1st July 2008Lagangarbh Hut Weekend - GlencoeWe last stayed in this excellent hut in 2003, and for those who haven’t stayed in a hut before I assure you this is one of the better ones, the only drawback being the somewhat cramped bedrooms. But this was more than offset by the fabulous weather we had over the weekend and the superb scenery and scrambling, we decided to repeat a route last done by the club 10 years ago. The route took us direct from the hut and up the devils staircase (just a walk) then a long haul up and over the subsidiary tops Stob mhartin 707m, Odair bhig 903m, and Stron Garbh 873m. All this was in low cloud and chilly winds, and it wasn’t until we reached Am Bodach at the start of the Anoch Eagach ridge that I looked up and saw a chink in the clouds overhead, I clearly remember saying to myself “ what the bloody hell is a Chinese doing up there” Ho Ho.Anyway by the time we reached the summit of A/B there were clear blue skies and you could all the mountain tops for 20 miles around, Terry Pope, Paul Darcy, Frank Pollard and Elaine, Marie Anton, Brian Baker, Steve Caton, Nigel Howarth, Gary Brown, Mark Martland and I completed the crossing in perfect conditions. Brian and I, the last of the group claimed bragging rights by also climbing the Pap of Glencoe, assuming the others in front had also done it, to find out later that they hadn’t, never the less it was a super effort all round by everyone, and for me, a repeat of 10 years ago. On the Sunday, again in beautiful sunshine, Paul Darcy, Nigel Howarth, Gary Brown and Steve Caton did the Bidean nam Bian circuit via the lost valley, which I can from personal experience recommend, it is a super day out, and even better in winter. Meanwhile I along with Frank, Elaine, Marie, Victor, Brian, Mark, Terry set off to do the Curved ridge and Crowberry tower up to the summit of Stob Dearg or Buachaille Etive Mor, this is a grade 3 scramble but in the perfect conditions was delightful, though we did overtake a party who had enough climbing gear on them to ascend the Eiger, Terry showed his prowess by soloing the harder front face of Crowberry Tower to a round of aplause.The rest of us took the normal route and climbed the awkward pitch up the back onto the summit of the Tower, posing for photo’s, then the tricky down climb and scramble up to the summit of Stob Dearg at 1,022m, we lounged about in the glorious sunshine taking in the panoramic views on all sides, there were quite a number of people already up there, most having reached the top via Coire na Tulaich the usual ascent which itself is difficult especially in winter. This was the second time in 3 days I’d climbed Curved ridge, having decided to recce the approach to the scramble on the Friday afternoon in rather damp conditions, It’s10 years since I last did it and easy to go off route, Roger Musgrove (remember him) and I once finished up climbing a diff climb without ropes trying to find the proper route. Anyway it was so wet and greasy, once I’d got going it was safer to continue to the top. Prior to our stay at the hut, Marie, Anton and I had travelled up earlier in the week to stay at Glen Nevis YH, our intention was to do the Nevis circuit starting from the new North face car park near Torlundy on the Inverness road out of Fort William. This is a hard day out, from the car park you climb steadily upwards for 3 miles to the summit of Carn Mor Deag at 1,220m a Munro, then the scramble down and along the C.M.D arête. A well deserved rest before the long steep awkward ascent up the boulder field onto the summit of Ben Nevis, the usual photo’s and then the descent down to Lochan suidhe, be warned, the path down from the summit is terrible, someone is going to have a serious accident descending, there, if they haven’t already, it as deteriorated beyond belief since I last used it. Having reached the Lochan we then had to cross nearly 2 miles of bog to reach the path down to the car park, thankfully due to the hot weather it was quite dry, in total the Nevis circuit is 10 miles, but it takes you up and over some really tough terrain and up and down the highest mountain in Britain, Marie, Anton and I certainly knew we’d had a day on the hills at the finish. Next day we walked up beautiful glen Nevis, taking in all the waterfalls having a really easy day out, prior to going to Lagangargh. Our stay in Scotland was an enjoyable one, made more so because of the sunny weather, walking and scrambling conditions were perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves, my thanks go to all who attended and for the way everyone helped in leaving the hut clean and tidy, if you haven’t been on a hut, then I suggest you get next year’s hut list off me when available. Roy Haythornthwaite |