Perfect Scrambly Weekender in Glencoe

[weaselmaster]

As regular readers will be aware, my "head for heights" has not been great in recent times, perhaps on account of lack of scrambling practice as we've been almost exclusively doing Grahams in the last year or so. An invite to Bod & Val/Brian & Sue's weekend "do" in Glencoe coupled with Sick Kid's new found enthusiasm for Munro Tops lent itself well to getting a bit more "rock action" under my belt. We'd enlisted the offer of company/assistance on the Saturday from Scoob and Fi to tackle Curved Ridge and thought Sron na Creise would be a good warm up for that the day before. A fine weather forecast was very welcome

Drove up on Thursday after work and camped behind Kingshouse. Not overly busy - we did help out a lady who had arrived for a camping weekend without tentpegs, which would have been a challenge in the stiff wind blasting from the north-east. Fortunately I had 8 spare with me which sorted her out. We enjoyed the a walk along to the bridge to have a look up at Buachaille Etive Mor and the Sron of Creise - Curved Ridge did look somewhat steep from down here.

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Up reasonably early and packed the tent away. We'd decided just to leave the car where it was and make a crowline over the heather for the western end of the Sron. Normally this would be a bogtrot, but the very dry April allowed us to get across with dry feet - always a bonus. We reached the end of the shoulder coming down from meall a'Bhuiridh, crossed the stream and set our sights on a grassy area on the Sron. After reaching this we had a wide choice of routes up, with the terrain becoming rockier as we gained height. I'd read some reports which suggested there were as many options up the Sron as you wished, and we picked a moderately interesting line. There's sometimes a path and as you get higher the options diminish - just before the top there's a craggy block which we turned on our left. Summit of the Sron reached, an enjoyable wee morning.

Creise in the morning sun
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Tomorrow's target
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View back to Kingshouse
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The Bookil and The Ben
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Final rocky section before summit of the Sron
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We continued on to the Munro Top of Stob a'Ghlais Choire and stopped for lunch out of the wind. Down in Glen Etive we watched a puff of smoke appear, which spread frighteningly quickly to be a sizable wildfire - fortunately it seemed to be stopped in its progress by a bend in the river. With the vegetation being tinder dry at present there will be many such fires, as we were to encounter on the Sunday. Pressing on for Creise, there was still a lip of snow topping Glas Choire. We skipped along to Creise then onwards to her second Top of the day, Clach Leathad which offered fine views down to the River Ba and where I've been camped last weekend. from here we tracked back to the joining ridge with Meall a'Bhuiridh, meeting a couple of guys at the summit, then down the shoulder of Creag Dhubh to join our outward path. A glorious day.

Looking along to Meall a'Bhuiridh
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(Small) fire in Etive
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Stob a'Ghlaise Choire
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Meall a'Bhuiridh
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Clach Leathad
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Coming down Creag Dhubh
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Creise
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We drove up to the Squirrel where Bod and val had set up a carpet and birthday balloons, awaiting the arrival of their tent with Brian & Sue. A beer in the sun, dinner and a brief evening in the Clachaig with various friends - we left early as neigher of us wanted to be doing Curved Ridge under the weather. I was moderately anxious about what was in store, whilst Allison and Scoob were insisting I'd be fine.

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Another fine morning. Bod et al were planning a walk up the coire to Stob Dearg starting at 10.30. We'd decided we'd meet at Altnafeadh at 9 as parking was likely to be an issue (it was at 9, with all the top spaces already taken, so I don't know where the larger party got parked later on). We set off along the track, taking the left hand split in the path. There were a number of other folk heading the same way including a group of 4 young lads in shorts. And a collie dog. More of that later.

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Great Gully
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Waterslab
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Hat time
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Feeling a little apprehensive, we stopped just beyond the water slab and put hats on - tales in the bar the night before of various WH folk getting rocks coming down on them made that seem sensible. We could make out most of our route keeping to the left of Crowberry ridge, with several groups already ahead of us. The Collie dog - to our surprise - continued to climb along with us. I wondered if it was lost - it did look very thin - but it belonged to a guy in a group of three behind us. He'd apparently done Curved Ridge years ago and seemed to think the dog would manage it or wait for him. We continued up, with bursts of scrambly bits - good hand holds made these enjoyable. We reached a steep section with a gully down to the right - the dog group had cut ahead of us, but it was clear the dog - now looking terrified - would be going no further. We ended up having to stay put on a steep section for 5 minutes or so, whilst the owner managed to drop down to our right and set up a belay to abseil the dog down. Pure bloody stupidity in my opinion and inconsiderate to other walkers - it would have been easy to start freaking whilst held up on the steep section - I had been very careful not to look down and just cuddle the rock.

