BEN VORLICH (3093')

Log book entry from 70th R & I Expedition Log - Everest Challenge

Saturday 30th June 1979     Ben Vorlich (3093')

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Leaders     Chris Foster, David Bolster and Glip  

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Scouts    Colin Roach (Shrew), Douglas MacEwan and Graham Bolster (Rivet)

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Weather

Cloudy and dry with some sunny periods. Mild but rather humid

Report

Not many scouts were present since it was the start of the Greenock fortnight. John Hennessy was resting in Ireland after a walk he had been on the previous week. Another story which we won’t go into.

We met at headquarters at 8 AM and and left at 8:20 AM in Chris’s car and Percy. Near Inveruglas power station, we stopped and were ready to go by 10 AM. Chris decided to wear his silly woolly vest which he was very proud of for some reason. Glip decided to give Chris a silly hat to go with the vest since the hat was too silly even for Glip.

The track was followed for a short distance then we left it to go straight up the hill, thus missing out a long bend in the track. It was very humid even though it was cloudy, and there was very little wind. As a result, we had a ventilation stop when we reached the path again. Rivet did a John Cleese brain surgeon impersonation with the rolled up longs and the handkerchief hat.

Douglas McEwan navigated and Glip tried to help. As a result of this ‘help’, Glip and Douglas fell behind, and Chris made some rather rude comments when the couple regained company with the others, and slyly suggested that certain members of the party were getting too old for this sort of thing!

Rivet was climbing well again and normally led, mainly because David kept threatening to give him his rucksack to carry. Once we reached the Ridge at about 2500 feet, we found large rock fissures and Loch Sloy far below us. The wind was chilly now and from the south west.

Just before the top, rivet was nabbed and forced to carry the rucksack so that he could not reach the top first. Shrew and Douglas arrived first and we were all up by 12 o’clock, which was very good going – two hours to cover 3000 feet and 2-3 miles. The view was incredibly boring and uninteresting and rates as the worst of the year!

After lunch, but Rivet was beaten up by Chris because he was Rivet. We then descended toward the Little Hills with Rivet under a vow of silence. He had been offered a can of Coke if he could make the full descent without saying anything. Shrew and Douglas kept asking him the time and offering sweets to him. In the end, he felt to an ingeniously laid trap but as to who set it and what it was I do not know. Rivet got his own back by pleading for a second chance all the rest of the way down.

Back at the car, the sun was now out and it was very pleasant. We toasted the hill and shot off home after an enjoyable day’s climb.