22/07/2011 Beinn a'Bheithir

Sgorr Dhonuill (munro)
Sgorr Dhearg (munro)

A solo day and a mere 25 years it's taken to return to this particular hill. The first attempt was in winter, sometime in the mid to late '80s and I was with my Dad and one of his pals. There was a thaw on and lumps of snow were falling from the face of the summit so I decided not to finish the hill but wait while they bagged the summit and came back. “You were right, that was dodgy”. Vindication. I also lost my casio watch. Funny how things stick in your memory.

the dragon's tooth

classic pic

2 years ago, Mrs H, Cb and myself went to climb School House ridge. I was under the impression that it was a Grade I but it I've now read somewhere it is Grade II. Mostly a hill walk but a short steep section with considerable exposure and no rope defeated us.

towards mull and lismore island

Attempt no. 3 was last winter, 2 hours battling through the trees resulted in Cb and I emerging into the corrie in waist to almost chest deep powder snow. We had a quick conference and decided to try and find the path down. A further half an hour of floundering got us to the deer fence (about 100m) and some tracks that we followed back to the proper path and eventually the car. If, by some chance, we had actually managed to get to the bottom of the route and climb it, we would have come down into the corrie in the dark and struggled to find the route down.

looking east to glencoe

So, 4th time lucky. A bright sunny day. 2 hours from the car to the bealach, a bite to eat and the elusive peak was in the bag. The view was quite superb. Mull, Ardgour, Mamores, Ben Nevis, Glencoe, Bidean, Ben Starav and Cruachan. Just as well Mrs H hasn't done it. Worth a return visit.

Back at the car 5 ½ hours after starting.

19/07/2011 Grey Corries

Stob Ban (munro) 

Stob Choire Claurigh (munro)
Stob Coire an Laoigh (munro) 
Sgurr Choinnich Mor (munro)


Length: 15.9 miles  25.7 km, Ascent: +1834m, Naismith: 8h 11m

This one has been on the todo list for a long time.

And so it came to pass that the weans were to be minded by the most excellent nanny and papa and H and Mrs H were to go to the hills again. You'd think we'd know better by now.

We had hatched a plan so cunning that you could pin a tail on it and call it a fox. Drop the kids off just before bed time get them settled and drive, drive, drive to a suitable place, sleep in our wonderful, ever reliable, magical estate car and then be placed perfectly for an early start and early return to previously mentioned kids.

The best laid plans etc. etc. etc. We made it to Fort William by midnight and, too tired to carry on, headed for the most excellent North Face car park. It wasn't a busy as I had expected. On the last visit there had been 2 motor homes taking up at least half a dozen spaces. I regarded this as "a bit cheeky". No such problems finding a space. 1 tent occupied by a group of silent MTB'ers with their bikes padlocked outside their tent was all that there was.

We got settled in to our bags, too tired, even for a cup of tea.

I was awoken by the rain. Then by some midges venturing in through the open window. Finally at about 6am, I heard the rumble of a diesel engine and poked my head slowly over the window ledge. A police car doing a slow drive by and then it was gone again. Time to get up.

We packed bags and drove to the road head for the Grey Corries. Here we were able to get the stove on for a breakfast cuppa, dressed in hill clothes, packed much food into sacs and we were off!

The route we (I) had opted for was to take in 4 peaks, to do this in a logical way, we would walk through the Lairig Leacach to the wee bothy and then climb Stob Ban by the stalkers path (only marked on 1:25000 map). From there it would the long haul up to Stob Choire Claurigh and the start of the Grey Corries ridge. We had a shower of rain on the way to the bothy but then it cleared and the Stob Ban section was dry and it looked promising. The cloud remained fixed on Stob Choire Claurigh. So we asended into the murk and were rewarded by 15 to 20m visibility.

big slabs

I'd love to post lots of photos of the gorgeous views but there was none. I'm sure it is beautiful. I cannot verify that. What I can do is be particularly smug about my navigation. Not only did we do the right hills in the right order, but we made it back to the car. Bonus.

Stob Ban

Our only adventure was on the top Stob Coire Easin. Here is a junction of sorts, this is the point in the ridge where, to turn right takes the walker down the ridge towards the dam and the car, to turn left takes the walker further away from the car, and civilisation into the depths of Lochaber and almost trackless wilderness. And bog.

