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There`s Mor to life than studying !

There`s Mor to life than studying !


Postby tomyboy73 » Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:16 pm

Route description: Buachaille Etive Mòr

Munros included on this walk: Stob Dearg (Buachaille Etive Mòr), Stob na Bròige (Buachaille Etive Mòr)

Date walked: 23/03/2012

Time taken: 8 hours

Distance: 15.3 km

Ascent: 1103m

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Get ready for a glut of big bookil reports, mine is from friday, you know, the day before the heatwave started :(

I was asked along by my mate Jim/Jogilv16 to go up to Glencoe, as he wanted to take his American cousin on a hillwalk. Andy, currently over here studying in Wincester brought up a couple of his mates, John & Laura, with him for what they thought was just a little hike on their whistle stop tour of scotland. Ha ha, were they surprised. We were also joined by Jim`s daughter, Sarah, who was to be my chauffeur for the day. Jim only had his mind on one hill, "definately take them up the Beauchaille" he said, and we hoped for a decent day. The forecast was good and we were off early this time with a 6am start.
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B.e.m

So here i was, effectively responsible for 3 young pups, thousands of miles from home and as we got ready in the car park I don`t know who was most alarmed, :shock: me at their jeans and trainers approach :shh: or them at me, putting on "special" socks, and big boots, filling up my water bottle, carrying a back pack that would have fitted all there weekend clothes and some funny extendable poles, and of course the huge beast in front of us which is Beauchaille Etive Mor ! I quickly scanned the area for the Gok Wan`s of the official mountain wear fashion police and we moved on sharpish.
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yes we are going up there !

They were young and fit looking, rugby and soccer players, we were, well youngish and fit. We marched along the path and Jim and I laughed about their queries of bears, bobcats and any other life threatening beasties in the area (we were just too early for the blood sucking midges). Although Sarah did cack herself a bit when we told her of our encounter with an adder in the gorms :lol: Just before we got into the Coire na Tulaich, we stopped and rested, this was going to be a long day. :roll: I then began to sweat like a madman when they continued up the coire, playfully jumping from boulder to boulder as the water splashed down around about them. F**k, one slip, or a twisted ankle and I`ll have their parents over with a team of legal eagles suing my ass before I could say "Yankee Doodle Dandy" ! :wtf: I guided them back onto the path, and then Sarah had a headache....Now, having learned of her single midedness from her Dad I feared the worst. But as it was, a wee rest, a couple of painkillers retrieved from my first aid kit, which consisted of, precisely 8 paracetamol and nothing else and she was fine and dandy, raring to go. :shifty:
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taking it all in

We made our way up the coire which is effectively a well camouflaged staircase and everyone found their second breath quite quickly and it wasn`t long before the views further north started to open up behind us which was great to see when surrounded by the coire`s walls and a snow capped Ben Nevis peaked out above the clouds.
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ben nevis

We soon approached the top of the coire which provided plenty of scrambling opportunities for us, which broke up the monotony of just lifting one foot after the other. For the most part the top of the coire had a snow cornice hanging from it and we avoided this by hanging left and scrambled up by a snow gully onto the ridge. Must also note, by now, Sarah was leading the charge up the mountain and I had no more worries about her.
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over the ridge

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Bidean nam Bian

We were treated to great views in front of us, along the ridge and over towards Bideam nam Bian, but more ominously, cloud was covering the top of Stob Dearg, and had completely filled in the corrie behind us. Looks like my second time up here would be spoiled by clag, again :( Anyway we soldiered on to the top, posed for pics, had a snack and waited hopefully for a break in the clouds to give us a view from the summit, which never came. As we sat around and John, a keen geoligist, asked if it would be ok to take a strange glass like piece of stone , and me thinking of the old saying " Take owt but pictures and leave nowt but footprints", I said "Aye, go ahead", i think it was a piece of old broken bottle anyway :lol: . Eventually we moved on and headed back down to the ridge. For the most part the cloud kept off of us and only covered the highest peaks.
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1st Munro

The ascent up Stob Coire Altruim looked quite daunting as one side of it was covered in snow and we followed the path up right next to the snowline,and at one point we couldn`t see where the snow ended and the cloud began. Up and over this munro top and back down again towards Stob na Brioge. The trainers had served the young Americans well, but on this descent the well heeled,booted brigade came into their own, negotiating the scree covered path easily whilst the others slipped and stumbled down, with Andy eventually giving in to gravity and endend up flat out on his back :lol:
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sunbathing

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not long to go !


