YEARBOOK 2009-2010 Table of Contents
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YEARBOOK 2009-2010 Table of Contents 1. Editorʼs comments 2. List of Trips 3. Committee Section 4. Arrochar Daytrip 5. Braemar 6. Glencoe 7. Safety and Good Practice 8. Eskdale 9. Loch Lochy Burns Weekend 10.Glen Shiel 11.Firbush Winter Skills 12.Torridon 13.Deerstalker Weekend 14.Ullapool 15.Ullapool Extension 16.Achnashellach Easter Trip 1 17.Achnashellach Easter Trip 2 18.Cannich 19.Socials 20.Photo Competition 21.Epilogue Editor’s Note So here it is, a week later than anticipated (much to Ali’s displeasure) and a little bit rough and ready - though hopefully in a sort of charming, rustic way. Despite the seemingly endless fiddly re- formatting, I’ve more than enjoyed compiling this year’s yearbook. I’ve discovered there’s nothing quite like the thrill of spying a new submission in my email inbox, as sad as it is to admit that. Of course the quality of the submissions is what makes any yearbook and I’ve had such an easy job as an editor; the only difficulty presented was narrowing down all the high-quality pictures and squeezing in the acres of text. An ENORMOUS thank you to all those that contributed - I’d offer to buy you all a drink if only I could afford it. I really do hope you enjoy flicking through the pages of this rather lengthy document. Its sheer size (and it contains far from a complete picture of the club’s activities) is perhaps the best demonstration of how much EUHWC and its vast membership achieve each year. On behalf of the rest of the committee, thank you to all that have come on trips, come to the pub, driven, peeled, chopped, and grinned in the face of driving rain and gale-force winds. We hope you have enjoyed this year’s hillwalking as much as we have. Trips 2009-10 Arrochar 26th September Braemar 3rd-4th October Glencoe 17th- 18th October Cairngorms 7-8th October Safety and Good Practice Seminar 14th-15th November Eskdale Christmas Trip 28-29th November Loch Lochy Burns Trip 23rd -24th January Glen Shiel 6th-7th February Firbush Winter Skills 27th-28th February Torridon 6th-7th March Ullapool 27th-29th March Achnashellach Easter Trip 2nd-5th April Cannich 15th-17th May Skye 29th - 30th May Committee 2009-2010 President: Alex Tuck Likes: clipping his toenails mid-walk, fancy kitchen appliances, Waitrose, refunds Dislikes: easy walks - heʼs a bit of tough nut Most likely to say: “Maybe Iʼd be interested in you if you were wearing just underwear” Vice-President: Eva Baxter Likes: baking delicious treats, imbibing quite a lot of the olʼ sparkling (alcoholic) apple juice Dislikes: sitting still / not making herself useful Quote: “The bubbles go UP in this drink” (referring to cider, what else?) Secretary: Erik Mackie Likes: EPICness, people filling in the online membership form Dislikes: people not filling in the online membership form Quote: (in front of 200+ people, at the freshersʼ presentation) “fill-in the online form, or Iʼll be buggering you for ages” Treasurer: Jennifer Heslop Likes: help in the kitchen Dislikes: Ali (see above) Quote: “Weʼre grading peopleʼs bums. Alex gets a B+” Meet Secretary: Donald Likes: Karolina (awww), taunting a drunken Alex Quote: Eric - “I could be whatever you want me to be, Donald” Jamie to Eric - “You could be a fork” Donald - “Why? Then I could put Erik in my mouth” Training and Safety Officer: Emma Mounsey Likes: ponies, putting Alex in his place Dislikes: organising daytrips Quote: “Awww, Madeleine. Would you feel better if I had a bit of your muffin?” Social Secretary 1: Sarah Ford-Hutchinson Likes: cooking delicious trip food, frisbees, mustard Quote: “Alex looks like a Christmas paedophile” Social Secretary 2: Roy Woolley Likes: assaulting innocent people with crisps, Oddjob style Dislikes: being nice :-P Quote: “Sarah, howʼs my cheese coming along?” Gear Room Secretary: Alistair Black Likes: being stern and N. Irish, electrical engineering, bagging Dislikes: Arts students, cooking, being beaten by James in the bagging stakes Quote: “Running a bit late...might not be able to make it back in time to help with the cooking” Publicity and Yearbook Officer: Madeleine Scarlett-Smith Likes: editorial power, fair-weather walking Dislikes: crampons Quote: “Buy me a drink or thatʼs going in the yearbook...” (every Tuesday) Random Bod 1: Karolina Mysiak Likes: Bavarian smoked cheese, artfully putting sour-cream swirls on top of soup Dislikes: Iceland Quote: Madeleine - “say something funny for the yearbook, Karolina” Karolina - “no” Random Bod 2: Ellen Grunewald Likes: real