Stob Ban in glorious panorama

After a quick conference, we felt all was ok, I took a bearing and we turned left to follow a faint track heading in roughly the right direction between great piles of stone. After descending for 5 mins I mentioned that I wasn't happy with the direction and ground we were covering. Mrs H agreed so we turned around and re climbed the hill only to find a better track heading in exactly the right direction. This led to further adventure.

halfaseesaw, wet

Mrs H had had a wee slip on the way across the bealach between Stob Ban and Stob Choire Claurigh. The rock is mostly quartz in nature and tends to form large flat sections which, in the rain, were slippy. This knocked her confidence and her hip and maybe her knee too.

after some rooting about on internet looks like a Dactylorhiza maculata, Heath Spotted-orchid

So, when the ridge became narrower, rockier, slippier and steeper, we became slower. Then the rain started. The next 2 hours were taken up by edging down big bocks of scree to reach the bealach, crossing to the last Munro and the seemingly endless succession of  false tops and apparently pursuing a phantom sheep that defecated on the path every 6 feet.  On one false top in particular, if the cloud had been any thicker, I could have quite easily turned around  thinking I'd bagged the summit. The plus side the endless ascent was followed by a remarkably rapid descent and re ascent of the top.

the dam

Happy to be heading back to civilisation, we started the long walk downhill. The guide book says to descent to the dam and cross the burn. This left a few questions lingering in my mind. Above or below the dam? How to get to the dam? How to get up the other side???? I worry about stuff like this.

This was solved by heading for the trees above the dam, hanging onto the deer fence and lowering ourselves down the steep bank (judging by the shape of the fence, I gather this is what everyone else has done too). I had considered sitting astride the dam and doing a bum shuffle across (I think the alpine mountaineering term for this is "à cheval"). This was instantly overruled by Mrs H. We opted for stepping across the burn and just getting wet(er). Climb up the opposite bank and over the style. This leads a to a concrete walkway and brings you to the track. All we were left with was a plod in the shelter of the forest.

puggy line bridge

I was delighted to see the wee railway bridge through a gap in the trees. If you can imagine the old trestle bridges popular in cowboy movies, well, this is a miniature version. Very cool. This line was built to run from the aluminium smelter in Fort William to Laggan for engineering purposes. The main one being drilling a tunnel from Laggan under the Grey Corries, the Aonachs and Ben Nevis.

Back at the car 12 hours after leaving for tea, painkillers and clean, dry clothes.

Home for midnight. So the plan was a partial success.

12/07/2011 Ben Bheula

Ben Bheula (corbett)

Length: 8.73 miles  14.0 km Ascent: +1020m Naismith: 4h 31m

This was the third attempt at this Corbett. The first time me n' Mrs H didn't even get out the car. We couldn't open the door for the gale force wind. Attempt No. 2 ended in confusion, rain and a complete lack of motivation.

This time things would be different. Mrs H had said to go off myself, partly due to the previous days partial success and partly because I'm going have to work 5 days a week in a few weeks time. It may take some getting used to.

I was motivated, the weather was fine. What could possibly go wrong?

All started well, I followed the track up from Lettermay and continued up the new forestry path which brings you to steep grass at NS174988. I zigzagged up until the angle leveled off a wee bit and stopped for brunch. I knew that the way down from the summit was going to be interesting so I sat and studied the crags and came up with a solution.

Ben Bheula from NS176985

Satisfied with the way forward, I wandered up the ridge pausing only to swat flies, catch my breath or mop the sweat from my brow. Eventually arrived at the spot height 560 and took in the views.

To get to the Lochan na Cnaimh requires descent along the top of some small crags and a trend westwards. Fortunately it's not as high as it looks.

I reached the outflow of the lochan and was surprised to see a dam made from large rocks and a pipe with a sluice gate on the dry side.

Lochan na Cnaimh from the dam

I could see no sign of the path marked on the map that runs up to the bealach, so it was more steep grass and bog to reach the bealach where I managed to rip a large hole on the leg of my favourite trousers whilst climbing over the only fence of the day. Much bad language followed, fortunately I was on my own.

The next significant feature was the remains of a Grumman Wildcat (Martlet) F4F-3. The story can be found here.

