We’d had such a lot of snow that we had to postpone our traditional start-of-year club trip to Lochnagar a week, so that the coach could get along the approach road safely. The organiser for the trip had to pull out, and I was roped in to lead the main group to the top. As this is a popular event, this can be quite tricky with a larger group than is easily managed – with some folk slower and more hesitant, others faster and more confident.

Reaching the col of Meikle Pap on schedule, we entered cloud so the famous vista of the cliffs was unfortunately there, but we stopped and layered up a bit before heading higher as there was a strong windchill.

Some of the ladder had enough snow to cover the rocks, but fortunately the snow wasn’t hard enough to create too much of a hazardous slope.

There’d been a few folk before us so a path was tramped a bit to reduce navigational uncertainty. Quite a few of the younger participants were using watches to check the way, which is becoming more common and handier than faffing a phone in and out of pocket. At Cac Carn Mor I got the compass out and checked a bearing as it’s close to the cliff edge. There was a bit of “are we there yet” and doubt of correct direction, but soon enough the summit cairn loomed out of the void.

No mulled wine today due to the short notice of me being asked to lead, but we did get a bit of shelter hunkered down behind the summit boulders.

Heading down to the Glas Allt I’d been concerned that the wind would have swept deep snow there, but it wasn’t that bad, however there were quite a few tentative folk despite crampons (or maybe because of them) though they weren’t particularly needed in the soft snow.

We’d lost quite a bit of time in the stretch to the waterfall, so unfortunately for a second year we had to bypass the bothy on the way back to make time. As we headed below the cloud, the gentle snow turned to a steady rain. A dreich march – but chatting with a few folk it soon passed.

All back safely, we headed off to Aboyne to the ship inn for our meal in a large room upstairs, always great to decompress from a tough day out with a blether, a munch and some ale.