Easter snow showers ......

In an effort to keep the black dog away which seems to nip at the heels all too often, Shamir Naseem Mohamed (aka Stuart the Sweat Beast Ferguson) and myself are currently planning at least one midweek hill trip each month. We kinda cheated a bit this month and choose Easter Monday. The plan was a good one …high camp under Sgurr Eilde Mhor (up the east end of the Mamores) at NN 224 653 then maybe a moonlight ascent of Eilde Mhor before a good nights sleep then back over Binnein Mor & Na Gruagaichen.

Anyway …

17:30 – Shamir picks me up at Busby and we head north of Balloch (via the Erskine bridge now free of tolls).

19:30 – We stop at the Green Welly for some last minute provisions …it is raining.

19:40 – Heading through the Coe and it is REALLY raining …the wind is up as well.

20:00 – We are in the bar at the Mamore Lodge.

21:00 – We leave the Lodge (the rain is off) and walk 100yds before stopping to put waterproofs on (the rain is back on).

22:30 – The rain has stopped …to be replaced with snow !

23:00 – We are standing in a blizzard, trying to find a spot to get the tent up and get some shelter. The wind is ridiculous. Every so often all you can do is stand with your eyes closed whilst spindrift went everywhere (including up my nose and in my ears). Eventually, we find a spot as sheltered as we will get. Putting the tent up is like fighting one of those Chinese Dragons. Inner up – yipeee. A few minutes later and the outer is over the top as well …a few seconds after that and the outer is well … no longer over the top. Sustained pressure and much swearing later and we have shelter. Ice axes are used to keep the side of the tent taking the brunt of the wind fixed. Both getting too cold for comfort we dive inside the tent, strip off water proofs and get into the sleeping bags. Comfort at last. No sooner had Shamir’s head hit the pillow and all hell broke loose. Judging by the amount of snow driving through the inner mesh, it was obvious …we no longer had the outer tent protecting us. Seconds later, the main centre pole collapsed. First things first …get the warm gear back on quickly, add the waterproofs, keep the sleeping bag dry and then sort out the medium term. It took the best part of 15 minutes to get it all back under sensible control. Once packed (thankfully the outer was still attached to a couple of pegs) – the next decision was do we head of Meanach bothy or the car. Confirmation of the car being closer and we bailed in that direction. Once dropping below the snow line we were able to take stock …the weather if anything was getting worse !

01:30 – Back at the car …phew.

02:00 – Driving south through the Coe singing a selection of Kenny Rodgers and Glen Campbell hits – magic !

04:00 – Tucked up in bed ...wondering if the earlier part of the evening had been a dream !