By Steven Johnson
In Glen Etive there are two huts, one at the end of the glen near Loch Etive called the Smiddy and another higher up the glen called Inbhirfhaolain. The Smiddy was in the club calendar for October, and once the call for attendees had been made it had become well over subscribed. An insightful member of the club noticed the Inbhirfhaolain was available, so it became an overspill for the meet attendees.
On Friday evening everyone gathered in the Smiddy to discuss plans for the following day, a bit of a squeeze to fit everyone in but somehow, we managed. It gave us the opportunity to celebrate Matty’s birthday with a cake expertly baked by Katie. The usual groups of walkers and climbers were formed ready for the exciting prospect of excellent weather the next day.
Seven folks headed to the nearby Trilleachan Slabs. The pairings of Baptise and Aurelie, Vicky and Christabel had a mostly successful day on Spartian Slab (VS 4c) but had to bail at the final pitch as it was too wet to climb on the smooth slab. The group of Stefan, Andy and Matty climbed Pause (E1 5b) by starting the first pitch of Spartan slab and finding a way to go back on route to avoid the wet.
The pairing of Flo and Cammy took a trip over the Corran ferry to attempt Butterknife on Garbh Bheinn. They took the long journey over to Adgour and began their approach to the climb. After 45 minutes of steep accent, they stopped for a break and Cammy realised his helmet was still in the car. With the additional time and effort needed to fetch the helmet, they decided instead to return to Glen Coe to climb Clachaig Gully. This was decidedly wet, with at one point Cammy was climbing a waterfall and water was flowing out of his trouser leg. After some attempted heather pulling to get around this obstacle, they gave up and took the sensible decision to head to the Clachaig for a drink.
For the hill walkers Christine, Ruth and Chris did the round of Stob Coir an Albannaich and Meall nan Eun from Glen Etive. The solo walker of Forbes clambered up Ben Starav. Lorna, after waking up once everyone else had left the hut, did a low-level walk around the Lochan trails near Glencoe village. The big group of Katie, Laura, Steven, Rebecca, Richard, Davide and Job went for Sron an Creise, a long scramble up the face of the hill and round to Meall a Bhuiridh. They chose to start the route from the top of Glen Etive, which means you avoid the ski centre, however, it does require a river-crossing going out and coming back, resulting in not everyone keeping dry feet or, in one case, underwear.
The Saturday evening everyone headed to Inbhirfhaolain for a group dinner, expertly prepared by Katie and her assistants, of chicken and haloumi orzo and a broccolli version for the veggies. Pudding was a pear and chocolate puddy brought by Ruth. The evening descended into music performed by Laura, Katie and Andy on stringed instruments and leading the singing. The usual swapping of stories day kept most people busy until the early hours.
Sunday was wet and dreary, and most people went for food somewhere before heading back home. A few brave souls took a dip to freshen up from the heavy night before. The exception being a singular unnamed mad Corbett bagger insistent on going up Beinn Trilleachan in the wet and wind.
