Meet Report: 17-20 February 2022.

Prior to a meet the forecast is eagerly awaited. MWIS indicated that on the Thursday, the day on which most would be travelling, the wind on the hills would be typically 80 to 100 mph (and gusts up to 120 mph) but easing, slowly, to 50 to 70 with either snow or rain. So that’ll be alright. In practice the weather was far more benign with patches of blue sky and fabulous views across Rannoch Moor later in the day. The worst of the weather was experienced in Callander, a sleety squall waited for my short dash between the Tesco supermarket door and the car. The Glens were saturated, foaming burns ribboned the hillsides and many a tree by the loch side stood with its feet in the cold dark water.

The Alex Macintyre Hut is located in Onich, just west of North Ballachulish, access via Mountaineering Scotland. The Hut had a number of occupants throughout the week some of whom would remain to the Sunday, so the accommodation was warm and welcoming. The ground floor accommodation of kitchen, drying room, bathroom and a combined living room and dining area is a little awkwardly arranged around a central staircase. The living room and dining area would have been two separate rooms originally and both internal doors remain which put one in mind of a Brian Rix farce as people would suddenly appear at inopportune moments at the second door.

Twelve places were booked and no restrictions due to Covid regulations were placed on that number. The meet was fully subscribed however three people had to give back word. In addition, Matt Clark and his daughter, Aether, welcome guests of David Large had already booked B&B accommodation and wished to honour that booking but would eat in the hut.

Friday dawned; plans were made for the Dorsal Arete, comprising the entire meet. A little fresh snow on the road rising up into Glencoe required some care. The Large party (AC, AP, DL & MC) was smaller than the Smith party which comprised the remainder of the meet. The Smith party set off for Stob Coire nan Lochan with its head in the clouds and blanketed under fresh snow. Once in the Coire the gentle wind increased and the spin drift obliterated the deep foot prints. Conditions made for slow going however Tom and Richard both of whom sport a full head of hair battled on while the remaining number did a small survey of the depth of snow before descending.

Tom takes up the narrative.

‘As the rest of the group headed off to attempt other endeavours myself and Richard started across the snow slope up towards the arete. The snow was deep and so hard work; eventually we reached the rock and ice where we donned our crampons.

A friendly guided trio approached from below as we started to advance up the Dorsal Arete. The spin-drift was blowing but we pressed on making good progress. While we were roping up about half way through the climb the guided trio passed us, this was unfortunate as they ended up clogging up the crux later on. After 15 minutes of waiting in the howling wind we both made the collective decision to climb around the crux with Richard leading the way, the final segment after this was a wonderful ice pitch with a chimney finish. Mid way through this last segment David and co had managed to catch up and joined us at the top before walking down into the valley where the wind died enough to allow for lunch to be eaten before heading back to the cars’.

It is worth noting that the augmented Large party while descending into the Coire ran across a chap who, without injury or alarm had fallen through a cornice and was quietly making his way back up to the shoulder of mountain to console his distraught companions who at this stage could only imagine the worst.

A brief stop at the Clachaig Inn was followed by dinner at the hut. CH arranged the catering and extends his gratitude to all who attended for their hard work with the cooking, washing up and leaving the hut clean and tidy on departure.

Saturday morning dawned to calm and clear skies. The heightened risk of avalanche focused plans. Exhibiting once again a collective mind set, all but three of the assembled headed off for Sgurr an lubhair in the Mamores. The Large party ascended from Kinlochleven and the remainder (CH, CT, SM & RT) set off from the Achriabhach car park in Glen Nevis. The deep soft snow once again afforded slow progress but this second party were rewarded with fine views of Stob Ban. Serendipitously both parties arrived at the top at the same time. The Large party set off west back to the col initially with a view to popping up Stob Ban but decided against this given the snow conditions. The second party set off north along the Devils Ridge. A party of two in front had turned back at a step in the ridge. At the same point it was apparent the unconsolidated snow offered no bite to the axe and it was decided to follow suit, returning a distance along the ridge and then dropping into the Glen.

The Smiths, MS, RS & TS decided to get some practice in before the imminent Norwegian ski touring meet next month by cross-country skiing, anti-clockwise around Buachaille Etive Beag. Such and enterprise best suits someone with one leg short than the other. Assembling a group all with this exact same characteristic is almost impossible these days; as a result the party spent the entire day listing to starboard.

Michael takes up the narrative.

The already considerable depth of snow discouraged climbing. The chosen route was one often taken on poor-weather days on Glen Etive meets: through the lairigs and using General Wade’s Military Road.

Parking a little below Lagangarbh and getting kitted up, revealed the first problem. Equipment failure. A heel latch on Michael’s binding snapped. Richard’s multi-tool pliers forced the stub into the groove and father was clamped to that ski for the day.

Their first leg was along the 270-year-old Military Road, now showing considerable signs of wear and indistinguishable from a bog in places. Still, it gave a gentle downhill start. Turning south into Lairig Eilde, they kept to the east of the stalkers’ path to avoid river crossings. The stream crossings they did encounter were challenging enough on account of the thin snow-cover. That leg went easily enough using skins but it did need a descent to the river bank to pass a rocky spur. A lunch stop close to the col gave good views of the familiar scrambling route up Stob Coire Sgreamhach. Over the pass, the skins were retained to limit speed of descent on the steeper ground. Halfway down the Alt Lairig Eilde, just above 300m, a contouring line across steep crag strewn hillside took them into the homeward Lairig Gartain. The tricky 20+ narrow stream crossings on dodgy snow with 1.8m skis were balanced by the stretches of effortless gliding down a 1 in 20 gradient as snow and dusk fell. Skis were only removed for the last 300m as this was on the footpath.

Apart from when close to the road they encountered only one person. She had run up Lairig Eilde but found no footsteps continuing beyond so was heading back the way she came. Skis were a good choice. For the third member of the party, Tom, it was a first outing on lifting-heel skis. This and borrowed new stiff NATO-standard ski boots resulted in the day making a quite an impression on him – especially his feet. Stoic, he did not complain.

Sunday chores and away down the road. Michael reported on the way home a short stop was made at the overgrown viewpoint at the Falls of Leny. Disappointingly the tremendous volume of water raised the level to completely obscure the falls.

Aether Clark (G) Anca Pordea, Chris Hilton, Conrad Tetley, David Large, Matt Clark (G), Steve McCain (PM), Michael Smith, Richard Smith, Tom Spencer, Richard Taylor,