We started to look for our descent for when we where on our way back, which we found easily thanks to a handy wee cairn by the side of the path. We had one more thigh bursting climb up onto the final part of the ridge and on to our second Munro of the day, no.28 for me :D
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Munro no.2

We had a cloud free summit this time but mostly around us was clag with only fleeting views down to Glen Etive and across to Beauchaille Etive Beag. It started raining and we decided to head back with Sarah again leading the way and Jim bringing up the rear, taking plenty of pics as he had been all day, and i even obliged by taking some with him in them for a change. :lol:
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back along the ridge

When we reached the path down, i, being the complete gentleman that i am :wink: , offered the girls my walking poles to help them on the way down. Jim watched Sarah carefully make her way down as i hung back with the others to make sure they were ok.
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beauchaille etive beag

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Glencoe

We eventually reached the glen at the bottom which was beautifully basking in the sunshine, caught a glimpse of deer and happily walked back the mile or so back to the car park. :) They had come up for a wee stroll through the hills and ended up bagging two Munros, and i think they really enjoyed themselves as plenty of pics were taken, no broken bones and plenty of smiles all day. Right, who`s next ? :)


http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1500029
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tomyboy73
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:58 pm

:D
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby Ranger » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:30 pm

Nice report :thumbup:

You had a similar day to me that friday, hazy start then cleared up a wee bit.

Getting that lot along the whole ridge was quite a feat of persuasion, especially for the trainered lot! :)
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby jogilv16 » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:04 pm

tommy great report,you captured how it was.and yes thought sarah was chucking it 10 minutes in to if it wasnt for you.also sure they all enjoyed the day.
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:15 pm

jogilv16 wrote:tommy great report,you captured how it was.and yes thought sarah was chucking it 10 minutes in to if it wasnt for you.also sure they all enjoyed the day.

cheers Jim , feel free to add more pics if you want, i`m gonny phone you in 5 about tomorrow
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tomyboy73
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:16 pm

Ranger wrote:Nice report :thumbup:

You had a similar day to me that friday, hazy start then cleared up a wee bit.

Getting that lot along the whole ridge was quite a feat of persuasion, especially for the trainered lot! :)


Cheers Ranger, but they didn`t need much persuading, either they really did enjoy it or were too polite to say otherwise :lol:
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby gammy leg walker » Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:27 pm

Looks like a great time was had by all Tommy,another fine TR,keep em comin.
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:52 pm

gammy leg walker wrote:Looks like a great time was had by all Tommy,another fine TR,keep em comin.


cheers Willie, got another cracker in today, managed a treble , lol :lol:
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby pollyh33 » Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:31 pm

Cracking report Tommy!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the responsibility!!!! You must be a real grown-up now :shock:
Now you know how Gammy feels when he takes us out!! :lol: :lol:

Well done to your new companions- a fantastic achievement :clap: :clap:
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:39 pm

pollyh33 wrote:Cracking report Tommy!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the responsibility!!!! You must be a real grown-up now :shock:
Now you know how Gammy feels when he takes us out!! :lol: :lol:

Well done to your new companions- a fantastic achievement :clap: :clap:


lol, nice one , yeah they did really well for first timers , hope they can come back to scotland and do it again sometime
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby rocket-ron » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:00 pm

Well done tommy enjoyed reading that are you a qualified mountain guide
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby tomyboy73 » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:05 pm

rocket-ron wrote:Well done tommy enjoyed reading that are you a qualified mountain guide

Cheers Ron, coming from you, that`s a real compiment :D
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby rocket-ron » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:10 pm

Tommy am just some idiot on the hills out for a laugh
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby lomondwalkers » Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:01 pm

Sooperb Tommy :thumbup: shame about the clag though, still, looks like the gang all enjoyed it. Still to do the full ridge, need to rectify that soon 8)
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Re: There`s Mor to life than studying !

Postby BoyVertiginous » Mon Apr 02, 2012 4:08 pm

Hi-tops on the High Tops... 8)
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