Bluesky day on Beinn Mheadhoin

The first sight of Beinn Mheadhoin’s summit tor rising from the snow

Sometimes it feels this blog is becoming a single issue affair, with the proportion of posts about the Garbh Choire.

But I do now and then get out and about, and a recent trip up Glen Derry led to a superb day atop Beinn Mheadhoin, making the most of the late onset winter and one of those near perfect days which seem to have been eluding me recently.

There was a good attendance of regulars at Bob Scott’s on Friday night, with Norrie and Bob, Lithgae Jim and Dave Knowles all gathering for a trip through the Lairig Ghru, and Neil Findlay and Ian ‘Piper’ Shand set to go out to the Hutchison Hut in Coire Etchachan, to get some measurements done for this autumn’s planned refurbishment.

And those were just the regulars. There was also a large group of schoolkids (camped outside), their teachers, and about half a dozen or so other folk. Prospects didn’t look good for an easy bedspace but, in the event, quite a few folk were sleeping in tents and there was plenty room in the bothy – even if it was rather a noisy night with a truly awesome frogs’ chorus of snorers!

Saturday dawned fair and Neil, Piper and myself were among the first away, heading up Glen Derry through the woods – always a joy on a sunny morning – and past the Derry Dam to the more open upper half, catching up on each other’s news as we went.

Beinn Mheadhoin, on the right, uncharacteristically well-endowed with snow for mid May. On the left the cliffs above Lochan Uaine of Derry Cairngorm. As I was returning down the glen a large avalanche could be heard and seen at a mile’s distance.

Soon after crossing the Glas Allt Mhor the path branched, taking Neil F and Piper off to the Hutchie while I continued on the Lairig an Laoigh path to near its highest point, above the snowline, before crossing some rather entertaining snow-covered bog to start up the south-east shoulder of Beinn Mheadhoin.

Looking into Coire Etchachan from the Lairig an Laoigh path. I love the curves which are accentuated by the snow cover.

It’s a way up I’d often thought about but never got round to trying before. There’s not even a hint of a path here and it’s steeper than makes for an easy ascent. Definitely a route for the curious rather than the average guy just looking to get to the top of the hill but, for all that, and although its ‘shortcomings’ were exaggerated by a covering of soft, slippy snow, by the time I’d climbed a couple of hundred feet I noticed there was somebody coming up behind me! What do you have to do to get some peace these days?

A steep few hundred feet made for a quick ascent to where the slope eased off and the snow deepened, making the gradient easier and the going harder. But the clear weather was holding, with views getting ever more extensive as I gained height until the summit tor came into view, a striking black monolith thrusting out of the white hill into the clear blue sky, fresh snow smoking round its base.

Granite, ice, snow and a clear blue sky. Tops don’t come much better.

Beinn Mheadhoin’s summit tors are a magnificent sight, especially in winter, and it’s a hill I really had been away from for too long.

The final approach to the summit was made past the other tors, each standing out against the unbroken white of the plateau. A couple of skiers were sitting at the foot of the summit tor eating their lunch and bearing stoically the periodic shower of ice particles blown off the granite. I made an abortive attempt to climb the rock, but was dissuaded by the loose ice and melting snow – I’d been there before, after all.

Even when the guy who’d been following me caught up and scrambled up to the top, I remained unmoved. Getting up was okay – I was more worried about getting back down without skiting.

But when another guy turned up and followed suit, my pride had taken all it could and I went for it, making the one tricky move and gaining the top easily. And descending didn’t cause too much of a problem after all. You’d think I’d have known that by this time!

The granite tors of Beinn Mheadhoin – a striking Cairngorm summit

After leaving the increasingly busy summit, I made my way down to Loch Etchachan, a striking black in a cradle of white, and toyed with the idea of going back to Scottie’s over the top of Derry Cairngorm before coming to my senses and dropping down to the Hutchison and making my increasingly weary way down Glen Derry.

A brilliant day.

