Sunday 24 February 2013

Glen Brittle Memorial Hut, Isle of Skye, 22nd - 24th Feb 2013

So this meet we were originally supposed to head to Ling Hut near Torridon, Wester Ross. However, due to a gas leak we were unable to go there, but luckily the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut on Skye was free, so that became our destination! Headed off Friday night as usual and arrived at the hut pretty much exactly at midnight. After unpacking, we all sat and planned our routes for the next day. Most of us decided on Sgùrr Alasdair, the tallest mountain in the Black Cuillin range and on Skye, made up of gabbro and basalt rock.

View across Coire Lagan from the top of the Great Stone Chute
View across Coire Lagan from the top of the Great Stone Chute (Brett Gregory)

Anastasiya, Euan and Stephen decided to try Bruach na Frìthe, so they set off earlier than the rest of us, with Remco and Dorinne dropping them off.

As there were nine of us on our walk, we decided we were very reminiscent of the Fellowship of the Ring, I think we decided Tim was Frodo as he possessed the One Bag of Haribo Rings.

Starting out from GBMH
The Fellowship in action! (Tim Hunter)

We followed the path beside a gorge with views of a beautiful waterfall (Eas Mor):

Ed at 'Rivendell' (Eas Mor)
Ed at "Rivendell" as we named it (Ali Stangoe)

We were starting to see signs of snow here, the ground was slowly looking more frosty, and very soon we were scrambling over snowy and icy rocks to get into the corrie.

Foggy conditions, ascending into Coire Lagan
Still fairly foggy weather conditions at this point! (James Simpkins)

We stopped for a quick lunch after this, as we found a fairly flat point to open up the group shelter. The fellowship very nearly broke here, as we had a long, intense argument about whether the group shelter (or Wendy house) was blue or purple. I think the photograph here shows conclusive proof that Tim was very wrong, and the shelter is obviously blue:

Sheltering at Coire Lagan
Brett and Rachael sitting by the "Purple Wendy House" as it will forever be known (JS)

We had given up hope of any decent weather. At least it wasn't raining, but it was very chilly and foggy the whole time. We carried on walking into the corrie, and came across a very short icy slope. So like any sensible mountaineer, we decided to use it as a slide to reach the bottom, which was very fun! The next slope we faced didn't look quite so fun: a very steep, very imposing, very high slope leading to the Great Stone Chute. So it was crampons on, and up we went...

Looking up the start of the Great Stone Chute in winter
Pretty scary looking! (JS)
Climbing the Great Stone Chute in winter
Not-so-happy climbers. Except for Ali, who is apparently insane? (BG)
Looking back up the Great Stone Chute
The sun eventually arrived! (TH)

Then sun came out while we were ascending the slope and provided us all with brilliant photo opportunities. The entire corrie was sparkling in the sun and just looked stunning.

Looking across Coire Lagan towards the Inaccessible Pinnacle
Looking across Coire Lagan towards the Inaccessible Pinnacle (JS)

About two-thirds of the way up, many people decided they were not comfortable on the terrain we were on, and so decided to turn back. A few of us decided that we could still continue on though, so climbed up until we reached a flattish area just before the start of the steepest section of the Great Stone Chute. There, Brett and Ed decided they wanted to continue to the summit of Sgùrr Alasdair, and Rachael, Alison and I decided to down-climb from there. Slight issue on the way down when Rachael's crampon came off, but crisis was averted easily enough! Crampons back firmly on, we continued our slow (it felt never-ending) down-climb. The sun was nice, but it did get very warm - being in the snow and wanting to take off layers is quite a strange sensation!

View from near the top of Sgùrr Alasdair
View from near the top of Sgùrr Alasdair (BG)
Sgùrr Alasdair summit ridge
Sgùrr Alasdair summit ridge (BG)

Eventually we reached the bottom and began our walk back to the hut. The sun had actually melted the majority of all the snow, leaving us with a very different walk back to what we had done that morning. It was good: left us with a far easier walk for our aching legs! We stayed and watched the sunset for a while, before walking back along the path home.

Sunset from Coire Lagan
Sunset from Coire Lagan (JS)
The moon rising over the Cuillin
Stunning view of the moon rising over the Cuillin (TH)

We got home, and after a delicious meal of chicken fajitas, we played pass the parcel to celebrate Rachael's birthday! After this we played a fairly hilarious game of sardines, which Euan pretty much won by hiding in the coal bunker. This ended up with us all looking like extras from Oliver!:

Joanna and Ana
It's a shame the water wasn't really working that weekend... (photo by Anastasiya Adashkevich)

Whilst we were enjoying our shenanigans at the hut, Ed and Brett made a very fast descent of the Great Stone Chute, then began making their way slowly back home, reaching the hut at about 11pm. Luckily we'd saved them some fajitas, although we did have to fight Stephen off.

Calum, Owen, Anna and Tim had also now arrived, the latter grabbing just a couple of hours sleep before heading off to start an early-morning traverse of the Cuillin ridge. The next day, most people decided to head to the beach for a day in the sun:

Beach at the head of Loch Brittle
Beach at the head of Loch Brittle (TH)
Beach at the head of Loch Brittle
Alison in the sea (TH)
Boots on the beach
Alison's boots (AC)
Beach at the head of Loch Brittle
Paddling by the Cuillin (TH)

Ana, Brett, Ed and I opted to stay in and be vaguely productive, cleaning and coursework wise, before giving into the beautiful weather outside. We wanted to walk to the forest but either forgot or decided to ignore that we needed to walk all the way to the beach to reach the bridge. Instead after a few unsuccessful attempts to cross the river (mostly by me, because it doesn't take much to get me to jump in a river), we explored the gorse bushes at the riverside and spent our afternoon posing for photos and climbing trees.

Ali and Ana
Ali and Ana (AA)
Brett
Brett (AA)
Ed
Ed (AA)

James decided to go check out a waterfall he had found on the map, so he could take some nice photos:

Icicles, stream near River Brittle
Icicles hanging around a stream near River Brittle (JS)
Waterfall near where Allt a' Choire Ghreadaidh meets the River Brittle
Waterfall near where Allt a' Choire Ghreadaidh meets the River Brittle (JS)

After everyone returned to the hut, we began the tidy-up. During which, Ed and I invented the rather fantastic game of "Bottleballoon" (in which I came out victorious. Commiserations, Ed. Good game.)

Bottleballoon in the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut: Ed vs. Ali
Bottleballoon in the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut: Ed vs. Ali (JS)
A tense game: Bottleballoon in the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut
A tense game (JS)

All in all, it was an absolutely brilliant trip - a great substitute for the Torridon trip for sure! Everyone enjoyed themselves, and I'm sure everyone will be hoping to return soon (in fact, two of us did, but that's a different blog post to come.)

The cosy fireplace at the GBMH
The cosy fireplace at the GBMH. Greatly appreciated by all! (JS)
The Glen Brittle Memorial Hut, Isle of Skye
The Glen Brittle Memorial Hut, Isle of Skye (JS)
Report: Ali Stangoe, Photos: Anastasiya Adashkevich (AA), Alison Craig (AC), Brett Gregory (BG), Tim Hunter (TH), James Simpkins (JS), Ali Stangoe (AS)

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