In taking a little over two hours to descend from Schiehallion in the small hours of 1 January, I had already spent more time in the mountains in 2005 than in the first three months of 2004. There was an Easter outing to Knoydart, but undertaking such rough walking two days after donating a pint of blood was not the brightest of ideas. Picking up a Swedish steel stalking knife and holder in mint condition on the south ridge of Meall Buidhe was some small consolation. Nothing after that until June, apart from an early morning ascent of Meall nan Damh in bitterly cold Strathconon rain, in between sessions at the MCofS AGM.
The July fortnight was similarly disappointing, with a full traverse of Beinn Chlaonleud as a preventative measure against Mal de Blanco, a distressing condition which in its primary phase involves sufferers endlessly scouring OS maps for new, relocated or twin summits (in its secondary phase, the afflicted feel obliged to go to ridiculous efforts to bag or re-bag the newly discovered spot). Preventative measures were also taken on Blaeloch Hill, where at least three possible summits had to be visited in a lashing westerly squall. Things were enlivened by two pine marten sightings - the first near Sidhean na Raplaich and the second on a forest track below Streap. You wait 42 years then two come along at once.
The relative highlight of the entire year was the 1000th Marilyn, a day of glorious weather and two trig points on Canna and Pabbay. It did involve bribing brother Garry with Innis and Gunn oak-aged beer to catch the 6:20 ferry, but a full traverse of Canna to the fantastic cliffs on the SW end of the island was magical, with views of the Rum and Skye Cuillin. The choice of Canna for the 1000th was a trifle fortuitous due to my inertia earlier in the year, but the day was well worth it.
The festive triptych was something of an angels-and-devils assortment. Ben Vrackie on Christmas Eve was climbed in serious moonlight but fresh unconsolidated powder snow, waist-deep in places, so the climb from the loch took some 80 minutes, double the norm. Schiehallion on Hogmanay was even more tentative, with a thin dusting of snow all along the boulder fields making progress slow despite another gloriously moonlit vista. I was disappointed at the poor audience figures (nil) for my impromptu recital of Norman MacCaig's 'Landscape and I' at the summit approximately one minute into the new year, but I put this down to poor advertising so will repeat the performance next Hogmanay. For an encore I drove up to Glenshee hoping to avoid the forecast late-morning deterioration. In this I was over-optimistic and was hit by winds of around 80mph, so I bailed out from the top of Carn an Tuirc and sat on a large boulder to re-tie my left shoelace. The boulder was less stable than it appeared and shot off south at a rate of knots. I cunningly managed to avoid following it by the simple expedient of falling flat on my arse, with consequential heavy bruising (viewing not recommended), whereupon the rain turned torrential. Still, it's the first time I've managed all three walks in the same festive period, so I'm hoping it presages better things for 2005. I am intending to make up for last year's zero tally in England by blitzing Kent in the wake of the Van Der Graaf Generator reunion concert in May.
Schiehallion (drawing: Colin Brash)