Looking across to Carn Etchachan, the Shelter Stone Crag and Hell’s Lum Crag from the summit plateau of Beinn Mheadhoin

Looking down on Loch Etchachan, with Ben McDui behind

Garbh Choire update

Haven’t heard officially yet, but I understand that both the Cairngorm Club and the Board of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland have discussed the future of the Garbh Choire Refuge and have both decided that it should be retained and renovated.
Great to hear that both the representative body for Scottish mountaineering and the sport’s oldest club have come out in favour of the refuge, joining the Scottish Mountaineering Club. That’s a substantial body of opinion on the side of the angels.

Support for the Garbh Choire Refuge

There was good news and not so good news this week for those who support the renovation of the Garbh Choire Refuge.

The good news is that the Scottish Mountaineering Club is in favour of saving the refuge. Andy Nisbet, SMC President and one of Scotland’s foremost mountaineers, said in an email: “The matter of the repair of the Garbh Choire Bothy was discussed at the SMC Committee meeting on 21st April and the SMC is keen to support maintaining and repairing the bothy (as against its removal or continued deterioration).

The SMC’s view is in line with what seems to be the general opinion as expressed in responses to my case for the retention of Garbh Choire in this blog, a guest blog I wrote for Summit and Valley, and to posts in ukbothies, scottishbothies, ukclimbing and other mountaineering and hillwalking forums, not to mention a news story in the on-line Scottish newspaper the Caledonian Mercury.

Not everyone is in favour – there are some well argued responses against retention – but the majority seem to want the Garbh Choire Refuge to be repaired and maintained for the future.

Rather disappointing, however, is the response from the Mountain and Hill walking Advisory Group of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, which decided at a committee meeting this month to sit firmly on the fence. It decided that, with no safety issues involved, it would support neither case. Its minutes recorded: “Status Quo IS NOT acceptable. The refuge should either be removed or replaced. The MHAG does not feel that there is a case for the renovation of the refuge on the grounds of mountain safety. Mountain safety is the only aspect of this debate that the MHAG feels it is appropriate to make comment on.”

(However, since writing this I have learned that the future of the refuge is still to be discussed by the MCofS Board, at least some of whom I believe to be sympathetic. One possibility is that they may decide to put the matter out to the membership for consultation. As soon as I hear, I’ll post on here. 26.4.12)

The North East Mountain Trust is another organisation that has decided to consider the matter. Members (which I understand to include clubs as well as individuals) have been sent an email containing the arguments for and against the refuge, adding that the landowner (the NTS) is clear that it wants the refuge removed. (This is despite the fact that several of its own policies would tend to favour retention and renovation).

The NEMT email adds the information that the NTS is planning to hold a consultation day on the issue at Mar Lodge later this summer and urges people to go along and give their views. At the moment I have written to the NTS asking for details of this consultation and will pass them on as soon as I hear.

My understanding is that it is one person within Mar Lodge Estate rather than the NTS itself, which has made clear opposition to the refuge, and the fact of a consultation meeting is evidence that there is still a chance to persuade the NTS that this is a part of Scotland’s heritage that is worth saving, should be saved and – crucially – can be saved, with the MBA (with a proven track record) willing to step in and do the work and carry out future maintenance.

The message is clear: if you care at all about the future of the Garbh Choire Refuge (and, I’d argue, about bothies and bothy culture in general) you need to make your voice heard.

(The full case for the retention of the Garbh Choire Refuge can be read here.)

Luibeg bridges through the ages

The 1928 edition of the OS map of the Luibeg area

A query on the new bothies forum http://scottishbothies.freeforums.org/ got me thinking about an area of the Cairngorms that doesn’t normally attract much attention.

Preas nam Mearlach, or The Robbers’ Copse, is the area around the ford over the Luibeg Burn as you start to cross from the Luibeg into Glen Dee, just before the climb over the shoulder of Carn a Mhaim.

My father used to tell me how he and his pals would camp up at the Robbers’ Copse in the years after World War 2; he never specified a site, but from the way he spoke I always imagined him pitching a tent in the woods south of the Luibeg Burn, for they used to come right over Feith na Sgorr, regarding it as a ‘short-cut’ to avoid the Derry road.

But the area I’m concerned about is the course of the burn and the gravelly flats around the ford. For there has been more going on there than you’d think.

The query on scottishbothies arose when someone noticed that there was a bridge marked near the site of the present ford in the 1928 Ordnance Survey map, and someone else commented on the existence of what looked like the remains of masonry bridge piers around there.

