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Return to Schiehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:34 pm
by andrew11
In 1962 I was in 6th year at school in Edinburgh. In the Easter Holidays three friends and I set off in the 1930’s Ford belonging to Graham Smith, one of the group.
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Graham's Ford

The others were Richard Henderson Brian Renwick and me, Andrew White. I had borrowed a tent from the scouts and we decided to camp on the South side of Loch Rannoch
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camping and cooking
.
While there we decided to climb Schiehallion a first Munro for all of us.

We made the ascent from West Tempar near Kinloch Rannoch. There was snow on the ground and as we set off there was some mist on the top. We thoroughly enjoyed the climb into the mist and up to the top.
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on top


However as we retraced our steps to descend it became clear that the mist had filled the entire countryside and our collective sense of direction deserted us! In the absence of any visibility or map or compass we came down the wrong side of the hill descending South instead of North. We soon came to a burn and decided to follow it knowing that it would eventually lead us to a road. After a while following the burn we came upon some shepherds who had given up trying to round up their sheep. They told us that we were south of the mountain on the Allt Mor and they directed us on the way to Braes of Foss from where we followed the road back to Tempar. We had climbed the hill and walked completely round it! Not the original plan!!

In 1966 my wife and I also went up Schiehallion from Braes of Foss. So it has always been a favourite hill of mine and one that I have always looked out for while standing on other summits.

So 50 years after that first ascent 3 of the 4 original climbers went back to repeat the climb. (Unfotunately we ere unable to contact Graham) We waited for a settled spell of weather but decided to go for it on 6th August no matter what. We were lucky with the weather having good views light winds and only one heavy shower on the way down.

We met up with two cars at the Braes of Foss car park.
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meeting up


Leaving one car there we went to our starting point at Tempar. As well as the three original climbers we had Richard’s grandson Josh, my granddaughter Kirsty (both of whom have already climbed several Munros and are about the age we were in 1962!) and Brian’s dog Honey with us.
We followed our original route up and came down the tourist path to Braes of Foss.
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Ready to go!
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Mist on the top,,,,,,,,,, again!!
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Heading up.
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Stop for sustenance
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Richard in the landscape (Kirsty's pan)
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not far now
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We all made it!!
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The three originals
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The young'uns
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Faithful companion
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well worth the soaking!


A great day out! And chuffed that we were able to do it fifty years on albeit with stiffer muscles!!


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Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:19 pm
by HighlandSC
Great report! Not often you see people revisit hills 50 years on, let alone have pics from the original ascent! Love the old car and tent.

Hope I'm able to revisit some of my first hills 50 years on. 47 years to go :lol:

Thanks for sharing :)

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:48 pm
by morag1
Fanastic story!! well done to you all for climbing Schiehallion after fifty years - you all look fit as fiddles 8)

Nice that you took your grandchildren with you

It's nice to hear of friendships that have endured all that time :D

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:36 pm
by Alan S
Well done, I really enjoyed reading that :D

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:44 am
by Johnny Corbett
Hi Andrew good to see you back, i met you on Beinn a' Chleib a few years ago. Loved the old photos :thumbup: and the new ones. The route map you have up is of the Tarmachan though :wink:

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:25 am
by Bod
That's wonderful, simply wonderful ... great rainbow shot at the end :D :D :D

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:28 pm
by monarchming
A great wee story and a big well done to you all! :clap: :thumbup:

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:20 pm
by Mountainlove
What a lovely idea to revisit the hill 50 years after...I like that!! And how fantastic you still all made it!! :clap: :clap:

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:22 pm
by andrew11
Johnny Corbett wrote:Hi Andrew good to see you back, i met you on Beinn a' Chleib a few years ago. Loved the old photos :thumbup: and the new ones. The route map you have up is of the Tarmachan though :wink:


Yes I remember meeting you, Johnny. I see you're clocking up the munros faster than me! Would love to join you on your last one. Give me a shout!

By the way my route map is correct (try changing the scale). For some reason the map has the Tarmchan written over Schiehallion!! I know it was 50 years on but I'm not in my dotage yet! ;-)

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:34 pm
by andrew11
Thank you all for your comments. Much appreciated! :-)

Been looking at the map again. The larger scale one has both Meall nan Tamachan and Schiehallion written on it so maybe Sciehallion was known as the hill of ptarmigans as well as the one at by Killin. Does anyone know?

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:50 am
by monty
Excellent Andrew. Love the auld tent, must have weighted at least a ton :lol: Nice rainbow in the last photo. :D

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:24 am
by gammy leg walker
What a heart warming story you have there Andrew,amazing that after all this time you managed to get 3 of the original 4 to do this.

Re: Return to Sciehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:41 am
by Paula Hubens
Great pictures of a great day out 50 years ago and now :D

Re: Return to Schiehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:09 pm
by gymman47
Lovely story and well done to all of you, looks like you had a great day up the hill. :clap: :clap:

Re: Return to Schiehallion after 50 years!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:10 pm
by Steven001
Fantastic story, reuniting after 50 years is incredible. The original pictures are gold dust too... Excellent! I hope I'm as fit as you in 45 years time ;)