Hello hillwalkers!
What a year it has been! As 2024 is coming to a close, I thought I would present a recap of what has happened this year in the Edinburgh University Hillwalking Club. We have a blog entry from Josh who tells us about his first time Meet Organising and Finlay has written a poem about the Arrochar Alps.
Semester Recap – Tereza Vesela
Welcome week started off strong, I think, I wasn’t actually there, but the numbers speak for themselves and we managed to attract 269 members! The Arrochar Day Trips were a success with a full coach of enthusiastic freshers on both Saturday and Sunday.
The first weekend trip to Crainlarich introduced new members to Benji’s love of bog and Karel’s surprising affinity to karaoke. We heard a memorable rendition of Wannabe by Karel and Josh amongst other performances until the fun was cut short at 11:30pm (a bit early in my opinion). They took away the karaoke machine, but that didn’t stop us as we continued to sing until we were shouted at and told to shut up at 1:30 am. Lucien became one with the bog which had swallowed him up to his torso.
The Halloween trip to the Cairngorms saw some creative costumes including Hamish’s recreation of the local character Gordon who loiters around Hunter Square in Batman pyjamas. Marti and Chris dressed up as climbers, tied together with rope meaning they could only ever be 40m apart, how romantic! They must have got confused on the Ballachulish trip as their Halloween costume made a cheeky reappearance on the Saturday ;). The most memorable costume was possibly Silas’s attempt at drag which had a close resemblance to the late Princess Diana as observed by Lucien. Other notable costumes were Vector (Angus) and beans on toast (Eilidh and Hannah). We saw a mix of successful and failed attempts at table traverse until one attempt ended up in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. We also saw some interesting parking carried out by myself which resulted in a ban from driving by the Sports Union.
The Torridon trip was a big hit and it was the first trip where all 13 committee members were present. We had the rare combination of excellent weather (including cloud inversions and brocken spectre) and the best hills in Scotland (in my opinion). Notably, Peter completed Liathach in his signature multi-coloured crocs, Josh encountered several issues with the minibus which he describes later in the blog, and a group went skinny dipping.
Ballachulish Village Hall wasn’t so popular with the yellow warning for wind and rain ruining most munro-baggers’ plans. Despite this, Joe Waters braved the weather, either heroically or stupidly, depending on your hillwalking persuasion. His group attempted Beinn Fhionnlaidh and they managed only 100 m of ascent before retreating to the Clachaig Inn. We discovered that, across the road from the village hall, the Isles of Glencoe Hotel had a swimming pool and spa facilities for only £5. This appealed to some members more than the recommended Mountain Safety Talk. This trip questioned whether we are actually a hillwalking club, as very few hills were even attempted. Some of the notable Sunday “walks” were a distillery tour, haggis tasting and rugby; a history tour of Doune Castle by Audrey and a visit to the Fort William bouldering gym.
Finally, at Eskdale the hillwalkers celebrated Christmas with a performance of the Hillwalking Nativity written by Silas. If you missed the live viewing, a recording is available thanks to Eilidh, which can be viewed here: Eskdale Christmas Nativity.mp4. Summits were made quite inaccessible due to yet another storm and weather warnings. Most Saturday walks ended up at the pub and a pint was the only thing that could cheer up a disappointed hillwalker. The hillwalkers bonded by sharing some of their personal stories in multiple rounds of truth or dare. These stories are confined to Eskdale and will not be shared on the blog. Benji was keen for a wild swim until he arrived at the river and noticed the current was too high. Sensibly, he decided it was not safe to swim, however Eilidh had other plans and she decided to dip only her head into the fast flowing water which had her parents wondering what was wrong with her.
