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A tale of 2 groups - the Glen Nevis Adventures

Winter weather has been very fickle this year.  This week had seen a dump of snow only for it to be mostly washed away.  So we weren't sure what we were going to be doing hill wise for Craggy's stay at the newly refurbished Glen Nevis Hostel.

When the decision was taken to go for this date Alan had a cunning plan for doing the Ring of Steall with a few of us thinking of the Aonachs via the Gondola from Nevis Range.

However........... Good old mother nature may have given a weather window of opportunity but not really of the kind that meant all the original targets were still in play. 50mph winds and a -5C windchill with snow showers were mentioned.  Backup plans B, C, D  were discussed with the Loch Lochy Munros in sight for Alan, Barry, Eleanor, Malcolm and Roddy.  Steve, Kathryn, Niamh, Susan and myself had the Corbett Beinn Bhan if the gondola was off.

The morning arrived and the gondola was on.  Wind can't be that bad.......... or so we thought.  There we are at Nevis Range, heading up on the gondola ready to avoid the ski crowd (and the Mountain Rescue Team on exercise!!) when it stops.  Mmmmm wind is still a bit on the high side.  We were hoping that the MR exercise wasn't a rescue from the gondola.  Thankfully it wasn't and we were soon at the the Snowgoose Station.

There were only a couple of runs on so it was just a case of finding the easiest angled route up to the plateau.   Starting at 655m does give you a good head start but Aonach Mor is 1221m.  We knew there was the potential for some showers so when it hit at around 900m we thought it'll pass over so kept going.  But the "showers" kept coming with really brutal gusts of wind.  With no potential shelter spots to get some respite and still 1.5km to the summit we decided the safest option was just to head back.  



We took what shelter we could get at the closed snack shack at 775m and decided to head over to Sgurr Finnisg-aig, one of the viewpoints.  



Well the wind was just as bad there too.  Nowt for it, we needed warmed up so hot chocolates in the Snowgoose Restaurant it was before heading back down the gondola.  

It was only 2pm and we needed to get the step count up so purely for research purposes we headed to Fort William High Street to see for ourselves the latest happenings in town.  After some gear fondling (and purchases by some) we were pondering how the others were fairing as we had some more coffee in the lovely Garrison West.  

Arriving back at the hostel we found that the gang had been successful in their mission, though they too had encountered the buffetting winds.  



However, there are some unanswered questions as to what had really been going on.  Barry was unable to explain why his right buttock felt that it had been well and truly kicked.  Had they been doing a re-enactment of Father Ted??????

Thanks to all for another successful Craggy weekend trip and all from Alan's original cunning plan. 
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