Schiehallion
David Kaye
30 June 2021
The Marauders were blessed with arguably the best day of the summer for the Schiehallion adventure.
Alex and Richard sacrificed themselves as traditional last-minute withdrawals. There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that we traded them for last minute addition – the legend that is Andrew T. Jack, Al, Andrew, Sue, John, Sandra, Willie, Russell and David met at the Braes of Foss at 9:30 to ensure that we could all park before the crowds arrived. To Al’s delight the parking meter was out of order, which set everyone off in a good mood. We all had a good chat on the lower slopes before dividing into Humans (Sandra, Al, David) and Athletes (everyone else). I’m sure they have imported tons of extra boulders for the top section, and narrowed the summit ridge since I was there last.
A subset of Athletes waiting patiently for Humans to arrive
What passes for a path on the newly extended boulder field
The views from the summit were breathtaking. Andrew identified at least fifty Munros, though no one knew enough to ascertain whether a large element of bluff was involved.
David hanging on to Russell’s belt loop for dear life at the recently narrowed summit
The summit party. Had Sandra been transformed into a Husky?
Conclusive proof that the real Sandra made it to the summit just a few minutes after the rest
En route we came across a well endowed young lady leaping from boulder to boulder.
“You’re well balanced” said Jack, to the young lady’s surprise.
Jack, regretting has double entendre
Spookily both Russell and Willie suffered from cramp within a few meters of each other, on the descent. They made it down without incident and David rushed them to the pub where a pint of Schiehallion (what else?) solved the problem.