BEN EICH (2302')

Sunday 18th November                   Beinn Eich (2302’)

Leaders:  Chris Foster and Glip

Scouts: Colin Roach (Shrew) and Graham Bolster (Rivet)

Weather: Showers and sunny periods. Strong wind from the north to north-west. Cold but not too cold.

Note: Beinn Eich was pronounced Ben Yuck by the group, although it wasn’t really that yucky.

Report

This climb was originally planned as a sledging expedition since a lot of snow had fallen the week previously. Unfortunately, it rained on Saturday and so very little snow remained. We decided to take Shrew’s sledge in any case. The climb was very important in another sense since Graham Bolster would reach Double Everest if he succeeded.

We left headquarters at 8:30 AM. The Scouts went in Chris’s car, while Glip drove the group minibus. The bus was left in Luss, then we drove up in the car to Edentaggart and parked in the small lay by, in which we had parked earlier in the year (the Ardgarten camp).

Rivet decided to navigate and did quite well. However, he kept getting his clothing and rucksack in a tangle which kind of slowed us up.  At last, we reached the top. It was very windy and there were some deep snow patches about. Too soft for sledging though. We descended a bit for lunch in some shelter. The rest of the descent was very interesting. There was a fierce snowball fight where Chris and Glip ended up sliding 20 feet or so down a very steep slope. Chris went down headfirst on his back, which was very daring. We found that the sledge, a plastic tray type, went extremely well down grass slopes, bracken fields and, when Chris went, streams. We all decided that grass sledging had a great future.

Once we were down, we collected the minibus and drove to Ardentinny where we picked up some young scouts who were on a Try a Badge course.

Rivet, therefore, reached Double Everest and was the first and possibly the only Scout to do so. This was a tremendous effort and our congratulations must be showered forth upon him. Well done Rivet!