|
During the
evening of the 25th June,
I camped on top of Cruach Ardrain and in the morning on the 26th, I descended to Crianlarich
where I met Dave of Up A Mountain MC. On today's schedule was the
Buachaille Etive Mor at Glen Coe. Dave and I met James and Dougie at Tyndrum's 'By The
Way' bunkhouse where we were to spend the night, and four of us
subsequently headed north. I had climbed the main peak Stob
Dearg in 2005, although hadn't been to any other tops along the ridge. Climbing
these was therefore high on my agenda. James, Dave and Dougie would have a shot at
Curved Ridge and if all went well, I'd meet them somewhere on the
mountain. To give us the greatest chance of meeting along the way,
I'd climb to the top of Coire na Tulaich and turn right, walk as far as
Stob na Broige, turn around, climb over the ridge to Stob Dearg, then
descend via. Coire na Tulaich.
Stob na Doire
Four of us set off from Altnafeadh at 2.05pm and I split off from the
other three just beyond Lagangarbh. I followed the path up Coire na Tulaich, feeling very well
today. Having hauled camping gear up Cruach Ardrain the day before, I
had the pleasure of travelling light. I was glad to be moving quickly
because I didn't want to spend long in this corrie. I'd had enough
memories of a sweltering, tedious climb from 2005 and I desired to
reach the top as soon as possible. I also wanted to just
to see how fast I could...
A boulder strewn track made for fast progress, often I was walking over
bedrock. I climbed steadily, reaching the upper reaches off the corrie
in good time. My one small concern was route finding at the headwall. In
2005, I'd ended up clinging to steep scree and didn't want to see a
repeat of that today. I was pleased to find that a good path now takes
you all the way to the top. Near the top the path splits in two, the
most obvious path heading onto steep scree. The less obvious path is the
correct route, although someone has built a small wall across the
obvious (wrong) path, keeping me and I'm sure others on track.
Then a
small "staircase" of rock offered a little excitement
(although no scrambling minus the use of one or two hands) and led me
the final steps to the bealach. I arrived here at 3.05pm, one hour after
I had started.
I took a break at the bealach. I'd pushed hard up to the point, and now
wanted to go the final way to Stob na Doire. Stob na Doire is a
beautiful peak must be one of most striking of Munro Tops. Hardly a top
in my eyes, it's bulk and shape is staggering, especially when seen from
the A82. After several minutes rest, I continued on my way to it's
summit. Additionally, the wind
was quite strong here and I didn't want to sit and cool. It was a short walk to the
summit, where I sheltered out of the wind.
I took another five minutes, taking the customary photographs as well as
phoning home. One quick call left me in wonderful spirits, amplified by
the wonder of the landscape I was in. It was a beautiful day and an
inviting ridge led towards Stob na Broige. The Glen
Etive Munros lay to the south and to the north was Nevis. Mountains were
everywhere in every direction, and I was
reminded of how little I've climbed in Glen Coe, because all these views
were new. If there's any place I should visit more often, it's Glen Coe.
Stob na Broige
The descent from Stob na Doire towards Stob na Broige was steep, on
slightly loose ground, and with big drops. Following the crest of a
ridge that drops off to either side unrelentingly had it's own beauties
and in my experience, walking that crest was perhaps the best part of
the walk. Having extracted such a positive experience from this, I
greatly anticipate visiting places like Kintail. Maybe I was on a good
day, but I had a very positive feeling.
At the bottom of Stob na Doire, the ridge widened, came to a bealach and
ascended once more to Stob Coire Altruim. This was as close to a slog on
the ridge as I would come, but I didn't mind for the ascent wasn't
sustained. Additionally, I could see into Coire Altruim for the first
time, a common means of descent. I'd often wondered how steep this
corrie was, how frequently it was used, etc. It took me by surprise to
see a clear path descending into the corrie, seemingly without a hint of
scrambling.
Upon reaching Stob Coire Altruim (a Munro Top), I continued along the
final ridge to Stob na Broige, the Munro. I'd just finished taking a
summit panorama when I received a text: the other guys were bailing out
of Curved Ridge. I could understand why if it were the wind that had
stopped them - it was strong enough here and would be strong enough for
me to reconsider committing to a scramble. I'd find out exactly why
though later. My immediate thoughts were directed to reaching Altnafeadh
by the quickest route. So instead of going back over the ridge to Stob
Dearg, I'd go down Coire Altruim to the Lairig Gartain and shoot along
back to the car park. With complete honesty, I'd say that this change in
situation did not bother me once - climbing Stob Dearg wasn't a
necessity and I'd been before too. I was damn grateful that the other
guys should give me a lift up and then be okay with me going off alone,
so when it came to reconsidering plans, a descent to the Lairig Gartain
made perfect sense. What's more is that it would be new terrain for me,
and new terrain's always a good thing. I've always said and maintain that
to experience a mountain in the best way possible is to do several
ascents, by different routes in different conditions. It's a sort of
intimacy and knowledge of the ground, the desire not just to climb a
summit but to explore. I try to 'explore' as much as possible, but I
don't deny the list ticking compulsion either. As long as ticking boxes
isn't an obsession.
Descent to Altnafeadh
Now with the target of Altnafeadh firmly in mind, I left Stob na Broige, walking
with some speed again. Getting back in good time was helped by the fact
that I didn't have to do any more ascending, so I headed over Stob Coire Altruim and then down to
the bealach below. I was keen to get down fast because I figured that the
others wouldn't be long back to the car. During descent, I often took to running.
I could do this for the path was in good condition, but that added the
risk of becoming airborne. Though all in all, I enjoyed the descent as
well as the shifting views of the Buachaille Etive Beag. Now with
mountains towering above, I reached the Lairig Gartain and crossed the
river to the main track. This track has the reputation of becoming one
great bog following rain, but we hadn't had much rain and it was largely
dried out. I often crossed areas of dried mud, figuring that following
rain, this is what everybody complained about. I find it unsurprising
that people have talked about sinking up to their knees.
After pushing on ahead, I arrived at the A82 with some relief. The car
was still some way down the road because I wasn't yet at Altnafeadh,
although I followed it back. It was extremely busy here, there was
little verge to walk on and no path, so I figured it would be safer to
walk parallel to the road on the rough ground.
When I arrived at the car, it was to my great surprise that it was
empty. I decided to walk up past Lagangarbh to see if I could get some
signal, but just beyond it, I found Dave, James and Dougie walking in
the opposite direction. They'd pulled out due to the inefficiency of
having three on a rope, but they'd gone three quarters the way. Three
quarters the way to the top of the Buachaille is a long way up.
We drove back to Tyndrum and for the evening, headed out to Paddy's Bar.
We went back to the bunkhouse after plenty of food and drink (although a
Diet Coke keeps me happy) myself getting to bed after 2am. Not the most
clever of ideas when you've got another hill day in the morning. Next on
the agenda: Ben Lui and Beinn
a' Chleibh.
|
