Meet Report: 9-12 March 2017.

This meet at the Grampian Club hut at Inbhirfhaolain has long been a favourite of the Club’s winter calendar and indeed Derek Bush, an attendee at this years meet, had been Meet Leader of the event for more than twenty-five years: a truly notable achievement. Unfortunately the effects of global warming clearly give participants much less certainty of having ideal snow and ice conditions for climbing than was the case some years ago.

Our meet leader, Chris, along with Michael, arrived on Thursday, having stopped off on route in Callander to purchase 3½ lbs of haggis for the Saturday evening meal. They also called in at the Kingshouse Hotel intending to have an evening meal, only to find that it had been closed for a couple of years for refurbishment! There is a cafe serving a limited menu, but they recommend that at present one should eat elsewhere. David, Anca and their guests also arrived on Thursday so as to take full advantage of the time available. The other members, including two octogenarians, arrived at various times on Friday.

On Friday conditions were not promising with the hills blanketed in low cloud. Chris and Michael drove to Victoria Bridge, which is a short distance from Bridge of Orchy near Forrest Lodge at the western end of Loch Tulla. Believing they would get decent snow above about 800m, they went up Coire Toaig, crossed the ridge to make a snow covered traverse into Coirein Lochain northeast of Stob Ghabar in anticipation of a 1000ft couloir climb to the summit. The lower couloir was littered with avalanche debris, but was duly climbed, however in the thick mist they failed to turn right into the upper couloir and continued up wet snow to surmount a soggy cornice some 200m southeast of the summit.

The descent was made north of Couloir Buttress, during which they came across an Irish party sheltering in bivvy bags while eating lunch. On the drive back they made a brief stop for a drink at the Inveroran Hotel, which they felt had benefited from the popularity of the West Highland Way, which passes by the door.

Meanwhile, Anca, David and guests had driven to the large car park on the Glencoe Road below Am Bodach, from where they took the usual route up Coire Nan Lochan to climb Bidean Nam Bian by way of Broad Gully on Stob Coire Nan Lochan. The snow was reported to be soft, but serviceable, although lots of ice was crumbling off the surrounding crags and falling into the gully. Two ptarmigans were seen near the lip of Coire Nan Lochan. Near white-out conditions were experienced on Bidean and the route off called for careful navigation. They returned to Inbhirfhaolain well after dark and quite wet from a day out on the soft snow.

Also on Friday, Harvey arrived at the hut with time to spare before nightfall, so he decided to walk up Laraig Eilde to the col between Stob Coire Sgreamhach and Stob Dubh, the southern summit of Buchaille Etive Beag.

During Friday night it rained heavily and Saturday dawned very mild and damp, although the weather forecast indicated that the weather should improve during the day.

Michael and Chris decided that there was little chance of finding climbable snow and, having consulted the one-inch map on the hut wall, decided to do a walk in Ardgour with the object of reaching a point marked ‘camp’, GR 871578, near the summit of Creach Bheinn. So, they drove to Corran, crossed the ferry and the headed south of Glen Tarbert to Glen Galmadale, some 10 miles south of Corran. Along the way they spotted an otter which had been killed by a vehicle. Walking up the valley beyond the fish pond proved to be very boggy, so they opted to ascend Maol Odhar by the ridge on the east side of the glen and then cross the bealach to the rockier Creach Bheinn. Just short of the summit they found the marked camp, a flat area with partly collapsed shelter walls. The camp was an Ordnance survey secondary triangulation station occupied in the early nineteenth century; there would have been four, or so, substantial tents and probably a larger wooden hut, perhaps an officers’ quarters or mess. It was commented that the surveyors would have needed much better visibility than our two members experienced while lunching on the summit. While there, they also saw two peregrines fly westward repeatedly calling to one another to maintain contact in the clouds. The descent was made by the steep grassy slopes of Coire Cúl Mhám back to the Glen Galmadale River. As they drove back to the ferry, an eagle was spotted flying along the coastline. Unfortunately, while pulling onto the ferry, a flat tyre was discovered, the replacement of which and the arrangements needed to get a replacement for the drive back home resulted in the pair being delayed, which caused the evening meal to be delayed for everyone waiting back at Glen Etive.

