The 2026 Grampian Club Annual Dinner will be held at the Invercarse Hotel, Perth Road, Dundee on the evening of Friday 13th March 2026.
Our after-dinner speaker will be Kirsty Mack, the first Scottish woman to climb K2.
Tickets (£40) are now available via Entry Central – just click on the ‘Sign Up’ link.
Kirsty’s talk will tell the story of her journey ‘From Surgery to Summit — One Step at a Time‘
In 2021, a ski accident left Kirsty Mack without the full use of her dominant arm. Four years later, she became the first Scottish woman to reach the summit of K2, standing on one of the most demanding mountains on earth.
This talk shares the story of From Surgery to Summit — a personal project that started with learning to climb again, one careful move at a time, and grew into expeditions across some of the most challenging mountains on Earth. She has now stood on four of the world’s fourteen 8,000-metre peaks, completed six of the Seven Summits, and climbed 25 of the 82 Alpine 4,000-metre peaks.
This talk is a story of rebuilding after loss, of partnership and patience, and of discovering that sometimes the hardest ascent is the one back to yourself — one step at a time.
Here are a few photographs from Kirsty showing something of what to expect on the night…..
Would you like to test your knowledge of Munros, Corbetts, outdoor brands and mountaineering equipment? We are holding an informal fun quiz at the December indoor meet. The quiz questions will be put on tables for everyone to peruse and decide upon their answers with answers being given at the end of the evening.
Refreshments will be available from 7.30pm.
This event will be held in the large capacity Sanctuary Room at the Steeple, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DG.
Here are a couple of photos to whet your appetite. Can you identify the subject matter in them? (Note: these are not included in the quiz).
The judge this year is Michelle Duncan. Michelle is an amateur photographer who has spent time in many locations taking some fantastic
photographs. Michelle has learned from people such as Colin Baxter and will give a synopsis of her photography journey before showing the photos entered and announcing the winner
Submit your photos by 11th December by emailing them to Penny Lockwood at president@grampianclub.org.uk. You can send in up to 5 photos and Michelle will choose the best set of 5 and the best single photo. Please include a title for your photos. The photos need to be sent as JPEGs
The Annual Dinner is planned for Friday 23 February 2024 at the Invercarse Hotel, Perth Road, Dundee.
We are pleased to announce John D Burns as the guest speaker at the dinner – the title of his talk for the night is ‘Bothy Tales’. This will be followed by a musical interlude performed by Club members and a slideshow of Club photos including some of the recent archive glass slides that have been digitised.
John Burns has spent over forty years among the mountains of the Scottish Highlands. He is an author and entertaining public speaker. His books tell of his adventures in this iconic landscape and have become classics for those who love wild places. Growing up amongst the shipyards of Birkenhead, John’s passion for the outdoors was ignited by a school trip to the Lake District, where he discovered a world of freedom in the hills. Mountains became a lifelong interest and took him to places like the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies and Mount Kenya. He moved to Inverness over thirty years ago to follow his passion for the Scottish hills. An expert ice climber, he was also a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, and has taken part in numerous rescues in the Highlands.
John’s first book, shortlisted for The Great Outdoors magazine (TGO) Book of the Year, The Last Hillwalker, is acknowledged as a classic in its genre. More recently he has rediscovered his love for remote bothies and regularly visits the wilder places of his Scottish home. This has resulted in his second book, Bothy Tales, which is a best seller, and will form the basis of his talk. John will take us with him to a remote Highland bothy, where a weary traveller finds shelter from the storm. In his rucksack he has coal for the fire, candles to ward off the darkness, and a little whisky to bring some cheer. John invites us to smell the wood smoke and be transported to a world where all you have is what is packed on your rucksack and the dreams that you follow. There are stories of wild places, with near death adventures on ice wreathed cliff faces. Tales of dark deeds in distant bothies and even a brush with royalty. He also relates the struggles of working-class folk, fighting to establish their right to wander, in what promises to be an entertaining talk.
Donations as raffle prizes are welcome and we are putting out a call for them now. Contact a Council member and we will arrange for them to be picked up.
Thank you for your continued support of this important event in the Club’s calendar where members can come together and enjoy a sociable night out together.
Social Meet
A social evening for Club members. Alf Barnard will present a fun and an interactive Mountain Mind Quiz. Participation is key to the enjoyment, quite apart from the excellent images of hills, lochs, bothies, flowers and local interest, all courtesy of Alf’s friend Bert Barnett. The quiz will be in a Q and A format, with no prizes apart from awarding yourselves points and having a good time!
There will be drinks and nibbles from 7:30pm with the quiz starting at 8pm.
This event will be held in the large capacity Sanctuary Room at the Steeple, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DG.
Social Meet
For a taste of something different the Club has arranged a ‘Christmas get together’ with a quiz, drinks and nibbles. The quiz will be run by Alf Barnard along the lines of the Mountain Mind quiz from the past.
Drinks and nibbles will be available from 7.30pm to help you get started in the Christmas Spirit.
This event will be held in the large capacity Sanctuary Room at the Steeple, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DG.
The annual dinner is taking place on Friday 30 September at the Invercarse Hotel in Dundee. We are pleased to announce David ‘Heavy’ Whalley as our guest speaker.
David was a member of the RAF Mountain Rescue for 37 years, was Team Leader at RAF Leuchars and RAF Kinloss, and Deputy Team leader at RAF Valley, in North Wales. For the last four years he has worked at the ARCC Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre at RAF Kinloss, giving him a unique insight into Rescue in the UK. He joined the Torridon MRT after leaving the RAF and served with them for 3 years until retirement.
David was Senior Team leader at the Lockerbie Disaster and has been involved in over 1000 mountain and over 80 aircraft incidents in mountainous areas. He has been awarded the BEM, MBE, and Distinguished Service Award for Service to Mountain Rescue. He is an honorary member of the Torridon and Kinlochewe MRT and SARDA Scotland, and in 2022 he took over as President of SARDA Scotland from Hamish MacInnes. He is still an active walker and climber, and has climbed the Munros 7 times and the Corbetts once. He has climbed in most parts of the world, on over 30 expeditions, and was a member of the successful RAF MRT 2001 Everest North Ridge Expedition. He is a regular contributor on TV and radio on Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue, and his daily blog has in excess of 1,500,000 hits www.heavywhalley.com
