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Weekend Meets The club runs weekend meets approximately every second week throughout the year. These cover a wide range of venues throughout the Highlands and the inner Islands, with occasional trips to the Lake District and further afield. The full list of future meets is at Weekend Meets. The club also operates some longer meets, which may be for 3 or 4 nights or even a week or more. Booking On The club meets secretary will take bookings on our regular Thursday night gatherings at the Cumberland Bar from 9-30 pm or earlier if there is a slide show. If you cannot make this, please email meets@jacobitesmc.co.uk to make alternative arrangements for payment. You can also pay fees during earlier meets or during Tuesday evening climbing if either of the meets secretaries is present. You cannot put your name on the list without making payment - to book a place you must pay for it in full.
In order to allocate places on meets fairly, the club operates a ballot system if more people have paid the meet fee than we have places. Each meet has a deadline by which you must pay for the place to be included in the ballot. For weekend meets, this is normally 2230 on the Thursday night 9 days before the meet. However, at the committee’s discretion, the ballot deadline may be set earlier than this. The ballot deadline for meets of 1 week or more may be several months in advance, to allow people to arrange leave from work if they have a place. If we do set an earlier deadline, it will be clearly stated on the web site and announced in the pub a minimum of 2 weeks before.
Members get priority in a ballot, so any non-members would be eliminated if all the places are taken by members at this point. In the event that there are fewer members than places but enough non-members have paid such that a ballot is required, we would ballot only the non-members. People eliminated in a ballot are placed on a reserve list in reverse order in which they are drawn out in the ballot - i.e. last to be eliminated is first reserve. The list of people with places and the reserve list will be posted on the web site shortly afterwards. If places become available then they are offered to those on the reserve list in order - i.e. 1st reserve gets first available place etc. People eliminated in a ballot can opt for a refund straightaway if they wish, but they then lose their place on the reserve list. Anyone who does not eventually get a place on the meet is due a refund afterwards.
If the meet is not full at the ballot deadline, then from that point the remaining places are sold on a first come first served basis and there is no priority for members.
Up to the ballot deadline, members can only book for the whole meet. After 2230 on the Thursday 9 days before the meet, people are allowed to go for part of the meet (i.e. stay for less than the total number of nights) if there are spare places, and they have the same priority as those attending for the whole meet. In the event that the ballot deadline is brought forward, those who wish to come for (or pay for) the entire meet still get priority over those who wish to come for part of the meet up to 9 days before the meet.
You can withdraw from the meet at any time up to the ballot deadline and receive a full refund. Thereafter, if you withdraw you will only receive a refund if the club does not have to pay for the place. The rule is simply that if we have to pay, you have to pay.
There is a slightly different system for the CIC meet where people are only placed in the ballot as pairs. The pairs are then balloted to reduce the number of attendees to the number of places available. Following the ballot deadline, the places are sold on a first come first served basis to pairs and single people alike, as for any other meet.
To be fair to everyone, we do operate this system rigidly.
Camping meets and meets at Inver are never balloted as there is no restriction on numbers. (However, the Christmas dinner numbers do sometimes have to be limited to about 24 for catering purposes.) We do not collect meet fees for camping meets - individual members are responsible for payment of their camp fees directly. However we do ask that you let us know you're going so that we can co-ordinate lifts if required, choose an appropriate part of the camp site for the number of tents we have and pass on any other info to all the people involved.
Accommodation
Accommodation for meets is usually in a bunkhouse or a mountaineering club huts. There are also a number of camping meets during the warmer parts of the year, and Inver Croft (the club's own hut) is used regularly. The standard of accommodation varies. Mountaineering club huts tend to be well placed for the mountains but basic and inexpensive. Many of the bunkhouses now used by the club are very comfortable and have modern facilities. The individual pages for meets give further details and often links to other web sites. The typical cost for meet accommodation is between £5 and £15 per night. Transport Transport is usually by private car. When you sign up, please do fill in your email and whether you are driving or you need a lift. If you have arranged one then please tell us. We use this site to co-ordinate lifts - the latest information will be on the page associated with that particular meet. There may be special arrangements when ferries are involved or access is difficult such as at Strawberry Cottage or on Arran.
But remember - ultimately it's up to you to make arrangements to get to and from the meet or to fill up the spaces in your car - the meets secs can and will help and facilitate but we're not responsible!! The info on the web page for the meet is only as good and up to date as you make it by keeping us informed of your latest arrangements!!
What to Bring All the details we have are posted on the web page associated with the meet. In addition to all your normal walking or climbing gear, you will often require a sleeping bag and sometimes a mat. You should bring enough food and drink for the weekend unless you know there is a shop nearby - often there is not.
It is helpful to coordinate your cooking arrangements with others in advance, to make best use of the facilities. It often helps to travel with the people you're cooking with!
Activities on Meets The club organises accomodation, and can coordinate transport, but it does not organise activities on meets. Members are responsible for organising these themselves, and for ensuring that they are suitably equipped for what they decide to do. However, there are always several experienced people on each meet and we do make sure that no-one is left out unless they wish to be! If you have particular ideas then look at the web page, see who else is going and contact them to make plans. The club also has a certain amount of equipment which members can borrow if required. Evening Meets - Tuesday Evening Rock-Climbing Up to approximately Easter, club members congregate at the local climbing walls at Ratho and Alien Rock on Tuesday evenings. If you would like to join us, either just turn up or email meets@jacobitesmc.co.uk and we'll let you know who is doing what. This is particularly useful if you need a lift to/from Ratho.
Between April and August the club coordinates climbing at suitable crags. Popular local sites such as Traprain Law and the sea-cliffs at Aberdour may be visited several times through the summer. When daylight allows, we may go to more distant areas, such as Northumberland and Dunkeld, while on other evenings we may be as close to home as Salisbury Crags, on Arthur's Seat.
We do not formally teach people to climb, but anyone of any standard is welcome to come along on Tuesday nights and we try to ensure that everyone has someone to climb with, and we will encourage and help as best we can.
Again, either simply turn up at the crag or contact us if you require a lift or you want to make sure that people are going. If the weather is potentially bad we do sometimes change things late in the day and if we know you're going we'll tell you.
Evening Meets - Wednesday Evening Hillwalking We run a series of evening hillwalks from late May until the end of July. Most of these are to nearby ranges, such as the Pentlands, Lammermuirs, Moorfoots and Ochils etc. Close to midsummer, some go a bit further, and the traditional 'Midsummer Munro' has taken us as far as Schiehallion for the evening. |
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