Scottish Winter 2018 3-11 Feb

@Catrin and @Tutu - or anyone else - we can do some “practice” weekends before then too - i have accomodation i can sign 1 other into for £7.50 each in roy bridge, plus a few friend’s floors … Am a keen bean for winter! :slight_smile: drive up friday night, back sunday night (so only need sat pm bed or bivvi) or add a day … The suffering is so worth it - honest! :slight_smile:

photo credit d barlow!

Hi liz,

I’d potentially be keen for a weekend warrior trip or two!

James

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ooh that looks like amazing @dizz_lizzie! practice weekend sounds great, just need to find a driver from London… although i could also take a train to wherever you are, I suppose. I can also do a some days during the week in December. keen on a Christmas outing as I don’t celebrate it!

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The trip sounds great, but I feel very out of my depth.
I’ve done some summer alpine stuff, and winter hiking, but no trad and certainly no winter mountaineering.

The info shared on this thread is super useful and I will look at gaining some knowledge myself.
then, in time, I will hopefully be able to join in :slight_smile:

To that end, I would be keen on doing something less epic, perhaps north wales, with anyone else in a similar position…

Kris

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Right - lets do a seperate thread for winter weekends once weather looks good :slight_smile:

we’ll be back in the Canadian rockies doing some climbing and skiing during that time but could be up for other winter trips. @Tutu - we’ll be up at cottage sometime between xmas and nye; happy to ‘show you the ropes’ on some technical sides of ice/winter climbing. My spare axes are back in Canada but I might have a spare pair of crampons or 2 .

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies. I’d also be keen on some weekend trips so looking forward to that thread.

Based on responses, I think the following are in for the whole week in the big lodge: Me, Khalid, Kate, John W, Chiz, Tutu, Dave A, [Simon - views?]

As we have a decent group committed, I propose we book the lodge. However, I’m still keen to hear from others, so please raise any objections soon!!

Rates/Costs
I really would encourage everyone who’s keen to make the commitment to ease the burden on the rest of the group. To incentivise booking early and committing as well as recognising the sunk costs if we cancel, I’m suggesting the following rates:

Non flexi - £23/night - fully committed for nights you say you’re coming, pay no matter what (option available until Xmas when I need to pay the full balance)
Flexi - £32/night - Get money back if you cancel.

I’ve put together a google doc spreadsheet with all the relevant info in:

Could you please have a look and make sure I’ve put you down for the right number of nights, updating as appropriate? I’ve also included a tab for gear and climbing level as well, so please fill that in too.

The spreadsheet works like this. Once you fill in your anticipated number of flexi and non-flex nights, sheet two (‘rates’) will update showing the balance outstanding which will be split between those who have committed to the trip, based on number of non-flex nights. You’ll see we currently have a slightly negative balance.

The more people the merrier and the cheaper - so rally the troops and spread the word! Other halves etc all welcome. (As an indication, if we filled the house for every night of the whole week it would cost £16.50 a night)

Next

I propose booking the house early next week, so I’d be grateful if you could raise concerns asap. I’ll need to pay a £500 deposit, with the balance being due 6 weeks before. I think the easiest thing is for those going for the whole week to split the deposit between us and take that out of the weekly rate. I’ll be in touch to collect your cash before I pull the trigger.

If this doesn’t make sense, you think I’m swindling you, or want to raise other concerns - please PM me or post on the thread.

Guy

One more thing - I think I’m going to have to ban the option of flex-booking the whole week. If you’re coming for more than 4 nights you’re just going to have to commit. We could end up with big liabilities for a small group otherwise.

The flexi option is really only intended for those who can only make the odd day and really aren’t sure if they’re going to make it.

Hi Guy - just to clarify, does flexi mean you can cancel and get your money back? And non-flexi means you are committed to paying the full price (no refunds)? I’m fine to go non-flexi as per your post above :slight_smile:

Hi @guyarnold - sorry as i have somewhere i can stay for £6 a night leave me out of the booking please - with the diesel for driving up it would make it more expensive than my alps trip otherwise to pay £64 for 2 nights ( alps trip going to be in the region of £150 for the week including flights) !!! Sadly i can only have one guest there tho …

Count me in as non-flexi for the whole week. The place looks fab. I’m fully prepared for some luck with the conditions.

Hi Kate - yes that’s right. Sorry critical info missing from the post! Will edit now.

No worries - £6 a night is very reasonable… If you do change your mind before Christmas (when I have to finalise the booking) the £23/night option will still be there!

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Hi all - should be able to edit as well as view the spreadsheet now sorry!

Thanks! (Climbers club hut at roy bridge! Tho does cost me £70 a year to belong!!) :slight_smile:

I’m up for non-flexi whole week, even though the dates are no quite falling on my birthday…
So the deposit has to be paid before Christmas and will be about £60 each? just trying to work out whether I should ask for a Christmas bonus to fund my holiday…
@ypsell I would greatly appreciate any guidance and spare crampons. I’ll have a lot of free time around Christmas and new year so would be up for spending some of it at the cottage!

Don’t expect any winter climbing conditions!

I’ve had child and dog cover confirmed, so am up for the whole week, I’ll take the van (going from Stroud) and happy to share driving if anyone going from this side of the country.

Does the place come with a supply of logs?

Hoping to be up at Cottage for a few days before/over/after xmas, but sadly agree the chances of more than a cosmetic dusting/soggy graupel are low (but possible). I hope to be proved wrong…

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Great news @chizharward and @Tutu!

I will follow up with them on the log situation, though I’d be surprised if they didn’t.

@Tutu, the deposit of £500 is paid on booking. It will be £60-70 each depending on how many people have signed up (I think currently it’s about £70). I’ve sent in a booking request so will be in touch to collect cash for the deposit, probably by the end of the week. The balance is due before Christmas.

Lots of interest so far - hopefully we can keep that up, fill the house and reduce the nightly rate!

Guy

Hi Guy, apologies for the late response, had a couple of things come up. Yes Option B sounds great and count me in. I’ve spent far too many nights bivied in the cold and wet so an open fire sounds pretty good to me on this trip!