I didn't see the cockpit remains or the engine. These two parts were about 10 to 15 meters apart.

wing section

and 

not sure

Looking up at Creag Sgoilte, I realised there was no direct route up so I'd have to move round to the west side. I eventually found and then followed a shallow gully and it brought me to a dip in the 2 summits of Creag Sgoilte. An easy wander along the summit ridge brought me to the summit proper and I found about 5 meters of faint path, the only hill path I'd seen all day.

at last, the summit in sight

I tried to remember the way down I'd made up in my head, unsurprisingly I couldn't match what I was standing on to what I'd seen before. The short gully I thought would take me down one "terrace" looked too steep so I wandered off towards the North-westish hoping to out flank the crags. I could see a path on the ridge below but couldn't see a way down.

I decided to take a look along a small grassy terrace and this proved more promising as I could see a grassy ramp leading to more level ground. Further round I found a straightforward if slightly steep way down and very soon I was on the path I'd seen from above. Not that it lasted long. From then on it was just a matter of picking my way down through bog and marsh to the slightly boggier and marshier Cowal Way to the nice dry firm road and back to the car.

I recon I took 6 hours give or take stoppage time. Felt more like 12.

11/07/2011 Ettrick forest

Bodesbeck Law (donald)
Capel Fell (donald)
Croft Head (donald)
Loch Fell (donald)
Wind Fell (donald) cancelled
Ettrick Pen (donald) cancelled

Length: 12.0 miles  19.3 km Ascent: +1201m Naismith: 5h 52m

Original plan was
Length: 13.3 miles  21.3 km Ascent: +1417m Naismith: 6h 38m

The weather forecast was for heavy thundey showers working their way south so a trip to the borders seemed like a good idea. I consulted my big book of things to do and Ettrick circuit looked good. (I hadn't noticed how far it was by road).

The drive down to Moffat was nice. Moffatdale was lovely and we eventually reached St. Mary's Loch then the Gordon Arms hotel. Turn right and drive some more. Follow signs for Ettrck and eventually arrive at the road end.

It had been my intention to go clockwise, but there was a tempting sign at the road end with "Ettrick Circuit" I took this to be a "sign". We started off up the first hill of the day, Bodesbeck Law. After about half a mile there is a small footbridge over the burn and it is signed Bodesbeck Law. After a quick map check we stuck with our original intention of following the forestry track onto the hills east ridge. This gave us an easy warm up to start.

me on Bodesbeck Law

The problem with doing the circuit this way is the distance between hill 1 and hill 2 is just under 3km. If you go clockwise the hills are closely spaced and the last hill can be skipped if legs are tired or time is pressing. We, or rather I, deprived us of that option by going anticlockwise.

Ettrick to Bodesbeck Farm path.

The ridge forms the regional boundary between Dumfries and Galloway and The Borders. The boundary is marked by a dry stane dyke which for 2 or 3 km is in perfect condition.

where do the stones come from? White Shank looking back toward Bodesbeck Law.

We strolled on along the undulating and occasionally boggy ground and eventually we came to hill no. 2 for the day, Capel Fell. 

big cloud aeroplane

We then descended to Ettrick Head and followed the Southern Upland Way to the bottom of Cat Shoulder on Croft Head. This section doesn't seem to get much traffic and I wouldn't fancy it in really bad weather or snow with a big pack! After a short T break we headed up and down Croft Head then tackled the steep climb up to Loch Fell (couldn't see a loch anywhere).

Hart Fell and Bog Cotton

Here is where plans had to be changed, Mrs H declared a sore leg and was in some discomfort so we skipped Wind Fell and Ettrick Pen and headed straight for Ettrick Head and the long slow hobble back to the car. We had a good nosey at the Over Phawhope bothy on the way past.

Back to the car about 7 hrs after we left it and munched jelly babies all the way home.

14/11/2010 Flashback to last winter's only route!

Great Gully Buttress (a day oot in the 'Coe)

Me n' Cb went for a route on Sunday (14th), I wasn't sure what would be 'in' so I thought an easy snowed up buttress route would be the best bet. mmmm almost right. I've had a notion to do the big buttresses on the Buachaille for a while now and I thought that Great Gully Buttress would be fairly straight forward - we'd gone to do it as a scramble the week before but it was cloudy and wet and soggy - so we just did the 2 munros by the normal route instead. Scramble grade is 1 or 2 so I thought winter II at the most.

