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Report on Buachaille Etive Mor
4 June 2011
Today?s Craggys:- Irene, Gail, Kathryn, Maureen, Gillian, Robin, Chris, Mark, Kevin and not forgetting Alan!
Guests:- Catherine from Alaska and Fraser, Kevin?s son.
Mark and Chris decided to make it a camping weekend, staying at the Invercoe campsite. After lots of encouragement and a surprise when he brought his son?s tent down from the loft, Kevin and his son Fraser decided to camp on the Saturday night only. Fraser was having second thoughts and sleeping in the car seemed a preferred option.
The rest of us travelled up to Glencoe for a day trip and we all met up at Altnafeadh off the A82 at the foot of Buachaille Etive Mor. The forecast was for heavy showers in the afternoon which was in contrast to the heatwave of the previous day.
Off we set heading up Coire na Tulaich along the path from Lagangarbh. No chance for a warm up as it was straight uphill. Catherine, an OT student from Alaska who works with Irene and Gillian, was quick off the mark. Off she went like a mountain goat leaving us all behind. This girl is super fit but maybe the reason she is so fast might be because there are bears in Alaska. At home she has to carry a gun in her rucksack!!!
We reached the bealach and had a wee rest before heading up to Stob Dearg (1022m). On reaching the summit we missed a wedding by minutes. The summit was shrouded in cloud but lucky for the wedding party they got it dry. Four Dutch people arrived and they though we were the wedding party because we seemed to be enjoying ourselves more than the bride and groom!!
Anyway we didn?t wait long and after the group photo we headed back to the bealach and onto Stob na Doire (1011m), Stob Coire Altruim (941m) and at last Stob na Broige (956m). We sat for a while on the summit of Stob na Broige as there was no wind or rain for a change! The last 2 weekends we had to change our plans due to adverse weather conditions. You can imagine how pleased we were that the weather forecasters got it wrong this weekend.
We decided to descend down the steep track on the north side between Stob Coire Altruim and Stob na Doire. Initially it was tricky where they are starting to fix the path and there were a few scrambly bits but on the whole it was ok. At the bottom we crossed the River Coupal which brought back memories for me as I fell in it up to my armpits many years ago! At the other side there was a newly laid path along the Lairig Gartain all the way to the layby on the A82 just a short distance west of where we started.
We all enjoyed The Buachaille which is one of those mountain ranges not to be missed. We had a well earned drink at the Clachaig before 8 of us headed back to Tyndrum for chips!
Irene Cahill
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