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Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby mgmt! » Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:51 pm

Jacksonville is a private hut belonging to the Creag Dubh and only club members or guests can stay there, I fear for the huts future, the last twice ive passed it was inhabited by groups of young ner-do-wells who pay little regard to the surroundings or the PRIVATE sign on the door. It is left open for Emergency purposes only.

Lagangarbh is owned by the SMC, you can book and stay in it through your MCofS or BMC membership
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby DizzyVizion » Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:16 pm

mgmt! wrote:Jacksonville is a private hut belonging to the Creag Dubh and only club members or guests can stay there, I fear for the huts future, the last twice ive passed it was inhabited by groups of young ner-do-wells who pay little regard to the surroundings or the PRIVATE sign on the door. It is left open for Emergency purposes only.

Lagangarbh is owned by the SMC, you can book and stay in it through your MCofS or BMC membership


Thanks for letting me know.
We'd like to try asking if there's somebody there to ask. And we'd provide the single malt (of course) and also donate a couple of bags of firewood which we'd leave for members to use.
But if there's nobody there to ask, we'll respect that and just set the tent up. :)
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby Graeme D » Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:28 pm

Caberfeidh wrote:At a mountaineering thing in Fort Bill a few years ago Yvonne Chouinard [the original Yvonne of the Yukon] regaled us with a funny tale from years back in Jacksonville. He and a bunch of others were festering in the hut as the weather was terrible. The hut was a filthy state, with a dead rat lying in a trap which no-one felt like emptying outside. A group of innocents approached the hut, obviously intent on exploring inside. One of the guys quickly picked up the dead rat, put it between two slices of bread and answered the door holding his rat sandwich as if about to eat it. The interlopers made a hasty retreat... :shock:


If memory serves me correctly, I believe that story also features in an early chapter of Bonnington's autobiography.
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby Senja » Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:58 pm

Having recently inadvertently crashed a CDMC meet (and survived), it is still possible to wake up in the river with your gear if you dare use Jacksonville.

Creagh Dubh still exist and are still hard.
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby Soldier of fortune » Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:52 pm

Like many 'stars' of today name dropping seems, somehow, to many as a way of boosting their own ego in a crowded world where they are really just another participant, who cares.
Jacksonville has always been a bit of a tip, often when the river is in spate a dangerous bothy to reach and was/is dank, dark and cold.
As for convinence and a base for accessing the Buachille it has no other takers, it's condition is neither here nor there if you have come up for a weekends climbing, a part of that weekend often involved drinking and partying in the Kingy, climbing has moved on and as the years roll by people disappear from the 'scene' into the mirky depths of time, legends of dark deeds and escapades always grow with time.
Giving Norrie a lift to the Kingy bar we spied a pair of boots sitting at the side of the road, stopping and picking them up Norrie whipped off his trainers and donned what turn out to be a expensive pair of climbing boots, ya bummer they're a perfect fit.
Standing at the bar with a pint enjoying ourselves a voice boomed out, aimed at Norrie, "you found any boots today " who the guy was Norrie never said but he was stood in his socks and never mention those boots again.
The Creag Dubh were hard working guys, are they still? who played hard on their days off and were pretty descent to boot.
We could do with some more modern day legend makers with the parties and drinking sessions that went on in and around the Kingy, especially the new 'Kingy' any takers?
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby mountainstar » Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:14 pm

I met Norrie in Gorton Bothy, November 2016. A gang of us turned up to spoil his 2 night spell of solitude, not that he minded as he enjoyed our company, and we his.
He quickly reminded us when we referred to Jacksonville as a Bothy... "It's a club hut" he growled :lol:
I gave him a lift down towards Glasgow the next day, he told me some stories of the old days as we drove south.
He was in his 70's, but still well and truly kicking. :D
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby samanual » Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:39 am

When I was a student a friend and I based ourselves at Creag Dubh for five days of hiking in Glencoe. Our plan was to summit all the main peaks whilst we were there. We got off the train in Bridge of Orchy and cycled up to Glencoe with all our gear. We spotted the bothy from the road, rolled up our trousers and lifted our bikes above our heads. After a while my friend fell into a bog up to his nipples, leaving him with his arms outstretched with his bike above his head. I nearly split in half with laughter.

The bothy is as described in the thread. A large sleeping platform, a very old open fire, a blocked chimney, creaky windows and all rather grubby. We were disappointed to find that the bothy was not, as we had been told, inhabited by paraffin Lizzie, who apparently had a large collection of paraffin lamps and smelled as you would expect. Maybe she was on holiday?