Anyway, things went well. There are 3 rock bands each progressively harder. We roped up early at the first and easiest rock band to sort out heads/gear. We hadn't climbed anything since July and I felt a bit rusty. After that the rope went back into the bag until middle rock band which was a bit more serious looking. I led the first so, ever the gentleman, allowed Cb to take the lead (her first winter lead) No problems there. We led through for a couple of easy pitches. Close to the top I led a long traverse out to the right, up a gully where I got some solidish turf then traversed back to the left – I ran out almost all the rope, got a couple of bomber runners but probably only gained 25 meters !! Cb led through again and then by some bizarre coincidence it was the crux and my lead. The scrambles book says something like “climb the rack band by a diagonal crack running left to right then work back left to the top of the buttress”. The slab was covered in thin ice (melting) and unconsolidated snow, I had a bomber no. 8 hex in so I climbed a little above that and got a good crack to get my axe into. After that there was nothing to be found. I must have swept almost all the snow from the slab searching for a gear/axe/foot placement. I could see how it could be skipped up in the summer on dry rock.

I retreated back to my last runner and attempted to thrash my way up what remained of the gully Cb was belayed in but again I couldn't find any suitable cracks and we took the decision to back off, I must have been 5m from the top of the buttress.

How annoying.

It was about 15:30 by this point; sunset was 16:30, neither of us fancied down climbing the whole ridge. I took a look at Narrow Gully between Great Gully and Broad Buttresses and thought that we could ab into it. Looking down on it looked OK to downclimb. There was a massive pointy rock to use as an anchor. Cb went first and I followed. When I tried to pull the rope down it was stuck. Fortunately it wasn't vertical so I was able to quickly climb back up on the ropes and clear some snow. Ab'd again to halfway and threaded a rock with a sling and a crab, pulled the rope and rigged a new abb. however, when we actually got into the gully, it was Shit. The sensible option was to climb up to the top of the gully and continue from there on known ground. That worked out well. I packed up the rope and we started the slightly tedious climb up. We stopped for a breather and juice at the top of the gully where the buttress ended and I enjoyed standing on a bit of flat ground for 5 mins.

Daylight was fading but the rest of the route was just a hill walk so the rope stayed in the bag, and I stared breaking trail along the bottom of Great Gully Upper Face. That face shrinks in height so when it disappears, double back and that brings you in a zig zag to the top of Broad Buttress. Fantastic sunset view so I let Cb break trail for 5 mins so I could get a breather and call the wife to say we were still on the hill.

I caught up with Cb and took over the lead. There is a small bump in the ridge about 3 meters high - couldn't go round it so over the top was only option. I cleared large quantities of snow from the first half so find a delightful little ledge that I could step up to - cleared more snow to find a crack that took the axe and a foot hold. That was that dealt with. Rather than climb up to the ridge we contoured round to meet the normal route. - Cb was getting pretty tired. We made the top of the corrie path at sunset. Time for 3 chocolate biscuits, a handful of M n M's and tidy up harness and rack. (that's all I ate all day). The descent took about 2 hrs - mostly because the bottom of the path (where it runs above a big drop) was covered in a thin sheet of ice. It was probably the scariest bit of the day. Most of it was done a la derrière.

All in all it was good fun even if we didn't get a tick!! Handled the retreat without stress. We were on the hill for about 8 hours and didn’t see a soul for most of that. The norries would have been crawling with bodies.

Lessons learned:

1. Remember where you've put both of your big belay mitts.
2. Take the winter rope and not the summer one because it's furry - attracts snow and acts like a sponge and hasn’t been dry/Teflon treated. On the plus side it didn't freeze because it wasn't cold enough.
3. Take a bit longer to rig an abseil - had to leave a sling and crab coz I couldn't be arsed raking about in my sac for tat. Probably would have saved time in the long run if I’d used tat in the first place.
4. Conditions can vary the grade by (in my limited experience) grade and a half. I reckon it would have gone at II if it was in condition, the last 7 or 8 meters being the III maybe overall II/III would be more accurate. Last year we climbed The Slant which is Grade I. I felt it to be about grade II ½ at the time. Cb hated it and cursed me all the way to the top. I had great fun.

