Knoydart Meet

Photo captions only for this entry folks...

Team AMC on the pier in Inverie

Mat demonstrates his mountaineering carrier bag during the moist cross-country section of the walk-in

Druim bothy, home for the weekend. It's a private bothy run by the estate for groups.

On Saturday the largest party traversed Ladhar Bheinn to get to the pub...

Weather closing in at Mam Barrisdale

Just before we hit the cloud

Summit ridge

Getting into Inverie after it had got proper wet

Pub tea, Old Forge style

Sunday's hill was Beinn Bhuidhe, just above the bothy. Much better weather and would have stayed dry if I hadn't fallen in the burn on the way up. Not having the Monday off, Mat, Joe, Amy and Olly headed out to the ferry.

After Jess' first Munro on Saturday, here she is on her first Corbett

Inverie bay

Sgurr na Ciche making a brief appearance

Monday was back to low cloud and wet, so those of us left headed out to the ferry, except Bruce, who walked back out the way he came in - to Loch Arkaig.

Assynt and the Turkish Steam room IV

Last weekend Ed, Scuz and Mark headed north in search of dry weather.  After a visit to the new chicken carryout (in the old kebab shop) in Inverness (which did an excellant burrito), we drove up to Lochinver and had a great walk along the track into Suileag bothy under an almost full moon and semi clear skies.

The next day after a less than alpine start....

we headed up to Suilven

here the AMC twins were spotted

after visiting both summits we headed back to Suileag to pick up our sleeping gear

After lunch we headed back to the car and drove round to park near the top of the pass to Unapool.  We then marched with full bothy gear - 10kg of coal is one way to slow Scuz down (a bit).  By now the wind and rain had caught up with us and daylight was fading...We went up the Waterfall path to Bealach Bhuirich and from there, against Ed's better judgement, we took the shortest route, down a 300m steep heather slope avoiding cliffs here and there.  By now it was pitch black and pouring rain,  nothing like a bit of excitement on the way to a bothy!
But eventually, we, or at least me, staggered into Glencoul bothy aka 'The Turkish Steam Room' and got the fire going.

Reading the bothy books we realised that it was 11 years to the day that Ed had got Adam down to his underwear in the inaugural Turkish Steam Room trip.  Once settled in, Ed the Bothy Chef King, got to work and produced his usual excellant meal washed down with port and whisky.

The next morning we left this great place, and because of the high winds walked out round the loch rather than ascending the Stack of Glencoul as planned.  For once we took Ed's advice!

A cuppa and oatcakes and cheese at Glendhu bothy was a welcome break on the way out and the hitch along the road to collect the car was even more welcome.

Mark

Mark and the Swedish Blonde...

The Scottish hills and lochs are full of mythical creatures and legends; the Grey Man of Macdui, Nessie and Morag, the ghost of Ben Alder Cottage, and last but not least the elusive Swedish blonde bothy goer. Never actually seen, but occasionally referred to in bothy logs.
 
Up until now that is, may we introduce 'Maxim',  Mark even got his hands round her...............and for an evening she was the 'light' of his life.

 After a night with Maxim, What better than a wee stroll up classic hill.

Alas Maxim did not accompany us to another bothy for Saturday night.......leaving Mark only with sweet dreams.

Text and pictures by Ed

NOT THE CIC HUT

Due to a very poor weather forecast for the Lochaber area, it was decided not to go to the CIC Hut last weekend. Instead Ed, Mark and Linda planned to head into the Hutchinson Hut, due to better weather in the Cairngorms.

Come Saturday morning Linda pulled out due to feeling unwell, which left Ed and Mark heading for the hills along with a procession of skiers. Along the way Big Mikey and Rod were spotted with skis on their back heading for Lochnagar from Invercauld.

Pretty in Pink? - Ed in Glen Derry

Bypassing the skiers who were stacked up in Braemar waiting for the snow gates to open, we made it to the car park at Linn of Dee. On a lovely sunny morning we skied along the Derry Road making the first tracks of the day. After a quick pit stop at Derry Lodge we continued at valley level along Glen Derry until finally reaching the Hutchinson Hut after 5 hours of slow going through deep snow. By the time we reached the hut the weather was turning for the worst.