We did feel slightly conflicted using the bothy initially, however after seeing the weather forecast of 4 days of pishing rain, we decided to stay as a tribute to the hardy spirit of the CDMC. In the follow four days we submitted all the main peaks with 0 views, hitching hiking to the bottom of the walks from the main road. I'm surprised people picked us up as the days went by and our faces blacked from the poorly ventilated fire. On one day a glaswegian in a white range rover sport picked us up. We couldn't believe he pulled in. I sat trying to levitate above the white leather seats like I was having a post-curry bathroom visit whilst the driver laughed at how terrible we looked. He runs a bag carrying service for the WHW and owns a BnB in Kinloch - shout out to that man.

One evening after a particularly wet day on Aonach E we went for a few pints at the hotel at the top of the glen. Due to our appearance they asked us to sit outside (the cheek), so on the way out we borrowed some spare coal from the reception fireplace. On return to the bothy I realised that shoving lumps of coal down my wet trousers had been a bad move. We had the fire roaring that night and managed to warm up the water in our socks for the next morning, which was quite a treat.

On the second last day we ended up in Glencoe Village store. At the counter we almost bought the discounted lemon smelling candles that were on offer. However my pal wisely concluded that they wouldn't suit the bothy decor. The cashier laughed and asked how long we'd been staying in the bothy. Too long we replied.

Now many years later I reflect on our time in the bothy and look back with fondness. Now as father I'm not sure I could rough it as I did back then and in hindsight, I'd discourage anyone from using it as a non-member unless totally stuck for other better options. I would especially advise against having the fire lit whilst sleeping, as the ventilation is very poor.

Whilst some here will understandably disagree, I do not regret our trespass and use of the bothy. Had we had a decent tent, money for accommodation or a fancy campervan as many do these days, things would have been different. However for me and my pal hiking in the pishing rain, eating tinned ravioli and running the fire on soggy cardboard pikeyed from the recycling bins at the hotel, we felt we were doing things in the spirit of those who had built the bothy and pioneered many of the routes in the glen so many years before.
Attachments
IMG_20160717_085736698.jpg
View from the howff
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby gman » Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:20 pm

The CDMC are still going strong, some members gave me a load of gear to get started trad climbing a few years ago so their fearsome reputation is a wee bit exaggerated - although I'm sure they had their moments. A more thorough history of the club is apparently in the works. Is the car park at Jacksonville still locked?
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby Caberfeidh » Tue Jan 25, 2022 3:07 pm

samanual wrote:ATTACHMENTS

View from the howff


You can see a hill in that picture; you should have waded up it! :lol: Camping in Glen Coe in a rainstorm is absolutely miserable, espesh if you are too skint to stay in a pub all day. Frost and snow are a different story; camping is acceptably adventurous in frosty conditions.

Glen Coe climb#4r.jpg
Glen Coe, looking down on Loch Achtriochtan


Glen Coe climb#2hdr#r.jpg
Glen Coe 1990 ish


Kingshouse in winter 09#2.jpg
Old Kingshouse in winter, 2009.
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby mamoset » Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:29 am

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011hsy/scotland-from-the-sky-series-3-episode-2

If you go to 40 minutes in, there's a good piece about the hut and the men involved with it.

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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby micrafish » Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:53 pm

Just a wee heads up folks Jacksonville is not an open mountain bothy. It is a private hut belonging to The Creagh Dhu Mountaineering Club. We built the hut and have maintained it for decades, with the landowners being in acceptance of the hut in its current form. These facts are not up for debate. Those found using the hut without permission will be asked to leave/ejected in the time honoured fashion.
CDMC CLUB SEC
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Re: Bothy in front of Buachaille Etive Mor

Postby Bastonjock » Mon Mar 28, 2022 9:34 pm

Caberfeidh wrote:At a mountaineering thing in Fort Bill a few years ago Yvonne Chouinard [the original Yvonne of the Yukon] regaled us with a funny tale from years back in Jacksonville. He and a bunch of others were festering in the hut as the weather was terrible. The hut was a filthy state, with a dead rat lying in a trap which no-one felt like emptying outside. A group of innocents approached the hut, obviously intent on exploring inside. One of the guys quickly picked up the dead rat, put it between two slices of bread and answered the door holding his rat sandwich as if about to eat it. The interlopers made a hasty retreat... :shock:


Gave me a good old chuckle that did :lol: :lol:
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