Alex Mac Hut - Glencoe & The Ben

Members present: Steve Graham, Philip Jarvis, Bob Kelly, Jamie Ledingham, Colin Maddison, Carolyn Mills, Emily Pitts, Andy Stratford, Gareth Williams (meet leader).

 

PROLOGUE
On the afternoon of Saturday January 19 a party of six was avalanched in Glencoe with the loss of four lives. Be assured that no KMC members were involved, but please consider pausing for a minute of silence and reflection.

INTRODUCTION
In the days before the meet, there was some email discussion about conditions and whether it would even be worth setting out. Several gigabytes are summarised by just three quotes:

• Steve (Glass almost completely empty): "Such climbing routes only come in after weeks (some even months) of freeze-thaw metamorphism."
   
• Andy (Glass overflowing): "May be really good after a small amount of snow and a short freeze" [links to several blogs and weather reports]
   
• Colin (Glass? Just give me the bottle): "Ignoring all the available information but drawing on many years of experience I can predict with absolute certainty that the weather will be a fickle mistress."

In the end, we decided to take a gamble on Colin's mistress.

Thursday January 17
Bob and Philip leave Manchester early morning to bag Tinto, a 711m peak about 5 miles west of Biggar. It's a Marilyn, Graham and Donald -- but surely for three ticks, says Philip, you must ascend it three times? No, says Bob, once you get to the summit you just have to walk around in a circle three times. Later in the weekend, we're all amazed to hear that Bob has invented a new class of hills: The Kellys are any indistinct mound of four feet relative height that lie within 200 yards of a UK motorway service station. No-one knows how many Kellys there are, but apparently they ticked a tough one today at the same time as making up all this nonsense.

Andy, Steve and Gareth meet at Colin's house and the four of us travel on in Andy's car.  Bob and Philip are exhausted after their 4-tick day, and to avoid disturbing them later, we liaise by text, suggesting a team will rise at 5 for an assault on the Ben.
Emily joins us at the hut having taken advantage of the journey by spending a few days in Glasgow before the meet. An excited seven settle down for a short night’s sleep.

Friday January 18
Colin and Gareth rise at 5 as planned, and are breakfasted, packed and ready to leave by 5:30. Just before we leave, we realise we've forgotten something: what could it be...ah yes, Bob and Philip. So we have a second cup of tea whilst we wait for them to materialise. And a third. By about 6:30 we're all four ready for off, and the delay is explained by Bob: when sending a text saying get up at 5, you need to put "not a joke" in brackets at the end.

Still, we arrive at the North Face car park in darkness. The walk up through the trees is very pleasant, but as soon as we leave them there's a bit of a chill breeze. As we get higher the breeze gets stronger until, with the CIC hut in sight, it's so strong that in the gusts we have to just stop and turn away from its ferocity. Reaching the CIC, there's no question about continuing: we all put on another layer and start walking back out. Lower down, virtually out of the wind we encounter Emily. Not keen on climbing today, she'd had a lie-in and then decided on a walk, ultimately getting to the CIC hut herself before turning around.

Bob, Colin, Philip and Gareth stop off for a quick shop in Fort William, searching for a towel and some sheep. Then it's time to try to salvage something of the day. Bob decides it's an afternoon for Graham ticking and sets off for Tom Mheadhoin 621m. But with deep snow it's slow going and he turns back before the summit. Bob mumbles something about "hours of daylight" but the real reason he turned back was to be back at the appointed time to collect Colin, Philip and Gareth, after dropping them off for an exploration of any ice to be found in the Lost Valley.

There was some ice in the Lost Valley, but not enough to take an ice screw. So Colin set up a top rope, and we had a good play. Leashless tactics turned out to be less than optimal today, and freezer gloves are definitely better when the ice is frozen, not melting and dripping!

Meanwhile, Andy and Steve had been in Stob Corrie nan Lochan, having a grand time on Raeburn's Route IV, 4. They arrived back well after dark looking very pleased with themselves after what must have been a very enjoyable route. Jamie and Carolyn arrive at the hut in good time and we all sleep well, looking forward to tomorrow.

