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5th March 2010 - Raeburn Hut, Laggan Much of the snow from 2 weeks ago (the Balgowan meet) had melted, and there was a forecast of a further serious thaw. So some intrepid climbers decided to risk a trip to the far north, to try and catch a route on Beinn Bhan, before it was gone. Colin, Rab, Gav & Ken therefore drove up to the Kinlochewe Bunkhouse on Friday night. They awoke to drizzly rain, not a good sign. The other folk in the bunkhouse had been up from England all week, and were not happy. They'd hardly got anything done due to poor & warm weather. Undeterred, we set off under heavy skies for Beinn Bhan, to at least have a look. As we approached the hill, the clouds cleared a little & we decided it was worth walking up to the climb. Beinn Bhan is a big hill, and the approach took a couple of hours, during which it started raining again. The streams were raging with snow melt, huge blocks of ice were falling off the sunny side of the coire, other parties had turned back. Again, not good signs. But as usual, no-one wanted to be the first to suggest retreat. So we headed for March Hares Gully, an impressive 1000ft cleft on the shady side of the coire. At the foot of the climb, the snow was OKish, and the ice looked climbable, although it was melting so wouldn't be there for long. Rab headed off first. Unfortunately, the best ice and the first bit of gear was basically under a waterfall. He spent a while placing the gear & climbing through, ending up soaked to the skin. Colin followed, spent a while removing the gear & got soaked to the skin. Gav was next ... got soaked. Then it was my turn. It'll be a while before I forget the icy water running down the inside of my jacket, then soaking my pants, then running down the inside of my waterproof trousers and finally filling up my boots. Completely soaked to the skin, with ice cold water, in the first 5 metres of a 300 metre climb. Excellent stuff. The rest of the climb was a mixture of poor, melting ice, unconvincing protection and dodgy plods up big snow bays. I feel sure the guidebooks must have a suitable word, "engrossing" or "challenging" maybe. Anyway, it was certainly a relief to get to the top. Colin & Rab continued to the top of the hill. Gav & Ken headed straight back to the car. And then all drove back to the Raeburn Hut for a well deserved sleep. Meantime, Lorna had shared the hut with the Cumnock MC, professional drinkers to a man. She had been out on her nordic skis. On Sunday, the climbers all went home, that was more than enough excitement for one weekend. Lorna went out skiing again, the number of falls is unrecorderd. KM Click here for the pictures |
