Ben Starav - Photo Gallery
If you have broadband there are a couple of video clips here of a cascade and waterfall on Allt nam Meirleach
Some weeks ago I had planned a weekend in Glencoe but the forecast is as bad as it could be, a large amount of bad weather is heading for Scotland. I did check with the people I was meeting before I set off on Friday afternoon that there will be something to do the following day in the event that the forecast is right. It was raining all the way as I drove north, turning to sleet by the time I met the others at the Kings House Hotel on the Glencoe road. There were several deer grazing on the lawn by the side of the car park, it is apparently bad news if they are off the hills.
There was sleet and it was 1C but the road was clear as we drove into Glencoe but the forecast for Saturday was still pretty awful. We had a serious route planning meeting after deciding that the planned climb of Buchaille Etive Mor was probably best avoided. We came up with options A, B, C and D although the weather could ruin even the least ambitious of the ideas.
On Saturday morning the bad weather seems to have been delayed until tomorrow, it was dry and not too overcast as we headed to Glen Etive. At one point on the Glen Etive road there were several Deer blocking the road and they reluctantly moved out of the way only once they had their photos taken. We parked in a muddy lay-by near a gate where a signpost informed us where the "Hill Path" was, two other walkers with two dogs were just starting their walk as we got kitted up.
You can get past the gate rather than go through it and follow a track down to a bridge crossing the River Etive, there was a good view of Ben Starav from the bridge. The snow line looks as though it is positioned about half way up the hills, there is a clear demarcation of its boundary. The "Hill Path" is again clearly signposted, obviously somebody doesn't want us sloshing through their mud, you reach muddy ground anyway where wooden sleepers get you over wettest parts reasonably successfully.
You stay on the Hill Path until you cross the footbridge over Allt nam Meirleach, a rugged mountain stream with a bed of colourful granite providing some attractive cascades and waterfalls. Follow the stream uphill over muddy ground, there are more interesting cascades as the stream unsuccessfully tries to wear away the hard rock. Eventually you get to the start of the ridge leading up towards Ben Starav, the peaty hillside is covered by rough grass but this is obviously a popular route with hillwalkers boots having caused some erosion. The exposed stony surface might be untidy and sometimes awkward but I find it easier to climb than the original grassy slope would have been.
The gradient and surface are fairly consistent upto about 500 metres in height where there is a short stretch of level ground. You can see the next section of the climb ahead, we were just at the start of the snow line and the white hill merged into the mist some way ahead. The cold breeze also got colder and stronger, it was time to put everything on and fasten up. The snow didn't gradually appear, all of a sudden we were walking through it, the path was obscured and the way ahead was unclear, it was fortunate that the walkers we had seen earlier had left their footprints in the snow for us to follow.
The gradient was steeper now and I felt more comfortable using my ice axe to help me up the snowy slope, there were times when I put the axe into the snow and it sank upto the head so I don't know just how deep it was. By the time we got to about 800 metres in height we were in mist and still following the footsteps in the snow. The gradient became noticeably steeper and the snow was definitely deeper, stepping through knee deep soft snow is harder than it looks. It is difficult to remember the details but I think there were three steep climbs, each with its own awkward slippery boulder to get over, separated by short level sections in between the forty degree slopes.
We had no idea how much further there was to go as we started yet another still steeper climb. It was there that we met the other walkers on their way down and we were able to thank them for their footsteps. There was still work to do, now it was a case of kicking into the knee-deep snow and having to make big steps to get over and around the larger boulders.
By the time we reached the summit of Ben Starav the visibility was very poor and I didn't see the cairn until I was on top of it. In that visibility and with the chilling wind blowing more strongly it didn't take much time to decide not to go any further, we just hoped that our footprints were so deep that we could follow them down again. It was cold enough for the water in my drinking tube to freeze, normally I would blow the ice back into the bag to clear the blockage but no amount of huffing and puffing would get me a drink and I had to use my reserve bottles.
As we started to descend the steep snow covered slope I could see the vertical cliffs that were just a couple of metres away from our footprints, this is a hill that would be interesting in good weather. Descending through snow is even more strenuous than climbing it, your full body weight makes you step deeply into the snow. Not only does your momentum send you deeper into the snow but you are brought to a sudden halt with a lurch forward that can be worrying on a steep downward slope. Having stepped deeply into the snow you have to make a big step up out of it without anything except more snow to support yourself.
It seemed like a long way down because it was, from sea level we had climbed over 1000 metres but it didn't feel that high on the way up with concentrating on where you put your feet. After the interesting first part of the descent through the deepest snow in the strengthening wind it suddenly became a long way down and it wasn't until we got below the snow line that my drinking tube started to work again. Back at the car having had a relatively short day we drove up the the end of the road for the view of Ben Starav across Loch Etive. On the way there were some chickens in the road and two geese that eventually moved out of the way but attacked the car and tried to bite the wheels as it went past.
On Sunday morning it was snowing, it was wet snow and the roads seemed OK but we decided that top priority was to get home given the reports of the Glencoe road being barely passable. As I drove up towards the Pass of Glencoe the snow wasn't quite so wet and it had accumulated on the road. Just before the roadworks at Lairig Eilde Bridge there were a couple of vans in the road ahead with amber lights flashing, a car was turning round and a long wheelbase van was waiting for assistance to turn round. It looked bad so we decided to turn back to Glencoe and try to find out what was going on, maybe arrange to stay another night if necessary.
Whilst trying to locate radio reports of the road conditions we saw plenty of cars heading up the road so we decided to try again. There were a couple of points where the traffic was held up while cars were turning round in the road, drivers coming in the opposite direction said it wasn't possible to get beyond the Glencoe Ski Lift. We decided to carry on and see for ourselves but when we got there the snow was fairly deep and although you could keep going it was becoming difficult to get going again if you stopped. I think I could have got through but I didn't want to get stuck in the middle if the roads was closed before I got to Tyndrum, I went along with the majority and turned back to Glencoe again.
At the service station in Glencoe the newspapers were being delivered, the driver had struggled through the snow from Glasgow and told us that there was three feet of snow at Loch Lomond which would be my usual way home. We took the A828 coast road towards Oban and then picked up the A85 to Tyndrum where the snowgates on the A82 north were closed. At Crianlarich the road to Loch Lomond was closed so we headed to Stirling on the A84, part of a huge convoy of cars crawling along behind a nervous driver at 25mph. The roads weren't so bad that you would have to drive so slowly. In the small towns where cars were parked by the side of the road on the streets of terraced houses, there was about over a foot of snow on the tops of the cars and the gaps in between them had been filled by snow.
Eventually I got to Stirling and was able to get going again, at the start of the M74 motorway there were ominously a couple of sets of crashed cars but the traffic was moving well enough. The newest section of the M74 is over high ground and it was where I expected the worst of the snow to be. There was snow on the carriageway but not enough to need to drive at 10mph which is what I had to do for fifty minutes. There was a two-car clearing in the snow that meandered from the two outside lanes to the inside lane and hard shoulder and I think it was the continual crossing of lane markings that caused the uncertainty and slow driving. Once I got over the crest of the highest point on the road the traffic just started to move freely again and the crawl was being repeated on the opposite carriageway as it climbed to the summit.
From that point onwards I made good progress even though it was going dark, I arrived home after 11 hours on the road.
Andy Wallace 11th & 12th March 2006