KYQ4: Buchaille Etive Beag

Stob Dubh summit, B E M behind

Buchaille Etive Beag

Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Ascent: 1006metres
Distance: 11 kilometres
Time: 4 hours 56 minutes

Stob Dubh 958m. 2hrs 41mins
Stob Coire Raineach. 925m. 3hrs 37mins

Some days just happen. Keith had messaged me on Sunday evening saying the aftermath of Storm Darragh might yield a few days of freezing but sunny weather. I suggested we climb Buchaille Etive Beag, Glencoe had been glazed with snow during the storm. It suited us both, neither of us had climbed it on our unintended sixth rounds, but we were no longer into Munro bagging!! I picked him up at Crianlarich at 8:30 a.m., having driven through the morning fog on empty icy roads. Crossing Rannoch Moor, it was -7°C and much the same when we parked at the newish car park by the bridge before the descent into Glencoe. A dozen cars were parked already and the visibility was no more than a few hundred metres.

During the usual exasperation of preparing for the first winter walk: fitting boots and gaiters, fixing ice axes on the rucksack, packing crampons and easing ourselves into jackets, hats and gloves, I was chatting to the man in the next car who was ready to set out. He was dressed as the hillwalker equivalent of a mamil (middle-aged man in lycra) but with pricey mountain gear instead of Rapha, Castelli and Oakleys. He told me he had recently completed a Munro round and was starting on his ninth round. I was impressed and mentioned this to Keith who had been deliberating which of his many jackets and items of equipment to wear or pack for the outing.

We started on the well-made path of large stones and small gravel. It had become a strip of black ice making it necessary to walk on the adjoining ground or perform a hiking on-ice routine. We caught up with the Mamil at 550 metres, he was fixing some step-in crampons onto his high-end boots. Keith congratulated him on being on his ninth round of Munros but discovered it was only on his ninth Munro in his second round. The kudos was immediately reversed when he heard that Keith was on his sixth round, he had never met anyone who had done more than three. Keith, who is instinctively modest, didn't bother to mention his 4 Munro Top rounds, 3 Corbett rounds, his rounds of the Grahams (Fionas), Firths, and Wainwrights, not to mention all his other walks.

I decided given we had stopped to put on my crampons and Keith fitted his microspikes as the path was getting steeper and icier. My pace slackened as I kicked in my crampons to ratchet myself up the slopes. I ascribed it to the boots, the crampons and the fully loaded rucksack but it was probably a winter and age fitness syndrome. Keith was charging on in his micro spikes, his fitness permanently hardened by hillwalking three or four times a week.

At 700 metres, we emerged from the grey cloud and freezing temperature to gawp at the sheer beauty of Bidean nam Bian, the Aonach Eagach ridge with Ben Nevis looming big and near over its smaller siblings. Suddenly the ungainly crampons that had squeezed my boots and started blistering my feet no longer seemed to bother me. Even more so when we reached the bealach at 748 metres. We were treated to a balcony view of Buchaille Etive Mor and all the mountains stretching to Schiehallion. It was overwhelming as we had 360° of peaks surrounding us. (see video). They looked like a spikey meringue and were spectacularly delicious. Two young women arrived, they were equally mesmerised and asked if we knew of the App that gave you the names of all the mountains. We did but didn't know its name, we are old school and like to mentally exercise our mountain memories as we put together the jigsaw of peaks. We decided to climb Stob Dubh first, it is the higher and further away of the two Munros and would allow us to walk towards the midday sun and top up our vitamin D.

We drifted along, taking photos, the sun had warmed us, and our gloves were off as we reached the 906-metre top. We watched another walker set off to the summit with his drone following his progress. It was another kilometre along the ridge, and we lolled about en route goggling at the stupendous views to the south aware that days like this are the reason for hillwalking. We pottered around the summit before finding a couple of boulders to sit and enjoy the moment. It was the first time I had brought a flask of coffee in a couple of years and it was warm enough to eat a sandwich, We both sent photos to friends and family stuck in cold foggy urban Britain. We spent 30 minutes chilling over an extended lunch, it was ecstatic at the Cafe del Dubh.

We began the return before 1pm, dropping down to the bealach which was easygoing in the snow that had softened in the midday sun. The climb up to the second Munro, Stob Coire Raineach, was a slog and the crampons were probably unnecessary in the deep snow. We made it in under an hour and were gifted another set of views to drool over. We could see from Ardgour through Glencoe and back to the Breadalbane mountains. I removed my crampons before we galloped down the soft snow to the bealach.

The sun was dipping behind Bidean nam Bian as we began the trek down the path. Initially, the snow and ice had softened but lower down and in the shadow cast by Bidean, it was refreezing and we found it easier to walk on the softer snow, it certainly exercised the quads. There were exceptional close-up views of the Aonach Eagach ridge as its crenellated summit was etched against the cobalt blue sky. We were down by 3:30 pm, it was still light but the car was frozen. After dropping Keith at Crianlarich, I made it home by 5pm. Now that was what I call a magic day.