Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal Volume 5 Number 4

Ascent of Ben Starav from Glen Coe

by William Garden

In Volume II. of the Journal we have an interesting account by Mr Dewar of an ascent of Ben Starav from Dalmally, and in the same volume we have also a note of an ascent from Inveroran via Glen Kinglass.

I now propose to give a short account of an ascent from "the other side," viz., Glen Coe. Mr Duncan, Dr Crombie, and myself, having had a week's climbing in Glen Coe, during which we had been so much impressed with the majestic peak of Starav, and his neighbour Stob-Coire-an-Albannaich - so well seen from the top of Bidean - that we decided to devote the last climbing day at our disposal of a month's holiday in the Highlands, to explore one of the principal peaks of the interesting group familiarly known as the Black Mount Forest.

We had considerable doubt as to the most suitable route for arriving at the foot of the Ben from Glen Coe, as none of them seemed to offer special facilities. After some discussion, however, we decided to make the traverse into Glen Etive by the small pass which lies between Beinn Maol Chalium and Meall a' Bhuiridh. This pass is just below 2,000 feet at its highest point; and we afterwards learned that it had been used in the early part of this century as a drove-road, but from the nature of the ground this seems hardly credible. This route, although it involved a considerable amount of extra climbing, afterwards proved to be the most direct. Accordingly, on Monday, the 12th September last, we made a start from Clachaig Inn at 6.10 A.M. We crossed the small wooden bridge, immediately to the south of the hotel, and walked in a south-westerly direction, keeping the base of An-t-Sron (a spur of Bidean-nam-Bian) on our left. We followed to its source a tributary of the Coe which comes down the valley between Bidean and Aonach Dubh a' Ghlinne. This stream runs in a very rugged bed, and gives, clear proof of being at times a roaring mountain torrent, throwing its debris in all directions.

[page 189]

We crossed it, immediately above its junction with the stream which comes down Glen Leac na Muidhe, and followed the march fence which runs almost in a straight line to the top of the bealach we were making for. The going was bad and, in certain parts, the incline is distinctly steep. After an hour and a half or so of pulling up this glen, we reached the summit of the pass, and walking round the foot of a rocky eminence on the left, we crossed over into the watershed of the Allt Charnan.

The view which now met us was indeed one of unusual grandeur. In the foreground, lay the broad valley of Glen Etive with its river flowing on, like a silver thread, towards the sea; and for a background towered the huge masses of Stob Coire an Albannaich on the left, and Ben Starav on the right, their rocky surfaces both glistening in the bright morning sun, who unfortunately was soon about to hide himself for the remainder of the day. After hurriedly glancing at the view, we descended rapidly for 300 or 400 feet, and crossing the Allt Charnan, we followed it down on the right-hand side to Invercharnan (a small shooting lodge), which we reached about 8.40 A.M. We found the last mile or so before we reached Invercharnan a fairly heavy piece of work, the rains of the previous fortnight having converted the glen into an absolute swamp. Here and there, however, we could see what seemed to be unmistakable signs of what had been the old drove-road, but these are fast disappearing. After leaving Invercharnan we struck the road immediately opposite the small school-house, and, after having spent some time in looking for the foot-bridge over the Etive, we crossed it about a quarter of a mile on the left-hand side of Coileitir, the gamekeeper's house. We then made our way through some birch trees and thick bracken, keeping along the side of Ben Carrick until we came to the Allt Mheuran, a large stream which we crossed a little below its junction with a tributary flowing from the northern corrie of Ben Starav. We were now in a position to decide upon the best route for the ascent, and, for the information of our members, I may explain that Ben Starav may be best described to be a long saddle running from north to south, and having a large and well-defined corrie on its northern face. We were now, then, at the foot of this corrie, and by turning up to the right we gained the top of the long saddle.

[page 190]

After a few minutes' halt for a second breakfast, we continued along the saddle, but the morning, which up till now had been bright and clear, had changed, and clouds rolled up on all sides, enveloping the upper flanks of the mountain in dense mist. We continued along the saddle, which became more and more a well-defined ridge, and made a steady ascent, although the mist was getting so thick that we could not exactly tell what was before us. Every now and then we passed the top of a fine gully, which reminded us very much of those we saw on the south side of Stob Coire an Lochan of Bidean nam Bian, and the ridge became more and more rugged as we ascended. For the better part of an hour we followed this ridge, and I must say it was a deceptive one, but at last we reached what was undoubtedly the cairn at 12.10, after twenty minutes' stiff going against a biting cold wind with heavy sleet and rain.

The cold was so intense and we were so wet that a few minutes' halt at the cairn was quite enough for us; and, as there seemed to be no signs of the weather improving, we retired by the same route as we had come up. When about half-way down, however, the mist occasionally lifted, and we had one or two wonderful glimpses of the Buchaille Etives and the other hills in that district, which proved to us that Ben Starav is probably one of the best view-points for these mountains, as nothing comes between to exclude them. Glen Etive looked particularly grand, backed up by the rugged Bidean, which looked his best. We were glad, however, that we decided not to make the circuit by Stob-Coire-an-Albannaich (the original plan), as we would probably have had some difficulty in making out our way in the mist, but the saddle between Starav and Glas Bheinn Mhor seemed to us a fairly simple one, and there is not much of a "drop" between Glas Bheinn Mhor and Stob-Coire-an-Albannaich. I would therefore recommend this variation of the route to any one going to Ben Starav from Glen Coe.

[page 191]

After running down the hillside at a good speed to get up the circulation, we again reached the Allt Mheuran at a point about a mile below where we had crossed it in the morning. We halted, and had lunch by the burn-side, which is exceedingly beautiful here, and all the more so being in heavy flood. We were much impressed with the wildness of the scenery, the country being quite new to us. We reached the bealach on the Glen Coe side about 4 o'clock, and Clachaig shortly after 5 P.M. From the top of the pass it simply poured, and, by the time we reached Clachaig, we were in a wretched condition, what with rain and plunging every now and then well up to the knees in the bogs. Mr Gourlay, who always proves a kindly host, and has a keen sense of humour, was at the door to meet us, and after some considerable persuasion, he was inclined to admit that we had reached the top. We had no doubt about the matter whatever!

I can with safety recommend the attention of members to Ben Starav. Apart from his own particular beauties, and those of the surrounding country, there are undoubtedly some very good scrambles to be had on the rocks in the great northern corrie, in which we saw one or two chimneys which would have delighted the hearts of some of our members, and more particularly those for whom "church doors" and such-like "places of worship" have special attractions.