It's up there!
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Scoob & K9
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Couple of climbers on Central Buttress
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With no canine obstructions, our progress was more straightforward. The scrambling was fairly sustained with the occasional more challenging bit, but again good holds were evident. We reached the "crux" which is an open chimney type feature that fortunately slopes in which makes ascending it easier. Again good holds on the right. Nothing much of note after that section - Allison and the Scoobs had decided they were going up Crowberry Tower. I felt no inclination to do this, having satisfied myself with Curved Ridge itself. I continued on up to the summit of Stob Dearg, stopping to take pictures of the intrepid threesome as they stood on the Crowberry platform along with the shorts boys. Enjoyed my piece at the summit, feeding some to the rather portly raven that goes round all the summit-lunchers. A couple we'd been talking to gave him a large piece of pear, which he promptly flew off with and devoured.

A group ahead at "the crux"
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Weird clouds over Beinn a'Chruilaste
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Scoob going up the Crux
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Not long now - Crowberry Tower to Right
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Crowberry Tower
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The "shorty" boys
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We intended to continue over to Stob na Broige (useful for second round numbers) and took a gentle amble across. Peering down into Coire na Tulaich we could see what might have been the Bod party wending their way up far below. We continued on over the impressive Stob na Doire with some grand views down Glen Etive. What a marvelous day out. We were talking to the couple we'd spoken to at the top of Stob Dearg - they were relatively new to hillwalking and had been advised to do Curved Ridge as preparation for the Aonach Eagach. They were surprised to be told that Curved Ridge was significantly more challenging than the Aonach or indeed most of the standard routes up the Skye Munros. Well done them I'd finished my water on the second Munro summit and had to wait til we were quite a way down Coire Altruim before i could get a top up as everywhere was so dry.

Stob na Doire
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Towards Glen Etive
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Lindy & Mark
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Back at the campsite we spoke to various other folk - Seana & Dougie had been up a route on North Buttress, Bod and Val had enjoyed their day out. Great to be able to sit out in the warm sun with no midges. We had a few drinks in the company of whisky buff Geo Addison before heading to the Clachaig which was jumping, it being Saturday Music Night. We sat outside and ended up in the lounge bar which was virtually empty rather than the mobbed Boots bar. Jogged back to the tent at midnight along a moonlit track.

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We'd swithered what we'd do on the Sunday - I was quite keen to go up Beinn a'Bheither which had been shrouded in clag last time we were up, even though this gave Allison no new Munro Tops. Scoob & Fi were after Sgorr Dhonuill and kindly agreed to come along with us - we decided to head up Schoolhouse Ridge, which Bod had suggested was a nice wee route up. parked at the visitor centre and walked along past the school. We could see another larger group ahead with 3 Collie - however this hill seemed much more suitable for dogs than Curved Ridge The scramble was enjoyable although over far too soon. The day was roasting, although a chill wind was coming still from the northeast. We paused in a dip before the summit of Sgorr Dearg to have lunch and were horrified to see huge plumes of smoke coming from Glen Etive. This totally dwarfed the blaze we'd seen on the Friday, with plumes of smoke rising to the north of Sgurr na h-Ulaidh and the whole glen south of that full of smoke haze. Would have been a terrible day to be up in the hills caught in the smoke.

Schoolhouse Ridge
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Sgorr na Choise in backdrop
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Fire in Etive
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Sgorr Dhonuill from Dearg
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We continued over the summit of Sgorr Dearg and down to the bealach, then up the rocky coire edge to Sgorr Dhonuill. Scoob had shown some interest in the north ridge, to the east of Coire Sgreamhaich, but it looked a bit steep coming off the north end and we decided it would be better ascended than descended. We returned the usual way down into the coire to the forestry plantation and along the forest track to the road. My legs and arms were somewhat nipping with sunburn by the time we got back to the car - still roasting at 5.30. Decided it would be better to have something to eat now than take a chance on getting home at a reasonable hour with the hordes heading back down Loch Lomond, so we nipped into the Co-Op and ate our tea on our camping chairs in the car park. Roads weren't too bad by the time we reached tarbet, with only a half hour's delay at Luss.


Mull in backdrop
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Dhonuill
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Sgurr na Ciche
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What an absolutely cracking weekend, which has gone a long way to improving my scrambling confidence again.

[Sick Kid]

A truly fab weekend!

[scoob999]

WOOF WOOF

It's funny but your reports seem to be much better when we're in them and I particularly like the one of me on the crux looking like spider pig and the Scoob on a stick one on Sgorr Dhonuill

Seriously though, a great weekend all round and great to have your company for the walks

[montie]

Excellent report and photaes. Looks scary :-0
Need to pop up one of these routes with you guys

[Mal Grey]

Some wonderful looking scrambling there - still haven't done Curved Ridge. One day!

Thanks for an excellent report, really gave a great idea of how the routes feel.

[Alteknacker]

Good read, and some great pics - panos 616 & 660 look positively surreal!

And I'm sure you enjoyed the Curved Ridge really .

BTW when I did AE, there was a guy coming off it with a couple of small dogs that had managed the entire route .

[Bod]

Al, Sure was a special and most memorable weekend both on the hill and off. Lovely to see your pictures and what great views!!! Places to never tire of, and oh and thank you so much again for the Whisky