Question: Is this the way to Descend?

[Fife Flyer]

This was the final day of the Autumn WH gathering, this time the location for the fun & occasional beverage was Tyndrum, superbly organised by Tina Bonar, aka Barrie & Colleen
Now the forecast during the week leading up to the gathering was pretty awful, in fact it was so bad that an "Amber" for rain was issued by the Met Office on the Thursday You would think the worst and that we were all going to sitting indoors watching the rain fall, the actual weather couldn't have been more different
I was actually quite annoyed because I decided against walking on Friday & opted for a leisurely drive west, only to find that there was not a drop of rain until the back of 6 o'clock !!
Saturdays little outing will be compiled by the one & only MG1976, I am sure it will be worth waiting for

For those of you who have never attended a WH gathering, the latter evenings can/do get a tad on the noisy side, the volume button seems to be turned up as each hour passes, not at all alcohol related So anyone who retires before midnight ear plugs are a necessity
After a superb day out in Glencoe on Saturday, which finished just as darkness was falling, no plan had been made for Sunday So over an excellent breakfast of instant syrupy porridge and a couple of slices of toast, I suggested tackling a nice easy nearby Corbett - Beinn Odhar, we could even see it out of the hostel window and anyone who has driven along the A82 out of Tyndrum heading towards Glencoe couldn't fail to notice it
I managed to persuade Martin & Shane (who couldn't really say no, as I was their chauffeur) Evie was struggling to make a decision so she decided to accompany us, unfortunately Sean who was with us on Saturday, had to head back to the 'big smoke' and hand back his hire car before midday & then fly back down to London

We decided to save what little energy we had, by driving down to the Green Welly and setting off from there
There was a bit of a nip in the air, so we set off with umpteen layers on as well as gloves, there wasn't a breath of wind and the sky was littered with little bits of wispy cloud.

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After a short spell on the West Highland Way we crossed the railway line and set foot onto the soggy grass, by this time we had warmed up, gloves were bagged and stayed in the rucksacks until we reached the summit.
Path's to follow are in short supply, having said that there aren't many hills that you can see the summit almost all the way up, so unless you are in clag all you have to do is keep going up
As we were trudging uphill, and it was an almost never ending trudge (Graeme your were spot on ) we discussed the report. Evie even said it was going to be a nice easy report to compile because there was much to say about the hill At one of the many stops, purely for photographic purposes we noticed 4 figures behind us in the distance, little did we know that they were to provide us with a unique experience

The eager crew raring to romp up the large lump behind them

I did take quite a few photo's on the lower slopes, but due to my excess body heat, the photo's are not the best quality so you aren't going to see any of them

The crew romping up the never ending damp grassy incline

Tyndrum from on high

It's not often one is pleased to see stones to walk on

Another breather, note the rapidly approaching figures in the background

I could see we were rapidly being caught by figures who seemed to be really romping up the hillside, I was determined not to be caught so I turned on my turbo and headed off to reach the summit first

After taking a few photo's on the summit a couple of the distant figures arrived and the packs they had on their backs were the size of my fridge So we started chatting away, I was still cooling down and only had a thin baselayer on and if you think that is on a summit of 901m on the 9th of November - amazing
The 2 guys had travelled over from Ayrshire soon to accompanied by another couple of chaps, their huge packs contained gear that would enable them to jump off the hill and fly - without an engine
My 3 colleagues arrived at the summit and we would then spend ages chatting, watching and cooling down rather quickly.

Summit photo with Beinn Dorain in the background

Looking down on the A82 heading towards Bridge of Orchy

Beinn Dorain - zoomed

Railway viaduct

The next photo's are all related to flying and jumping off a hill, it was fascinating watching all the preperation, the wings which were ultra light were laid out and all the strings were untangled, this after changing into flying attire.
One thing that did surprise us all was how light the huge rucksacks were, am sure mine was heavier
The problem with this flying way to descend is you need a small take off area (for running along), preferably not with rocks in the near vicinity
During the preperation process the cloud drifted over the summit, however one of the fliers decided to jump for it/take off, I managed to get a few action shots

Preparing to jump

Checking the breeze direction, note the poser on the summit!!!