In fact the remains to be seen today are nothing to do with the bridge marked on the 1928 map and a lot more to do with the bridge which sits half a mile upstream.

But let’s go back a bit to start with.

Given that Glen Lui was inhabited for centuries, and that the Lairig Ghru was once a through-route for trade (Apparently great quantities of eggs were taken through here!), there was almost certainly a bridge of one sort or another since ever people got fed up of wet feet, although how permanent it ever was is another question.

Whatever bridge may have been there back in 1829 disappeared on August 4 of that year. On that day a tremendous rainstorm (which saw the River Dee rise by over 15 feet in places and saw great inundation of farmland and homes) created great floods which tore trenches down the hillsides and triggered a debris flow which ripped down the course of the Luibeg and left a fan of gravel and rocks 150 yards wide (about 130 metres) and a quarter of a mile long where the ground levelled out around the present ford. It not only tore away any bridge that might have been there but also completely obliterated the path. That’s why the ground around there is so gravelly and bare of peat: most of it was laid down in one day back in 1829.

The 1869 OS 6" map shows the extent of the flood debris covering the path as it approaches the Luibeg Burn. This was surveyed in 1866, over 35 years after the flood.

At some point (maybe even more than once) a bridge was rebuilt where the path crossed the stream. There will certainly have been one in place during the area’s heyday as a shooting estate in the Victorian era and, as noted above, one existed in 1928.

Twenty years later the bridge was getting to be in a poor state of repair, consisting of two tree-trunks side by side, with  a walkway of planks (not all present), and the Cairngorm Club, presumably as fond of dry feet as the next club, took it up as a project.

With contributions from other climbing clubs as well as CC members, a fund was raised in 1947 and the bridge was built in 1948. It used the relatively newly available material of aluminium to ease the problems of weight which would have been involved with a steel structure, although the feat of transporting the two hundred-kilo beams was still considerable, not to mention the 22 cwt of cement, several 60-kilo concrete slabs for the footbed and other sundry materials.

The resultant bridge, which was built adjacent to the existing log bridge, was just over 23 feet long and raised to just over 2 metres above the average height of the Luibeg Burn, courtesy of two stone piers. It was named in honour of a former club president, James Parker and officially opened in November 1948.

However it wasn’t to last for long.

In 1956 came another tremendous rainstorm. Over the course of August 13-14 the water came down with such force that the bridge piers themselves were washed away and the bridge pushed downstream. It can hardly be seen as a reflection on the skills of the bridge builders, for the whole streambed doubled in width, to what can be seen today.

Luckily the bridge span was relatively undamaged and was able to be recovered. And having learned their lesson, a new site was sought and the bridge moved about half a mile upstream where it could be set high above the water with foundations in solid rock. It has remained there ever since, used when the burn is in spate or by those not agile enough to loup across the stepping stones.

But if you’ve ever moaned at the detour involved in getting there from the main path – now you know the reason for it.

‘Foreign’ holiday: Aonach Eagach

Looking west along the Aonach Eagach

I don’t normally include foreign climbing trips in this blog, but no outdoor blogger can resist writing a post about last weekend: warmer than many a summer day, and it only March yet!

And I wasn’t in the Cairngorms at all, but following up a rumour that there were hills in the west of Scotland somewhere. So I went to have a look and did, indeed, find one: a bit of a road crash of hills in fact, all caught out tailgating when the one at the front stopped suddenly. The crumple zone created is called, I’m told, Aonach Eagach, and a jolly little hill it was too, even if it was a bit on the pointy side.

Okay, I’m kidding. I first did Aonach Eagach, oh, more than quarter a century ago and, in the years since, must have done it over a dozen but maybe not quite the length of 20 times, summer, winter and various times in between. This, for all it was March, definitely counted as a summer ascent: there was no snow on the ridge, the rock was dry and – above all – it was warm! (Nor, to voice a minor moan, was the sky very wintry, with a definite summer haze fading the longer views one might normally expect from crystal clear March skies.)

Dave Knowles and myself decided on the trip as a wee holiday from the ‘Gorms and met up down Glen Etive on Friday night, where we pitched tents.