Saturday January 19
It's not a 5am start, but everyone's up in good time. Again, Colin and Gareth are ready and waiting as Andy and Steve faff with rucsacks, boots, ropes, gear, malt-loaves and a hundred other things. Philip's talking Emily into teaming up: "we can just walk in, take a look at pitch 1 and be back down for lunch". Emily: "I've never used an ice ace before, but OK, that sounds good".

As the deliberations progress, well-organised Jamie and Carolyn opt for a sly get-away, only to find they've been blocked in and can't move the car. Several "who's got a silver Astra" later and they're off to the Lost Valley to climb Rev Ted's Gully (III). In lean conditions it's slightly more than they expected but doesn't cause any problems bar one: some awkward communication, which judging by their report must have gone along these lines:

C: There's a flower on this pitch!
J: What? There's powder on this pitch?
C  No, there's a FLOWER. I can spot a FOXGLOVE.
J (to himself): She's dropped her glove? (to Carolyn): OK, I'll collect it on the way up!
C: No, don't pick it, let be!
J: What's that? Watch me? OK, climb on!

Meanwhile, Bob's off bagging again. This time, it's Glas Bheinn (792m) from Kinlochleven, another Corbett. He reported lots of slogging through heavy snow, with the final 150m or so being very wind-scoured and requiring crampons.

The day didn’t get off to the best start for the other six. After all the faffing, in the car park in Glencoe, Andy pipes up: "I've forgotten my thick socks!" It's either drive back to the hut or make do with Gareth's trainer socks and the liners Andy's driven in. Enthusiasm wins, and the team sets off for the north face of Stob Coire nam Beith. Andy, Steve, Emily and Philip decide to attempt North West Gully (450m III) as two pairs. Emily loves her introduction to winter climbing: check out her big grins on the photos on the website. Colin and Gareth set off up The Sphinx (130m, IV,5). A great route, although it's a fair bit of climbing to even get to the start, and they top out as darkness falls. The route doesn't finish on the summit, though, so it's down Summit Gully with a couple of short abseils. Back at the Clachiag for 9pm, there's time for a relaxed drink before the other four appear.

Emily's still grinning, but it's been a long day. "I thought we were just going to look at the first pitch" she says. Philip shrugs his shoulders: "another day, another climbing partner". Andy reminds the meet leader that he'd promised dinner that evening. "Aha", says Gareth, "promised to ORGANISE it, not COOK it. Delegation is the meet leader's prerogative". Andy's face falls. "You've not delegated it to Bob? He only ever eats crap, and he only knows how to fry stuff!" But Bob's done us proud, and we devour the chilli that's ready and waiting for us back at the hut.

Sunday January 20
The day begins with a somewhat subdued start, with much indecision about plans. Philip has sore ankles and blisters: "My mountain boots are painful on the flat". Colin chimes in "Well, they are mountain boots, they're designed to go up or down".

Emily has an epic with her sleeping bag. She waits until conditions are perfect before leaving its comfort, and then decides on an early get-away back to Glasgow. Bob and Phil set off for a return trip to Tom Mheadhoin (621m). This time there's no stopping Bob and they reach the summit.

Jamie, Carolyn, Andy and Steve walk up Stob an Fhuarain (968m) via the Aonach Dubh a' Ghlinne ridge, and on to Sgor na h-Ulaidh (994m). Colin and Gareth, keen to climb, walk back into the Lost Valley, finding another small ice-fall to top-rope. This time, Colin asks to have a go with Gareth's leashless tools, just so he can "rib Andy that I've tried them and they're rubbish". But in fact, when he comes down, all he has to say is "they work quite well don't they".

Upon return to the hut, there's some strange text-messaging going on. Colin to Bob: "Hello sweetie, how are you?" Bob's only across the room, and says "fine, but did you mean that to go to Roisin?". Colin re-sends to the right person, adding "we'll be home late". The reply: "Good need to get the blue van fixed crashed it joy riding while we were all pissed at the massive party we had". The final text contribution is from Emily, who's left a note in the hut asking has anyone picked up her rack by mistake as she couldn't find it when packing. Emily’s text: "The reason I can't find my gear is I didn't bring it all. It dawned on my fuzzy head as I was driving through Glencoe."

With that final mystery all cleared up, it was time to get the hut all cleared up and set off for home. Very many thanks to the members who came and made it such a memorable weekend.
 

Gareth Williams