After a very relaxed start, Louise and I arrived in the viewpoint car park in the heart of Glen Coe. It was mid October and the clouds sat low and threatening. Even though it was only 10.30am, the light seemed to already be fading as the rain switched from drizzle to torrential and back again.
We shouldered our packs and set off, up the valley between the Three Sisters. Louise had found a trip report of a route heading up the valley, gaining the ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan before traversing to Bidean nam Bian, followed by a relaxing looking decent into the lost valley and back to the car. This loop looked amazing, but we’d both neglected the importance of good visibility and thought we’d be fine with a bad quality printout of the route.
As we ascended the well-trodden path, it was clear there was a lot more rain than usual. The sides of the valley looked alive, with every cut and face flowing with plenty of rain. We began approaching the base of the clouds just as the path reached the plateau of the corrie bowl and disappeared. We were faced with a marshy, pathless area. If we could have seen to the west, where the ridge emerges from, we would have been fine. But with the cloud now so thick, we could hardly see five meters in front of ourselves.
Consulting our waterlogged A4 route map, we decided to walk directly west in the hope we’d meet up with some sort of ridge path. It was slow work but sure enough we ended up on the start of nan Lochan’s ridge. Turns out the corrie had been sheltering us quite well from the true mountain weather. The wind was enough to push you over, steal all your heat and sap any hope. We were not prepared for this at all. The rocky spine was difficult to walk on without tripping and the corrie face fell away into the cloudy abyss. Neither of us had gloves; I don’t think I even had a jumper. We were soaked through, tired, already loosing light, mapless, and not even a third of the way into our walk.
So we turned back.
We were both very uncomfortable with the situation we were in, so thankfully there was no awkwardness in us both wanting to turn back. We got back into shelter, found the path into the valley, and before we knew it we were back at the car.
Both feeling a bit defeated, we decided to head up Glen Etive to take some photos of the deer, and then back to Balloch for food.
Every walk I’d done before this had always followed a clear cut path or had perfect visibility. But this walk changed how I prepare for a day in the hills. We had been pretty reckless on this one, and I’m very glad we decided to turn back. It’s been over 2 years since then and I still think about it when heading out. These days, I follow certain steps to try and avoid having another day like this:
- Always study the route before leaving
- Carry a proper map and compass
- Spare jumper and gloves are kept in a rucksack
- Weather reports are good to look at, but in Scotland be prepared for any and all weather in the hills .
Basically, don’t be an idiot. Being underprepared is how people get lost, injured, or die. We were very lucky that day.
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