 

04/07/2011 Glencoe and utter failure

Climbed out of bed and that was about the biggest success of the day.

To explain, we had just returned from a short family holiday to London to visit relatives and generally get out the house. Anyway, one thing led to another and my youngest child became infected with whatever that girl in the Exorcist had. I'm sure he produced more than his own body weight. Mrs H and I believed we had avoided it but no, it was not pretty but he's all better now and back to mischief.

The forecast was good so I thought, "I'm feeling better, go bag a hill". I've had a notion to do Bidean nam Bian from Stob Coire nam Beith for a while following an unsuccessful winter climbing expedition to No. 4 buttress. (450 meters of Grade II, I'll be back)

The drive up was pleasant in the beautiful sunshine. I managed a few sneaky peeks at the scene of previous adventures on BEM. NE buttress still looks steep!!!

From the almost deserted car park near the Clachaig turn off, I toiled up the path sweating and feeling sick, stopping every couple of minutes until the feeling passed, then pressing on again. 50% of me wished I'd stopped for food at the Green Welly 50% was glad I hadn't. The original plan had been Dinnertime Buttress and on to SCnL, Bidean, SCnB and back to the car. Normally that would be a reasonable day out. I think I was a wee bit over ambitious.....

Reality set in,The Plan got ditched, and I thought I just go up and take a look at the cliffs on SCnB.

Didn't even manage that.

Stob Coire nam Beith looks mighty impressive as you approach through a small gorge. I could pick out Deep Cut chimney, No. 4 buttress and Summit Gully but I had no stamina, felt weak and thought, "no, go home". so I did.

And the final kick in the stanes - MLT has been cancelled again!

You win some, you lose some.

18/06/2011 Langdale

Pike o' Blisco 2304" (wainwright/hewitt)
Cold Pike 2259" (wainwright/hewitt)
Crinkle Crags South Top 834m (hewitt)
Crinkle Crags (Long Top) 859m (wainwright/hewitt)
Shelter Crags 815 (hewitt)

Length: 8.81 miles  14.2 km, Ascent: +1079m, Naismith: 4h 38m

Somewhere new again. After about 3 hours drive (including a short and unintentional detour to Shap), We parked up at a small layby near Rosset Bridge. Geared up and off we went in the direction of Stool End (snigger). From there we took the left branch path into Oxendale and over the footbridge up, up, up towards Red Tarn. Just before Red Tarn, a path swings left to reach the summit of Pike o' Blisco and the view was worth the wait. Scafell was still hidden behind Crinkle Crags but we could see across to Coniston and north to Helvellyn. We didn't stop for long and it was back down to the pass and up to the rocky summit of Cold Pike.

Crinkle Crags from Cold Pike

From here the path to Crinkle Crags is a wee bit obvious. And tedious. But we got there in the end.

Pleasant scrambly walking takes you up and over the south top and from there you can see the infamous "bad step". This is the reason I opted to do this walk clockwise. This bad step can be avoided completely by following the obvious path to the left (west) We went for it in true hard core pepsi-max stylee. 2 moves later and it was all over. We even had an audience.

Brown fleeced sheep - if you can see them.

I had intended to do a complete circuit of Langdale from Pike o' Blisco, over Bow Fell and finishing on Harrison Stickle but it was hot and we were slow. So after much looking at watches, thinking up excuses and general faffing we continued along the ridge to the Three Tarns and from there we descended The Band back to Stool End (snigger).

Pike of Stickle is the prominent peak on the left, Loft crag is the large buttress on the right.

Excellent views from The Band across to Pike of Stickle and Loft Crags.

Looking down into Langdale from The Band.

It was probably the slightly convoluted start but it seemed to take ages to get anywhere despite moving steadily. I've checked the distances and our Coniston walk was 13 miles and at Langdale we covered 8 miles. It just felt that we weren't making progress all day, probably because we could see the car for most of the walk so didn't get that remote sensation that I feel is a big part of the experience. In contrast, the Coniston walk felt longer than 13. My feet thought it felt at least 18 and they are pretty good at this sort of thing.