HWUMC

Can I just check what we'll need to take for this one? I've had a look at what I presume is their website (www.ben-nevis-inn.co.uk), and they say sleeping bags are not only not necessary, but not allowed. If the food for Saturday night is being done together, that's another unnecessary, so what is left? Obviously we'll need the usual day bags and refill for Sunday, plus changes of as much clothes as we think we'll need. Extra money to visit the Inn upstairs?

By the way Craig, if I see you coming anywhere near me with hedge clippers... Let's just say I might not be too amused.

Sleeping bags are definitely not allowed, and yes a few quid for the bar upstairs is a good plan.

Are there showers in there? Didn't see them mentioned in the website.

three of them!

Makes a bit of a change from the usual improvisation of a plastic bag with holes in it! Maybe we should make it a feature of the sign-up sheet for weekends: as well as the quick description of where it is, a note of what is already there (stoves, mattresses, electricity, etc).

I think that's what conversations and google are for....

How can you not know where ben nevis is?? If you've been on day trips theres no excuse as you've been able to see it on most of them!

I never said I didn't know where Ben Nevis was! I just said it might be useful for the new people, who don't know already what the various huts are like, to know things like whether they'll need to pack a stove, how far they'll have to carry stuff from the bus to the hut, or what area to start looking for routes in. Compare the Smiddy hut to pretty much any bothy, would you want to carry some newbie's second bag six miles in the dark and then find out he's packed a load of stuff he doesn't need but doesn't have a stove?

Why on earth would I ever volunteer to carry some newbie's second bag six miles anywhere!

I was just asking myself the exact same question...
but maybe we are just not as social, Sarah?

what the various huts are like:
Fancy, theres even a pub attached!
to know things like whether they'll need to pack a stove
Not at all, full kitchen provided
how far they'll have to carry stuff from the bus to
Its going to take you approximately 15-30m (metres) to get to the beds, depending on how far away we park and how drunk you are
the hutwhat area to start looking for routes in
Ben Nevis! (from the west side, Carn Mor Dearg route possible with an early start)

also, the newbie carries his own bag, and realises two trips in that the easiest way to re-pack is to put all the things he's used in one bag, and the stuff he hasnt in the other. At somepoint within the next year said newbie stops bringing second bag.

Thats what I did at least!

sarahmagee wrote:Why on earth would I ever volunteer to carry some newbie's second bag six miles anywhere!

To hook him/her up in the drug mountaineering is. Or cause the tyrannic guide ordered you to do so.

Madre santa, I really hope the forecast for Saturday improves or gets wrong like past week on Affric.

currently your forecast is looking like saturday is going to be the best, so long as Friday's weather doesn't stick about overnight (although at 100mph...)

Ha!
As I predicted on Wednesday the forecast has changed completely, and it now looks like tomorrow will be a decent day for getting something done.
Sunday on the other hand is going to be super-minging. This means that we can sample a few libations on Saturday night without fear of wasting a good day on Sunday.
See you at the gear shed. I'm attempting to get a bus after work, so if I'm not there in good time you know why.