First take off, note the colour of the flying suit, it was mentioned

Airborne, looks easy?

Airborne shot

Preperation took too long and the cloud arrived

As there was no prospect of any more departures, we decided to start our soggy and cloudy descent. In our eagerness to get moving we headed in slightly the wrong direction, however as were going down we weren't too concerned After consulting our phones/GPS we had to alter our course and soon got back on the unbeaten track. This outing was to be Shane's first Corbett and his first experience of navigating in 'Scottish' clag
We knew that while the cloud was lingering on the summit the fliers wouldn't be taking off. I kept looking to the west as that would be where we would see the gliders and sure enough when we were about a hundred metres from the foot of the hill the airborne descenders appeared

Action shot of us descending note the gradient and the cloud base

Looking for a landing spot

Safely down

Clear to land

Nearly down

All down safely

The welcome entertainment was over, it turned out to be quite an education.
However the big question remains:
Is it quicker, safer & easier to carry a large light rucksack to the summit and then leap into the air or climb hills the conventional way
I really enjoyed the day, but I am not convinced my walking colleagues shared my enthusiasm
Just need to wait for part one to be compiled & posted - hint. hint

Next? Who knows, always open to offers.

[malky_c]

Looks great - we had similar on Meall Odhar across the road.

I came down this way yesterday just as it was getting dark. It was quite fast but I would happily have gone for the jumping off version if it had been available

Good to meet you

[Riverman]

Great report! Wish I could have joined you guys today. Super photos. That really is the way to descend in style!

[The Rodmiester]

Excellent report and photographs there Martin , I'd rather keep my feet on the ground thanks! It's HARD going climbing up through water saturated ground, experienced the same doing a couple of Grahams in Sutherland on the same day!

[tina bonar]

Not something you see on the hill every day
Great to catch up with you again, looking forward to the next Meet already
Barrie

[Collaciotach]

haha paraglider things are grand ,would be great to get a shot of one eh ?

[Joey]

I think I can just make out Elaine and I at the top of the zoomed in photo of Beinn Dorain! Great photo's of the guys paragliding! That's the way to get down a hill.

[Fife Flyer]

I think I can just make out Elaine and I at the top of the zoomed in photo of Beinn Dorain! Great photo's of the guys paragliding! That's the way to get down a hill.

Here's an even more zoomed one Joey

Beinn Dorain

[Joey]

I think I can just make out Elaine and I at the top of the zoomed in photo of Beinn Dorain! Great photo's of the guys paragliding! That's the way to get down a hill.

Here's an even more zoomed one Joey

DSCF7264.JPG

We were sunbathing!!!

[rockhopper]

Nice one FF though not sure about descending with feet off the ground - can remember giving a lift to a hitchhiker with a very large bag on my way home from a trip up north last year. Interesting conversation as he was a paraglider from Preston and when he and his friends went paragliding they often had to hitch as they didn't know exactly where they'd land and his friends were some way away - cheers

[Huff_n_Puff]

Brilliant pics - perhaps its time to take up a new skill

[Fife Flyer]

Good to meet you

Likewise Malky, always good to put faces to user names

Great report! Wish I could have joined you guys today. Super photos. That really is the way to descend in style!

Thanks Sean, was a shame you had to head south early

Excellent report and photographs there Martin , I'd rather keep my feet on the ground thanks! It's HARD going climbing up through water saturated ground, experienced the same doing a couple of Grahams in Sutherland on the same day!

Thanks Rod, hopefully you will make the next meet

Not something you see on the hill every day Great to catch up with you again, looking forward to the next Meet already. Barrie

That meet will be a hard act to follow PS: You haven't got your name down yet

Collaciotach"]haha paraglider things are grand ,would be great to get a shot of one eh ? [/quote]

Not for me, they don't have engines

Nice one FF though not sure about descending with feet off the ground - can remember giving a lift to a hitchhiker with a very large bag on my way home from a trip up north last year - cheers

The rucksacks were rather large but were super light, which explains why they romped up the hill & almost caught me up

Brilliant pics - perhaps its time to take up a new skill

Thanks, a decent camera does help, even though it isn't light

[dogplodder]

With dodgy knees definitely the way to descend.