Saturday was a little cloudier than expected, but it soon showed signs of lifting and we packed up and arranged cars at either end before starting off up Am Bodach.

It must be about eight or nine years since I last did the ridge, but I don’t believe my memory is that bad: someone has definitely added a bit onto the ascent up Am Bodach, and without doubt the descent to start the ridge proper is both longer and steeper than it used to be. Quite a few extra wee scrambly bits have been added along the ridge too, and I’m sure I counted one more pinnacle than used to be there. Dave suggested it was maybe added years rather than added pinnacles, but they’re unchancy hills these western ranges – can’t trust them an inch, soon as your back is turned for a year or two.

Dave about to make a descent on Aonach Eagach

Before we reached the pinnacles we were passed at the gallop by a couple of young lads who obviously had a bus to catch or something. It was only slight consolation to see them following some other folk down the path which avoids the pinnacles on the northern side of the ridge. This path looks insanely loose and exposed and, giving in to softer feelings, I shouted to them that the route lay on the crest. They climbed back up to the pinnacles and took them regulation fashion, waving a thanks to us as they disappeared into the distance. Nice to know an old fart can still come in useful now and then.

Looking across to the Bidean massif from the western end of Aonach Eagach

After descending we recovered both vehicles and set off for Duror Bothy. It was the first time I’d been there, but Dave had no excuse for taking two turn-offs before finding the right one. Nice bothy, though, if a little out of the road, and we enjoyed a pleasantly tired evening in the company of two couples from Edinburgh, who had resorted to the bothy to cook a gourmet meal on the stove there, an unlikely feat which they seemed to manage with some aplomb.

Duror Bothy

Sunday dawned even fairer. Dave and I sat at a table outside the bothy at 7 a.m. (8 a.m. new time) enjoying the warm breeze before cooking breakfast and heading off down the road. Dave was for home, but I stopped in the Coe and had a wander up into the Lost Valley.

Just about to enter the open flats, I bumped into a friend, Bothy Dave, onen of his sons and some friends, who were bound for Stob Choire Sgreamach and maybe Bidean. With my legs feeling yesterday’s efforts I declined a chance to join them, although I wasn’t too inclined to anyway, as I had no ice axe with me, and the headwall route they had planned was still full of snow.

Wishing them well, I found myself a quiet spot just up the side of Gearr Aonach a bit and laid down for a nap in the sunshine. And what a day! I lay for over an hour, dozing off now and then and idly scanning the headwall snowfield to see the odd black speck or two inching up. I didn’t relish much the gallus approach of some of Dave’s companions, who were also sans ice axe, but heard later that they’d all made it anyway and enjoyed a great day on the tops.

The bold mountaineer, lazing in the sunshine in the Lost Valley

As for me, after lazing about for a bit I headed off home. Glen Coe isn’t the Cairngorms, but, really, it’s not all that bad.

Refuting the case for destruction of Garbh Choire Refuge

An MR team member outside the Garbh Choire Refuge. Picture courtesy of Heather Morning.

I received a rather longer than usual response to the Garbh Choire Refuge page from George Allan, presumable a member of the North East Mountain Trust.

Rather cheekily, he includes a case for removing the refuge, presumably mistaking this for an impartial court. Make no mistake: I’m fully in favour of retaining and repairing the Garbh Choire Refuge.

However here’s his comment below, after which I’ll address the points he raises in the case for removal. I’ve taken the liberty of inserting numbers in his arguments for removal, to make cross reference easier, but otherwise the comment in italics is his own.

Neil Reid and Kenny Freeman are to be commended on their document arguing the case for retention and doing the bothy up.

The committee of the North East Mountain Trust discussed their paper recently, along with one favouring removal written by another committee member. NEMT is in the process of canvassing its members’ views.

The decision on the future of the bothy lies entirely with the National Trust for Scotland which will, presumable, take soundings, and consult the Cairngorm Park Authority before making a decision. There seem to be two options-a] rebuild it pretty well exactly as it is and then maintain it- the option that the Mountain Bothies Assn has an interest in or b] dismantle and, as far as possible, leave no trace of its existance.