ale, Dislikes: taking it easy up the hill, what a machine! Random Bod 3: Sarah Collins Likes: doing twice as much work as everybody, as she joined the committee a little late Dislikes: Erikʼs curry Quotes: “Erik, this curry is rubbish” (or words to that effect) Freshers’ Daytrip to Arrochar, 26th September by Emma Mounsey While I was working at Bitterroot Ranch in Wyoming last summer, Alex somehow hoodwinked me into organizing one of the freshers’ daytrips. Not really thinking this through, and because last July the Scottish Highlands and EUHWC were as far from my mind as they have been since I joined the club two years ago, I agreed to get him off my case. Note: this didn’t work; Claire S. will know what I’m talking about next summer! Anyway, I digress. “Chaos night” (or Freshers’ night for those who are not in the know about these things…) went as well as it ever could. It was chaos, but then that’s to be expected when signing up 100 freshers for 2 day trips, and more for membership. The pub was absolutely packed; Eva and I couldn’t even get to the bar for our Pimms (Ed. note: the scale of this tragedy is incomprehensible)! Finally, Saturday rolled around…..dreary, cold, and warning: picture nicked from undiscoveredscotland.co.uk and is wet, but thankfully not too windy (the weather saved completely unrepresentative of weather experienced on the day that for Sunday - sorry guys!). Neil C. had arranged to take the train to Arrochar and be picked up so he could have his bike for an extension. Ellen got a call from Neil as the bus was leaving Edinburgh saying the train was delayed. Surprise surprise. Luckily, we knew this before walk sign up. Ellen and I had entertained ourselves using a microphone on the bus for sign up. We somehow managed to get everyone signed up for walks - apart from a huge group going up The Cobbler, the rest of the walks were fairly reasonably sized. The bus had three drop off points, which actually went smoothly except for a few hairy moments on a narrow road going towards the drop off for Ellen, and somebody else I can’t remember’s walk. My group went up The Cobbler, led by Jim and seconded by Lottie and me. After a minor delay involving someone who thought they could do a days walking in the Scottish Highlands in jeans and trainers and no waterproof, we headed for The Cobbler still sans Neil. Of course, the closer we got to the top the wetter and mistier the weather became. Typical. Everyone’s spirits were high though. We ended up not going to the actual top since it was quite windy and there was very limited visibility, so we stayed at the “fake top” where we met Neil. He must have run up, but then this is Neil. And we were quite slow, being in a big group. On the way back, the clouds finally briefly moved away and we got a view. Sort of. Jim stopped the group for a second lunch once we got off the hill, but Katie and Fiona and I were ahead and wanted to wait for our second lunch until the nice, dry pub! The pub was nice and dry and supplied us with drinks & chips and cheese. Being the first group back we had the fun of waiting for everyone else. Everyone actually got back on time, but then someone decided to disappear before we loaded the bus. So after everyone else got on the bus, we sent it around Arrochar, and called Eva in Edinburgh to look up the persons contact information, we went back to the original parking lot, and the person was there. Another minor delay, but all’s well that ends well. I would call it a successful start to the year, especially after a few drinks at the Big Cheese that night! note the half-crazed twinkle in the eye Wolfgang walks the Braemar hills with stylish hat and neck-hair glorious, a half-crazed look in his eye Braemar Quotes: Background information: Eva and cider seemed to have got on particularly well this weekend Eva: Karlʼs arse is too big for his stomach Jen: I wanted this trip to be ded sophisticated, like (Geordie accented...) Jen: Ali and Iain are proper bum chums, Iʼve seen it! Eva: Itʼs like a peep hole! (commenting on her trousers) Eva: Donald had got a kangaroo on his arse, it would be a bit rude to pull on it wouldnʼt it? Donald (sometime later at the pub): did you want me to pull on it? Roy: Eva is sitting there giving it whilst Erik is sitting there taking it Glencoe, 17th-18th October 2009 by Madeleine Scarlett-Smith Perhaps the biggest challenge any hillwalker will experience with regards to the Glencoe trip is the sign- up. Arguably - along with Skye - the most popular trip of the year, the Glencoe sign-up is always a somewhat harrowing experience.