Glen Etive and Beyond


Angela, Andrew, and I  managed to depart York promptly at 16:30 on the Friday evening for the long journey to Glen Etive.  We had a good journey north with some stunning views of the Pennines crossing the A66 and plenty of lively discussion and chat.  We stopped for dinner in a truckers diner south of Glasgow all feeling rather skinny – especially when one trucker came in so large that Andy dubbed him ‘the 285th Munro’!

We arrived at the Inbhirfhaolain Hut at around 10:30 and were presented with wine by the group staying there, one of whom was a friend of Andy’s, Leslie King.  A quick break to set up our tents on the really good neighbouring campsite and we were back at the wine and all chatting about different plans for the weekend.


We got up early to a beautiful morning and some stunning views of Ben Starav and the Buachailles.  The weather forecast was set for some cloud on the summits that would clear by afternoon and we were soon off along the Glen to walk up Beinn nan Aighenan and if possible, Glas Bheinn Mhor.  The route up was relatively gentle and we passed a couple with their dog – we were to see them several more times that day!

However, towards the col, the cloud and clag was starting to press in and we decided to sit it out for half an hour to see whether it would clear.  A joint decision was made to just press on and see what conditions were like at the col. I was coming out with mindlessly optimistic weather predictions that it would (eventually) become glorious; however when we got to the col we found it windy and very claggy to the point that we took a bearing to get us onto the correct path to Beinn nan Aighenan.  The path proved straight forward despite a 150m drop before the ascent proper and before long we were at the summit with spectacular views of the inside of a cloud.  This was not going to spoil our enthusiasm though and we could see that the weather was gradually starting to lift.  Indeed, on the way back to the col, we started to get glimpses of the top of Glas Bheinn Mhor and the narrow ridge coming down off Ben Starav.



We stopped for some lunch at the col and took the opportunity to take some photographs.  We had been taking it very gently and made the group decision not to try and slog it to Glas Bheinn Mhor as it would have meant coming down in the dark.  It did however give us time to drive to the shop in Glencoe to re-stock our wine supply and go for a superb meal in the recently refurbished Loch Leven Hotel in North Ballachulish and discuss plans for the following day.

Back at the Hut, people started drifting back all having had an equally good day out and a party atmosphere soon developed.  Copious amounts of wine was drunk!


On the Sunday morning, I was a little late getting up, but after a bit of faffing was packed up and we were off to start the day’s walking. Today heading further north near Fersit to try and get better weather conditions.  Angela had decided that she would like to see a bit more of Scotland than the top of a hill! We dropped her of at Spean Bridge to stroll around. Andy and I set off to walk around Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg.

The weather was stunningly warm and sunny and we were pleased with our decision to come further north.  We put our heads down and stormed up the at times steep flank of Stob Coire Sgriodain to reach a rocky summit and Cairn.  There was a little bit of clag but we soon dropped down to the col and marched up the more rounded Chno Dearg.  We were making excellent progress according to the times given in the SMC Munro book and inspired we belted it back down and back into the sunshine.  We had marched round in just over four hours and after picking Angela up we were on the road heading back home by 3:15pm.


Apart from a little congestion resulting from some roadworks on the M80 and discussions about why car manufacturers don’t put bins in cars, we had an uneventful journey south and were back in York by about 9pm.

 

All in all it was a stunning weekend – thanks guys!

Fabian