As is often the way these days, our February Scottish Winter meet was preceded a few days earlier by a rapid thaw of most of the snow. So despite very cold (and very windy!) conditions during our visit, none
of the planned climbing took place, and everyone had to resort to joining the walkers in some superb days out in a very quiet part of Scotland.

The hut was of the 'OK but basic' variety, with a single large living area with alpine bunks at one end, with separate small kitchen. And was nice and warm once we'd plugged the gaps all round the walls with newspaper! The location made up for all its shortcomings though.

The local Munros of Mayar and Dreish saw ascents on both days, but sadly most of the routes in Corries Fee and Winter were out of condition, and the ones that were 'in' (water ice) were rendered
effectively unclimbable by the gale-force winds.

Saturday saw a Munro-baggathon from Tom with his circuit of upper Glen Doll-plus-quite-a-bit-more, a total of 26 miles and 7 Munros including Lochnagar! Rob, Carmen and I managed 6 of them, missing out the 5 miles to Lochnagar and back, and were still caught up before we'd got
to the last summit...

So an idyllic location, and one I'd like to return to. Despite the basic nature of the hut, it's just about the only option for local accommodation since the local youth hostel and campsite have both closed down. At least this means it remains quiet and relatively unspoilt. Maybe a late Spring trip to sample some of the local rock climbing?