Buachallie Etive Beag Summit Camp
The Buachaille Etive Beag path has always intrigued me. Sitting just before the entrance to the Pass of Glencoe making its way up into the hills behind the gorge. However, it has always been too close to home to stop at after the journey from Glasgow, well that has been my excuse! So I decided to take the opportunity of visiting my mother and the promise of a clearish sky to take the tent up and spend the night on the summit of Stob Dubh, the higher of the two peaks of the Buachaille Etive Beag.
I arrived mid afternoon at the car park which was full, but luckily as I pulled in a couple of bikers were just making their way out creating a space for the car, fate always plays a part in my adventures. The sun was out with a few clouds in the sky and a light breeze. Having learned a few lessons from my night on Ben Lomond I had dropped a whole five kilos from my pack. So I kitted up and set off. Once you get into your stride the path up the Wee Buachaille becomes a very well made stair case which retains its steepness pretty much all the way to the saddle between the two Munro peaks. I was very glad of the now cooler and somewhat brisker mountain breeze as I turned up towards the median point. Meeting people on the path are always surprised when you tell them that you are staying the night up on the summit, you can see in their eyes as they think about it perhaps for the first time, some love the idea and others not so much!
I had a look at the summit of Stob Coire Raineach, which was in the cloud, and decided to make my way up anyway and hope that the mist would clear. The path, such as it is, is more of a scree field of small loose rocks making the ascent quite slippy under foot. It is a steep climb but not too far and the prospect of glorious views of Glencoe and Rannoch Moore kept me on track. Unfortunately, upon my arrival the mist did not clear and the now cold and damp wind was not a place I wanted to hang about for too long, so I started my decent. This is where things got a little tricky, the almost non-existent path turned into numerous rain ways and scree slides, along with the mist it made getting back down a bit of a challenge. As luck would have it I had glanced at my compass on my watch before making the ascent and a few breaks in the cloud allowed me to make my way down to the point between the peaks without too much trouble, however it would have been all too easy to bear to the right and come out further down the hill than I had anticipated. Always know where you are going and where you have come from if you want to retrace your steps, paths in the scree are not always reliable and can all too often turn out to not be paths after all.
Time was ticking on, so it was time to make my way up Stob Dubh and find a spot to make camp, a quick look behind me showed that the mist had lifted and the summit of Stob Coire Raineach was now clear, ahh well.. next time maybe! The way forward up my next peak was clearish with wind whipping the mist over the edge of the path. The excitement of setting out towards the climb up Stob Dubh was tempered by the decent of the previous peak and maybe not finding a decent spot to pitch my tent up there, led me to think a little and I found a good place as a back up, just in case.
The wind was not as bad as it had looked and the occasional sunny spells kept the temperature up, there were a few people coming off the summit and they remarked it was misty and quite windy and wished me ‘good luck’ in finding a place for the night. Along the ridge there are a few spots for an uncomfortable camp but none as good as the one I had ear marked for my back up, undeterred I continued on. I was treated to great views of Glen Etive and Stob Corie Sgreamhach between the cloud breaks and the ever present sights of the Buachaille Etive Mor. There is a nice path which traverses Stob Corie Sgreamhach which I need to take a run up some day soon. The ridge it’s self is a good walk with some large boulders and rocks to negotiate, along with the wind, mist and the sheer drops at either sides it made for an exhilarating time. I made it to the summit cairn and began the search, going over the peak to the other side I spotted a patch of grass on a slight slope which was just big enough for my Phoxx. Luckily it was quite flat and a little sheltered from the wind. It took no time to pitch the tent and get the tea on. A feast of Thai Green Curry and chorizo was for dinner with views of Glen Etive during the cloud breaks, what a perfect location and I was all alone.
I set up the tripod in earnest while hoping for some clear skies and jumped into the tent, well, there is no room for jumping in the Phoxx 1 so it was more like a crawl, and settled in for some sleep. I awoke about 1am and popped my head out and was met with heavy mist, it was completely still and quiet. Being alone on the mountain can be quite unnerving and even more so in such conditions. No sound, no wind nothing to see further than about five meters, dark… I zipped up the door and grabbed a packet of Aldi’s finest cashew nuts to give me some thing to take my mind off stupid thoughts such as rampant stags, hungry flesh eating crows and alien encounters, when I noticed the bag was making what seemed to be sparks as I opened it. I moved the nuts around inside and scrunched it about and sure enough it was making little orange florescent lights on the packet. Well if I was not freaked out before, I sure was now. Thinking that this might be a prelude to a lightning strike I nipped out of the tent and did the only sensible thing, which was to make a cup of tea! After calming down and realising that it was only static electricity (I think, try it for yourself and see what you make of it, it does the same thing in a very dark room in the house, just not as intense.) The rest of the night passed without incident with only a few patches of clear sky.
The wind picked up about 5:30am so it was time to think about packing up, after some tea of course. I made my way along the windy ridge passing some sheep on the way, looking a little cold as they had only been recently sheered. The low cloud had denied any sunrise, however I did get a few nice shots, although dust inside my camera made most of them unusable, luckily I used my phone camera as well. On the way down the staircase path I met a few early risers on their way up and a warm sun to welcome me back to the car park. Over all it was a very enjoyable climb and summit camp, it brought home the importance of navigation in the mountains, even ones which have a fair path, being prepared for all weather types and leaving thoughts of close encounters in the car before you set off! I will be back to do Stob Corie Raineach on a sunny day to get those views.
