The highlight of the new year holiday was emerging from thick freezing fog onto the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor and finding ourselves in warm sun above a cloud sea with just the peaks of the higher Munros visible. New Year's Day brought the first new Marilyn of the year, with the ascent of Meall Tairbh (3C) on a brilliant cold and frosty day.
I enjoyed a fine trip to the Lake District in February, the place where I climbed my first Marilyn, aged 5. I added four new hills there and a further seven in England, mostly courtesy of business trips down south. However, most activity was in Scotland. Highlights included a very snowy Beinn na Lap in January, a fine ascent of Stob Ghabhar in March, and a brilliant ski-tour over Beinn Mheadhoin, Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm in April, camping up at Loch Etchachan in very cold conditions. These were all repeat ascents, but the lure of the Hall was too much to resist, so it was then off to collect some new hills, including the lowlight of Strathfinella Hill (7), which involved crawling through a sitka plantation in rapidly failing light before finally finding the trig point.
A splendid week in the west in June included a kayak trip up the length of Loch Morar to camp at its head, with all the luxuries that only kayakers can bring along. The trip was rounded off with a long weekend on Rum, reached by ferry - as a relative novice in a sea kayak, there are limits! As well as one new hill, Mullach Mor, we had a brilliant traverse over Hallival, Askival and Trollaval, with the sea like glass below, reflecting the Skye peaks and huge fair-weather cumulus clouds.
After some careful counting and checking, the Hall of Fame was reached at the end of June on Criffel. It is a hill I always remember seeing from my earliest outings in the Lake District, seemingly quite remote across the Solway. It did not disappoint, and on a very hot day I reached the top with my wife Fiona (now at 80ish Marilyns) and Audrey Litterick. We enjoyed hazy views and an excellent bottle of bubbly on the summit. It was most relaxing afterwards to have a quiet celebration meal in a pub in New Abbey.
The second half of the year saw less activity but still some excellent outings. Beinn a'Mheadhoin and Carn Fiaclach in Glen Affric were enjoyed in splendid weather in September. Mind you, Carn Fiaclach put up stern resistance from what the notice-board in the car park described as 'mature Scots Pine forest'. I finished the year with an Arctic trip on Hogmanay up Beinn nam Ban (14A), whose mere 580m took on the stature of a Himalayan peak in the deep, soft snow and exceptionally cold temperatures. In between visits to the Scottish peaks I enjoyed a couple of weeks in Iceland, which I can thoroughly recommend, provided you don't mind loose rock. The scenery is truly spectacular and it is strange to climb hills which are so 'young' - so much so that they are still hot and steaming.
Raasay from Mullach na Carn, Scalpay (photo: Tony Kinghorn)
