Despite the expectations of my family, friends and work colleagues I made it to fifty in June. Tove and I celebrated a combined hundred years with friends, some of thirty years standing, by renting Kinlochewe Lodge and having an excellent week walking the great peaks of the area. Not that I needed it, but it was a reminder of just how brilliant the Scottish hills are and how time is taking its toll on me. I am sure I was faster in the past. I noted with interest the comments in last year's Marhofn about the content of contributions. For what it is worth, my view is that the Marilyn Hall of Fame Newsletter should do what it says on the tin, as Ronseal might say. As such it should contain news of what Hoffers are doing. I find this interesting and, as with Alan's Sims article, inspiring of new bagging objectives. To solely focus on Marilyn routes, although interesting and useful, would be to miss out on this interesting diversity and inspiration.
As St Kilda remained a long way from Congleton and the tamperers did not feature on my radar, no new Marilyns were bagged in 2012. Eleven Submarilyns were added to the running total of 92.
It was great to welcome Julie Brown, a co-bagger since University days, into the Hall of Fame during the year. Tove continues towards the Hall, crossing the 500 barrier on Croft Head in July.
The week in Torridon added impetus to the 2012 Sim campaign, which also included a trip focused around Killin. My Sim total now rests at 1538. A long-standing memory of the trip will be the descent of the Sim, Creag Mhor, during which I was buzzed by an eagle seven or eight times with passes as close as ten feet.
As trailed in last year's contribution, I spent two weeks in Mexico climbing three Ultras including the country's highest peak, Pico de Orizaba. Amazingly, I met Richard Mclellan in the town below Pico de Orizaba. It is a small world. In a quick visit to Bulgaria, I bagged two more Ultras including its highest, Mt. Musala (amusing to have a mountain named after my Friday night curry), and the much more impressive Mt. Vihren. In October, Tove and I visited Oman for a sightseeing and diving trip. Although we had a chance to explore the hills and wadis, it was frustrating to pass by Jebel Shams, Oman's highest peak and Ultra, and find out it is off limits as it is a military base. We returned to the sea for some spectacular diving.
We have just returned from a Christmas trek in Colombia. We reached 5280m on Ritacuba Blanca but were defeated by blizzard conditions. Hopefully our luck will be better in February, when we head for Mt. Cameroon.
