Club Activities

The club holds multiple events every month throughout the year. Below we explain the various types of activities, and what to expect from these. To see the upcoming list of activity events please see the events calendar.

Weekend Day Meets

These events are hill walks taking place at the weekend, happening once a month throughout the year (including winter) and can be either Saturday or Sunday. They usually use a minibus for transport and sometimes a coach (occasionally a car-share). The routes are usually in the range of between 10 and 30km and would often have a Munro-level hill as the main target. Some occasions will have the option for a shorter route. The attendance sizes are normally between 10-20 but split up during the day to smaller groups as pace and routes may differ.

Read a report from a typical day meet. What you need for a typical day meet.

Weekend Away Meets

These are a full weekend away, staying indoor at another club’s hut, hostels and on occasion hotels, and are mostly reached by car-sharing, some arriving at the base on Friday, some Saturday. We travel further away for these and during the weekend there are not usually any prearranged routes – the participants organise amongst themselves to tackle nearby hills and climbs, with a wide range of possibilities. Some weekend meets are camping based – either at a regular campsite, or wild camping.

Read a report from a typical weekend meet. What you need for a Weekend Meet.

Climbing Meets

The Climbers in the Club participate in all types of climbing throughout the year, including trad and sport rock climbing. During the summer months we have at least one scheduled outdoor meet during the week, normally on a Tuesday. During the winter months or in poor weather we meet at Transition Extreme (an indoor climbing wall in Aberdeen) on Wednesday afternoons/evenings. The climbers in the Club organise specific climbing meets as well as joining other Club members on weekend meets.
Climbers of all abilities are welcome to join us. To ensure everyone’s safety we expect new members to have gained some experience of climbing at an indoor wall before joining an outdoor climbing meet, so they know how to tie-in to a rope, and belay safely etc. Download our latest climbing info.

Training Events

The club ethos is to improve hillcraft and associated outdoor skills. We run a number of subsidised courses for members mostly using qualified instructors, but with some peer-to-peer learning on occasion from experienced members. Courses include Outdoor First aid, Winter skills, Navigation and others. More info…

Indoor Talks

Our indoor evening events usually take the form of a talk with a visual presentation, and are held about 6 times a year between October and March. All members, and guests, are welcome to come along. These events are an ideal event to meet our members if you are interested in finding out more about the Club or our other events.

Mid-week Walks

These are less strenuous (and sometimes low-level, e.g. coastal) walks, popular with those who have time off mid-week. They are usually held on the last Thursday of every month, usually within an hour’s drive from Aberdeen. Participants meet at a central location to share cars, or at the starting point. There is a stop for a sandwich lunch, and often a visit to a local café for tea afterwards.

Stravaig Walks

Stravaigs are also midweek short walks on a Friday once a month, and are typically around 5 miles in length, on what is usually quite flat terrain, and with a social visit to a café generally included.

Camping

A few times a year we arrange wild camping trips – either single overnighters, or more involved expeditions that span a few days, and allows for exploration of remote terrain or distant areas. In the winter we also so a snow shelter overnighter as part of our winter skills training.

Example of a campsite trip | multi-day wild camping

Social Events

Our weekend meets are very social by their nature – staying together in accommodation. Day meets usually have a pub stop on the way back to relax and mull over the day’s action. We hold a number of informal and formal events: summer barbecue(s), our Burns supper weekend at our hut is always very popular, and our annual dinner is a rare opportunity to meet up while smartly clad, instead of in our usual outdoor gear.

Ad-hoc Meets

The club has enthusiastic members who arrange events, sometimes conditions-dependent at short notice, that lie out with the official calendar. These may include camping, winter activities, snowholing, scrambling and climbing.