Anca, David and guests opted on a trip to the Mamores with an approach via Glen Nevis. The car was parked near the base of Stob Ban and they went up Coire á Mhusghain to the bealach between Stob Ban and Sgor an Lubhair. During the walk up the coire, David Pervan narrowly escaped slipping off the path into the river. From the bealach, they first climbed Stob Ban and then, in improving weather and visibility, ascended Sgor an Lubhair, continuing along the Devil’s Ridge (Stob Coire á Mhail) to Sgurr á Mhaim.

The descent from there to Steall was made in completely clear weather with views from the West Coast to Ben Alder, all the Mamores, the Nevis range and the Grey Corries.

As on the previous day, two ptarmigan were seen during the descent at around 2300 ft. By the time the Steall hut was reached, it was full moon for crossing the wire bridge, which much impressed Anca, and for the walk down the gorge to the car. The moon was illuminating the snow high on the Mamores and a very bright Venus was perched over the shoulder of the Ben. No other walkers were seen after leaving Stob Ban. A truly fabulous ending to their day.

Andrew and Derek had decided to climb Beinn na Gucaig, the Graham approximately ESE of Inchree, which is near the Corran Narrows, so Arthur opted to join them. The long SW ridge of the hill drops down to Inchree where they parked the car, but Andrew had a description of a route that took one along the Gleann Righ beside the river and through the forest. Initially the trail climbs steeply to a point well above the river, from where one has an excellent view of the impressive falls as the river plunges from the upper valley towards Loch Linnhe. Continuing up the forest trail, they were somewhat surprised, about two miles in and just short of the farmstead at Gleann Seileach, to hear a car coming along behind them with its very loud horn being repeatedly blown. Soon a car drew up alongside and a rather elegantly dressed young woman wound down the window and explained that she hadn’t been blowing the horn at us, but that at this time of the year large numbers of frogs crossed the trail to get to the river for spawning and her husband had recommended her to blow the horn to minimise the chance of killing them on the road. Continuing up the valley, they speculated on what occupation and lifestyle this family followed from this remote location in 2017.

Eventually, they emerged from the forest, some 4½ miles from the car park. The cloud was still down on the hill and the hillside rising vey steeply in to the mists looked rather daunting, so they decided this was a good time to have lunch and re-assess the situation. From a quick glance at the map, they concluded that to reach their goal they needed to cover almost another mile and 450 m of ascent, and, of course, return to the car park before dark. A unanimous decision was taken to abandon the climb and make their way back a.s.a.p. to the bar at Ballachulish where they hoped to be able to watch the England-Scotland Six Nations rugby match. Their return down the valley coincided with the vast improvement in the weather already mentioned, so over the final descent towards Inchree they had excellent views of the falls, the Narrows at Corran and all the hills down both sides of the Loch. Also, at one point along the way, they observed large quantities of frog spawn in the ditches alongside the track. Rather sadly, during the descent to Inchree, Derek received a phone call informing him that his sister, although quite elderly, had rather unexpectedly died.

The pub at Ballachulish was packed with a lively, but very congenial crowd, despite England scoring a decisive lead by half-time, at which time they felt they needed to return to Inbhirfhaolain to start the preparations for the evening meal and get the wood fire going so that the other parties would return to a welcoming glow.

On the return of Chris and Michael from Ardgour, the evening meal of haggis, served with neeps and tatties, was soon underway as the prelude to a most convivial evening.

On Sunday, facing a long drive south, most members made their good-byes and left shortly after breakfast. Michael reported that the tyre was sorted out in Stirling and he and Chris were able to complete their journey home without further difficulties.

Arthur Salmon.

Attendees

Derek Bush, Andrew Duxbury, Chris Hilton (Leader), Luke Judge (G), David Large, Harvey Lomas, David Pervan (G), Anca Pordea, Arthur Salmon, Michael Smith, Stuart Taylor (G).