about and yet the air seemed heavy, pregnant and alien.

I can still recall reading this 50 years ago. A short while later I had the same experience walking up to the CIC one December night in the dark and blowing snow. Around 2am we decided to kip down in the heather and snow and wait until it got light. A quick breakfast at the hut then a very slow ascent of the NEB, followed by a retreat from high up as the weather got even worse!

I should perhaps add that the next day was even worse as Glovers was followed by an adventure in 5 Fingers in a full on blizzard!

Don't  you just love the Scottish winter!

I guess the old adage “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is the desired outcome! 

What possibly could go wrong walking up to the CIC hut...it's a bit like me and mate crossing the Abhainn Srath na Sealga,it raining for 8hrs solid and we had left all our gear in the Shenavall bothy......Scotland never to be underestimated..

After two incidences which could have got serious I vowed never to leave my pack.

First, on the Appalachian Trail I left my gear in a shelter and went down to get water; it was much further than I thought. I looked up and thought I hope to hell I can find my way back,. Why does it all look so different on your return journey and it gets darker quicker than you think. I thought it could be a long cold night, success in the end. Break twigs and overturn rocks to leave a trail is a thought. Native Americans sometimes marked such a trail with a hatchet swipe on trees.

Second time was when I walked the Rob Graham Round. So that I could run up and down Seat Sandal and Fairfield I Ieft my pack in a bracken clump in between the two summits. I even left a twig arrow not far from my gear. When I finished I looked for my gear and then saw just how many bracken clumps there were. I searched and eventually found the pack. A lesson learnt.

Now if I ever left anything I would take an accurate, long grid reference, take a photograph of the location and at least take rain gear with me so sleeping out might just be possible.

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And the track up from the distillery and above used to be a mud morass!

I was up there in Sept....started off in shorts/t shirt by the time we got on the CMD it was a full blown blizzard...we passed 3 parties retreating....