Hutchy Hut

The recent refurbishments to the hut had included a new porch, wood lining and the ubiquitous bothy stove. After an early visit from an RAF Helicopter which briefly landed by the hut to say hello, we were then joined for the night by 2 young instructors from Glenmore Lodge. Once the new stove was lit the hut quickly heated up, although the supply of wood left over from the building works is now fairly thin.

An evening of chat, whisky and Ed's bothy food (smoked salmon and brocolli pasta) passed quickly before bed time.

In the hut

Sunday brought another fairly bright start and although we didn't make the earliest of starts we planned to head back over Derry Cairngorm. We skinned up to the slopes above Loch Etchachan until the wind became too strong to ski (we kept being blown over!). We continued on foot up the slopes of Derry Cairngorm, but again before the top were stopped by the wind, which was almost constantly blowing us to a standstill / to our knees. We decided to retreat down into Coire Sputan Dearg and the Luibeg Burn. Again due to the wind and our poor skiing ability we made slow progress with a lot of falls (at least on my part). Eventually we made it back to Derry Lodge where a much needed break was had (I had totally bonked by this point). A final ski along the now slushy and churned up Derry Road took us back to the car just before dusk – a long and tiring day for myself who hadn't been out in the hills for a couple of months and so was extremely unfit.

Retreating off Derry Cairngorm

Evan, Andrew, Phil and Neomi, who were also going to the CIC Hut, instead opted for a day trip to Glas Maol on Saturday to take advantage of the good Cairngorm weather.

Mark

John’s Last Munro (again!)

The reasonable forecast for last weekend was enough to get John into action to go and bag the final Munro of his second round. The hill of choice was Sgurr Mor in Knoydart, a tricky little beast to get to at the best of times. Sadly it wasn’t the best of times and the walk-in to Kinbreak bothy on Friday night was a bit more epic than we had planned for. Despite the almost full moon the path was elusive, leaving us with the choice of bog or semi-frozen argo tracks, which have proliferated hugely in this area since our last visit. Wet, cold and fed up after 2½ hours we arrived to find the bothy in good condition. A swift dram and a cheesy oatcake were enough to see us into our pits.

Sgurr Mor (C) by moonlight

Not our latest DIY - Kinbreak bothy

Saturday dawned fine so off we set, surprised at just how much snow it looked like there was higher up. We had been expecting a healthy dusting but as we ascended the Corbett of Sgurr an Fhuarain we were soon ankle to knee deep, with deeper drifts. Luckily most of it was just powder, but the patches of soft slab were hard going. Elevenses on the summit were a welcome rest and for the first time we noticed that the weather, instead of getting better through the day as expected, was closing in a bit.

Ascending Sgurr an Fhuarain, Gairich behind

Sgurr Mor in sight

A quick but cold scoot down the west ridge got us to the base of Sgurr Mor with just one more climb left. Again this turned into a bit of a flouter through deep snow near the summit, which we made just before the weather really broke down and the showers became a couple of hours of continuous snow. Celebrations were limited to a quick lunch and a very wee dram huddled behind a rock, before heading off the way we had come to get down as fast as we could. Despite the rapid descent we didn’t make it back to the bothy until just before sunset, a result of the slow going on the tops.

Last few steps

Turned out nice again...

Kinbreak bothy

I would like to say that the party then raged until well into the following morning but with just two of us there, sub-zero temperatures and a defective fire log we turned in by 9, just as the snow outside really started falling.

Finally got the fire going

Expecting to wake up on Sunday to deep snow outside we were surprised to see just a dusting. It looked like it had melted for a while before freezing hard. We tromped up the glen for a bit before getting back to the car over the Corbett of Fraoch Bheinn. Being a bit lower than Saturday’s hills there wasn’t as much of an issue with deep snow and it all felt a bit easier in the fantastic conditions. A great way to end a fine and significant weekend away. What next?