Torridon Minibus Saga – Josh Newham
My first Meet Organising experience was littered with interesting situations which made this year’s Torridon trip very memorable to say the least. The departure on Friday afternoon looked promising as the minibus was one of the first vehicles to set its sights on the North. Ewen and I, both highly experienced minibus drivers, allowed plenty of time to co-ordinate the food shop and the pick-up of the essential karaoke machine. However, Cameron Toll had other plans. It took half an hour to escape the confines of the car park and an additional 15 minutes to drive half a mile up Dalkeith Road to pick up myself and the karaoke machine. Despite these delays, we made it to Pleasance only half an hour late. In a desperate bid to not repeat this saga when picking up Hannah from Cameron Toll with the food shop, I hatched a cunning plan. In this plan, Hannah would cart the trolley of food up Dalkeith Road to avoid the roundabout and then she would get picked up by the minibus. A chance encounter with Chris Walls resulted in the trolley being returned back to Cameron Toll. (Thanks Chris, you saved it from inhabiting our stairwell for an indeterminate amount of time)
Finally, we set sail for Torridon at around 2:30pm. The minibus endured a few vicious speed bumps and narrowly missed a grey squirrel on the scenic route out of the city, but all was well until Queensferry. Then, on a straight bit of road (I promise), the bus decided it wasn’t festive enough and decided to light up the dashboard with a complete sensor failure. All the important things still worked, just about, but no additional safety features such as ABS, traction control or any form of assistance features. We had a dilemma – do we continue, already late, on our 200 mile trip to Torridon in a sketchy bus, or do we drive back to Edinburgh and beg Arnold Clark for another bus? On a shorter journey, we would have probably soldiered on, it was still drivable after all, but our depressing proximity to Edinburgh 2 hours in and the idea of being stranded in the middle of nowhere led us to negotiations with the delightful Seafield branch. Half an hour passed at the services. Ewen had contacted all the call centres, and the most promising news we heard back was that an email had been sent. I decided to pursue a different tactic with a fresh voice and much less room for negotiation – I rang up Seafield directly and pushed for another van. After some umming and ahhing, they begrudgingly agreed to exchange the van at 5pm on a Friday. We then drove back into Edinburgh, watched the fella meticulously clean the bus and finally set off for Torridon. Fortunately, this bus was much better, and we made it to the hostel without any further drama.
Nine hours after our departure from Edinburgh, we arrived at Torridon Youth Hostel where Hannah and I faced our next challenge: a diplomatic feat rivalling the UN: defusing the 18 spaces we had for Beinn Eighe into some slightly easier walks. I gracefully took the backseat on this one and let Hannah and Silas cook (figuratively) behind a well-earned tin of Vitamin T. At last, a solution was found that minimised revolutionary sentiment and concluded walk signup at 12:30 am.
The rest of the trip was comparatively very smooth, with decent weather, decent scran all groups except 2 getting cloud inversions on Saturday. We had a helicopter land on the A9 on the way back which delayed the trip to Perth Wetherspoons, but we all made it back to Edinburgh safely.


An Ode to Arrochar – Finlay Morton
Beneath the sky so vast and blue,
The Arrochar Alps rise into view.
Majestic peaks with rugged pride,
Guard the glens where secrets hide.
The Cobbler stands with jagged crown,
A sentinel of this famed renown.
Its rocky spires pierce the mist,
By sunrise kissed, by twilight kissed.
Ben Vorlich calls the climber’s hand,
A test of will, both fierce and grand.
Beinn Narnain and Ime ascent,
Their towering forms both twist and bend.
Loch Long reflects their towering grace,
A mirror for their ancient face.
The Arrochar Alps forever stand,
A Scottish jewel, both proud and grand.
When storms do roll with thunder’s roar,
The Alps stand strong as ever before.
A wild, untamed, eternal might,
In shadowed dusk and morning light.
So, wander here, ye bold and free,
Through heathered hills to eternity.
The Arrochar Alps, both fierce and fair,
A Scottish haven beyond compare.
Club Photos – Semester 1













That’s it!
If you’ve made it this far, thank you very much for reading until the end.
Happy hillwalking and a Happy New Year!
If you’re a club member or alumna/alumnus and have any stories, photos, sketches, poems, songs or interpretive dance routines inspired by your recent hillwalking adventures, we’d love to share them on this blog! Get in touch at edunihillwalkingalumni@gmail.com
Tereza Vesela – EUHWC Alumni Officer 2024/2025