There are two other options but no one party to the North East Mountain Trust discussions favoured them. These are, firstly, rebuild making it bigger and secondly leave it to deteriorate.

For the sake of completeness these are the arguments for complete removal: – 1-It is in an area of wild land par excellence. Removal would return this to a pristine state with no evidence of man’s intrusion. These coires really are an exceptional case in the way that Fords of Avon is not.

2-The bothy was built in the 1960s by members of the Lairig Club to facilitate developments in the Braeriach coires. At that time, most climbers went in from the south. It serves this purpose much less now as most go in via various routes from the north. In addition, modern light weight tents have altered the situation.

3– There is an emerging path around it and this is likely to become more obvious if it is retained.

4– The cultural heritage argument is questionable. It could be applied to almost anything which had been touched by man.

5– The safety argument is circular. It could also be used to justify retaining any buildings. For example, Jean’s Hut and the Sinclair hut could have been retained on this basis.

In putting forward the case for removal, I am not saying that I support either this or retention. However, people need to considered all angles.

George Allan

So here goes. I’ll take his arguments one by one.

1- This really is the strongest argument against retention of the refuge, but George – and several others in other forums – says in this that the Garbh Choire IS an area of wild land par excellence, not “would be if the hut was removed”. Mar Lodge Estate’s own policies recognise that the existence of a man-made structure does not necessarily detract from a feeling of wilderness and can even enhance it. My own feeling is that the Garbh Choire Refuge is a very small structure, with its visible elements mainly native stone, barely even recognisable as man-made from most angles. Even standing right outside the refuge, that area seems pretty damned wild to me, and not a whit diminished.

(Incidentally, by claiming the Fords of Avon not to be an apt comparison he loses me. If you’ve ever walked north past the Dubh Lochain, across the rocks and peatbog south of the River Avon, peering across the river at a barely distinguishable pile of stones, with the wind and rain making you flinch, you’ll find it hard to credit that this area is any less wild or pristine than the Garbh Choire.)

2 – It’s a curious assertion that the refuge no longer serves a function, given the amount of interest roused by its present plight. The argument that it is no longer needed because climbers mostly come from the north these days is even more curious. Does a northern access route mean you have no need of shelter from the elements? In any case, no evidence is presented that this is actually the case. I suspect this argument originated in a comment in the current Cairngorm Climbing Guide referring to winter climbing in the Garbh Choire and suggesting that bicycle access up Gleann Einich made it accessible for a day visit. This may well be true if conditions are right and you are superbly fit, but I doubt if most climbers would consider it a day crag and, whatever the direction of access, most would require some form of accommodation nearer than Glen More, whether that be bothy or tent.

3 – “There is an emerging path…” There is indeed. Almost 50 years since the refuge was first built and it has still failed to emerge in anything more than rudimentary and fragmentary fashion – and most of those years were years when the refuge was allegedly better used and when climbers allegedly came from the south. The fact is that, although people do use it, and may well be more tempted to use it were it weathertight, it is not on any major through route and unlikely ever to see intensive use of the sort that creates scars.

4 – “The cultural heritage is questionable…” This one actually makes me angry. I believe Scotland’s bothy culture is something to be intensely proud of and to safeguard zealously. In this country, at a time when we are seeing daily evidence of greed, capitalism run wild and rampant consumerism, we have another culture: one where volunteers look after a network of bothies, buildings in wild and remote areas, which are expressly open to all, regardless of money, club membership or even passport, where strangers are made welcome and can receive advice and practical help, where people of common purpose (though from all walks of life) can meet informally and on equal terms and enjoy each others society.

Mr Allan (or the originator of this argument – for I understand that George is airing arguments in the interests of fairness rather than necessary conviction) may not feel such a culture exists, but I am fiercely passionate about this: this is MY culture and that of my companions in the hills. We look around and see the National Trust for Scotland with a portfolio heavy with ‘stately homes’ – monuments to the robber barons of yesteryear; we see contemporary X-Factor and Apprentice culture, where people strive for empty celebrity and find pleasure in others’ humiliation. How can anyone then claim that ”the cultural heritage argument is questionable”? There is considerable literature in existence which speaks of Scotland’s bothy culture and it can be seen in action in a bothy somewhere every day. There is a limited number of bothies in the highlands: no more are being built yet existing bothies are being lost (Sinclair, Jean’s Hut and others). When do we say enough is enough? My own view is that the National Trust for Scotland should hang its head in blackest shame if, while preserving the ‘culture’ of the rich and powerful, it destroys a manifestation of a culture that is uniquely Scottish and speaks of the very best in human nature. Rant over.