Gairich on Sunday morning

Topping out on Fraoch Bheinn

Looking back to Sgurr Mor

Flouter time

The peaks of central Knoydart

Across to Ben Nevis

View east down a foggy Loch Arkaig

Stu's 30th Pics

A few pics to add to Stu's post..

Ascending Beinn a Bhuird

Topping out - not very wintry for Feb.

Descent to the bothy

Bothy night, obligatory ghost just R of centre 

November in Knoydart

Last Friday night saw Ann and John, spurred on by a long-awaited good weather forecast, take the long drive to the head of Loch Arkaig to walk in to A Chuil bothy in Glen Dessarry. When we got to the end of the road there were only two other cars, one of which had a sleeping occupant, so any worries about a crowded bothy disappeared. Packing in heavy is never pleasant, especially after a few weeks off, but fortified by surprisingly good fish suppers in Aviemore we made it in around an hour and only got rained on once. The bothy was in really good nick and had even been left clean and tidy with a fire laid. We had it to ourselves for just long enough to get stuck into a supper of cheese and oatcakes before two other folks appeared. After a quick chat we all turned in ready for big days out.

An early start saw us squelching through saturated bog to the foot of the S ridge of Sgurr nan Coireachan. The steep 750m ascent was hard going for our woosie legs, more use to long but easy-angled tramps on the eastern hills. As we got higher the views began to make up for the effort and we topped out pretty much alongside Naismith in time for an early elevenses (or perhaps second breakfast?). 

Sgurr na h Aide from the ascent



One thing you can rely on in Knoydart - lots of bryophytes

The wander W along the rollercoaster ridge from here was excellent. Although rough with lots of small ups and downs it was easier than I remember, no doubt due to the lack of deep snow. Talking of which, about half way along the shifting clouds thickened enough to snow heavily on us for about half an hour, which was a bit of an unpleasant surprise. As we got towards Garbh Chioch Bheag it cleared and from there to first lunch on Garbh Chioch Mhor gave some great views. The shifting clouds and low sun also gave us glories and Brocken spectres appearing to walk alongside us for much of the time.

Snow moving in...

and arriving

Garbh Chioch Mhor



Triple glory

 

Sgurr na Ciche

Then it was time for a steep descent and the ascent of Sgurr na Ciche. In the bealach we found three rucksacks, the first sign of anyone else all day. We met their owners near the summit. They were going the other way, having done the long walk in from the road that morning – keen beans. Through the cloud we heard lots of laughter – more folks, this time at the summit. They were staying in Sourlies bothy. As we topped out the clouds parted and we got some great views down Loch Nevis to accompany second lunch, but the cold had done for the camera battery so no pics of the view or the fog bow we got.

Back down in the bealach we met another 3 folks. It was getting busy around here. These guys had walked in and were planning on a high camp along the ridge to allow them to go all the way along to Sgurr Mor. Good effort.

The descent was fairly unpleasant. The saturated ground was very slippery and soon had us all over the place, looking like we had hit the whisky early. Eventually we squelched back to the bothy, somewhat muddier than when we left. Two guys had cycled in just for the night, and then another chap turned up having walked from Inverie. He had planned to stay in Sourlies but found it full (presumably with the group we met) and four tents outside. A cosy night was had thanks to the fire log we had carried in and I even managed to dry out my socks. Unfortunately the fact that it was bonfire night had passed us by, so not even a sparkler to celebrate with.

Sunday dawned damp and foggy but with the hint of sunny peaks above. Donning sodden boots we headed for the Corbett of Carn Mor, just SW of the bothy. A flouter through the bog got us above the fog and the temperature rose from zero to +6 in a few minutes.

Early morning fog

The ascent was straightforward with good views of Saturday’s hills. Unfortunately the cloud thickened but at least kept above the tops. The summit was a surprise. My glance at the map had suggested a fairly unremarkable boggy lump but it was quite steep and rocky. Topping out gave us a spectacular view down the long trench of Loch Morar, the deepest lake in the UK and of course home of the real Nessie.

Carn Mor

View down Loch Morar

Then it was a quick return to the bothy to pick up the gear and a very pleasant second lunch sat outside. Who would have thought it in Knoydart in November?

A Chuil bothy