5 – The safety argument. Funnily enough, I actually agree with this one – to a point. You could improve safety by building refuges like this in every glen in the land, but few could justify that (let alone bear the cost). However, while it’s not a sufficient factor on its own, this refuge is already in existence, and the safety dividend it offers is a factor to be considered.

And that’s about it. Apologies to George Allan if I’ve appeared to have a go at him – I understand the arguments were formulated by a third party and that George is presenting them in the interests of balance.

In fact I bear no ill will towards anyone who believes the refuge should be removed on wilderness grounds. It’s a valid argument, even if I don’t agree with it. But don’t let anyone tell you there’s no cultural heritage argument – that is ignorance (willful or otherwise) which must not go unchallenged.

Why save the Garbh Choire Refuge?

 

The Garbh Choire Refuge: a part of our culture worth saving

It’s small – tiny even – but the Garbh Choire Refuge has been a welcome sight for many a climber and walker, even after their joy at reaching it has been tempered by the realisation of how dilapidated it has become.

The Refuge was built in the early 1960s by the Lairig Club from Aberdeen University. One of the main activists was Jerry Light, a noted climber of the time who put up a number of ascents in the area. Its existence, near the mouth of the Garbh Choire, between Coire an Lochan Uaine of Cairn Toul and Coire Bhrochain of Braeriach, did much to ease access problems to this spectacular but remote climbing area, still probably the least developed in the Cairngorms.

However the Refuge was only ever a very basic shelter and its very remoteness meant even minor repairs involved major effort. And with no formal arrangement for maintenance – as exists with most other bothies – the years have taken their toll. The Refuge is no longer weathertight and is pretty dilapidated.

Despite this state of disrepair, the Refuge remains a valued part of the ‘bothy portfolio’ of the Cairngorms. Repairs have always been carried out on a sporadic and ad hoc basis and voices are being raised to help preserve it for the future.

The means and the manpower exist to renovate the structure and to ensure its continued maintenance; the job is to persuade the owners of the Refuge – the National Trust for Scotland, through Mar Lodge Estate – to allow the renovation to take place.

That’s not a straightforward matter, because there are persuasive arguments in favour of demolishing the building.

I’ve created a new page on this site, titled Garbh Choire Refuge, which consists of a paper prepared by myself and fellow MBA and Friends of Bob Scott’s member Kenny Freeman. It gives the background to the Garbh Choire Refuge, makes a case for its retention and renovation, and explains how this can be done and the advantages it will bring.

This paper has been put before a number of organisations seeking support, and I’ll update progress as it happens, but if you’re interested in and care for the Cairngorms or for bothy culture, I’d urge you to have a read through. There are those who are arguing for the removal of the bothy and, if no voices are raised in its defence, it may not be available for future generations of walkers and climbers.

And that’s important because?

I’ll give two brief arguments. The first a memory passed on by noted climber Andy Nisbet:

“I remember a night at Easter 1978 when 3 of us were staying in the bothy in deteriorating weather. As the evening progressed, parties kept arriving in increasing stages of distress until there were 10 in it. When another two arrived at 11pm in a state of near collapse to find every inch of floor space occupied and still asked if there was room yet. The only spot was a puddle on the floor near the entrance. There was no way you could say no.”

Secondly, a matter of culture. The culture of bothies, looked after by volunteers and freely available to all, is a particularly Scottish one and a culture to be hugely proud of. It speaks of a strong sense of community, and of caring for our fellow man whether friend or stranger. Big business and corporate greed have no part to play in bothy culture; there is no profit in a bothy, yet bothy culture thrives. It’s a part of our national character, and one to protect zealously because it’s part of who we are. If we allow bothies to disappear we are losing far more than just a building.

Read about the case for retaining Garbh Choire Refuge here.