Jaountainmins Club Journal

THE SCOTTISH jaountainmins Club Journal. Vol. XIV. F ebruary 1917. No. 82. ‘OUT OF TtfE GOLDEN REMOTE WILD WEST.’ OO B y R e v . A. R o n a l h 'G . B u r n , B.A. ■“ Out of the golden remote wild west where the sea without shore is, Full of the sunset, and sad, if at all, with the fulness of joy, As a wind sets in with the autumn that blows from the region of stories, Blows with a perfume of songs and of memories beloved from a boy, Blows from the capes of the past oversea to the bays of the present, Filled as with shadow of sound with the pulse of invisible feet, Far out to the shallows and straits of the future, by rough ways or pleasant, Is it thither the wind’s wings beat ? is it hither to me, O my sweet ? ” — “ Hesperia,” init. T h e s e words, put into the mouth of her lover who evokes the “ bountiful infinite west’’ and all her pleasant memories, seemed to a devoted Swinburnian a not un suitable prefix to an attempt to sum up and convey to others some recollections “ as a ghost rearisen ” of remote far-flung rugged peaks stretching down to Quiet sea-lochs ringed round with their characteristic yellow tangle, and all dominated by the “ slow passionate pulse of the sea,” in that (alas) so little known western land with its view stretching to the “ happy memorial places Full of the stately repose and the lordly delight of the dead, W here the fortunate islands are lit with the light of ineffable faces, And the sound of a sea without wind is about them, and sunset is r e d ." LXXXII. A 156 The Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. W E S T E R R o s s and Inverness! How the memory thrills at the very mention of the magic phrase, bringing back recollections of “ corrie and fell where the eagles dwell," and of kindnesses unceasingly given by shepherds and keepers to one who came a stranger albeit a fellow High lander and Gaelic enthusiast. Indeed were there nothing else to write about, this continuous chain of hospitality linking the first day of a month’s holiday to the last in unbroken sequence, and enabling one to leave frien d s and not mere acquaintances behind as each district was explored, such unbounded generosity deserves all possible acknowledgment due to a debt that can never be fully repaid. But as the districts explored were undertaken largely for the sake of the “ Guide Book,” and are to a great extent unknown to members, it becomes a public duty to try to piece together what little information one can about hills ascended in a somewhat constant round of mist and rain. So this article will perforce consist of disiecta membra, days here and there selected on account of their greater interest, an interest solely due to more timely breaks in the mist, and not to any one hill being inferior to another. For like beer, there are hills and there are good hills, but there are no bad hills! The total number of tops climbed was sixty-seven in twenty-five week-days (net), and all but two were members of the Club clan. O f course no off-days were taken, and none needed or desired. The (ra/3/3aTioyids was not considered an off-day.) Sgurr Thuilm (3,164 feet) was my objective on 21st June 1916, having the day before inaugurated my holiday by conquering its western neighbour Sgurr nan Coireachan * (3>133 feet), in much rain. This hill used to be spelt Choileam (so “ Guide Book,” and Index has no cross reference), but such a monstrosity has now disappeared from the maps. Who ‘ Tulm ’ was seems to be as un known as the TorQuil of Coire Torcuill, S. of the main * This hill is glossed as ‘The scaur of the steep places’ in V III. 200, but for such there seems no lexicographical authority. The word coireachan is simply gen. pi. of coire, a cauldron, hence ‘ corrie,’ Welsh pair, Cor. and Br. per, *Qerjo, N. hverr (kettle), A.S. hwer, Sk. caru, Gr. Wpros (MacBain). Hence Quern (??) (self). ‘ Out of the Golden Remote Wild West.' IS 7 peak of Sgurr nan Ceathramhnan. Sgurr Thuilm lies south of Glen Pean [pronounced payn], and S.W. of Loch Arkaig, N.N.E. of Glenfinnan station. A wooden bridge crosses the Pean just E. of the confluence of the Allt a’ Chaorruinn, and a fitful path continues up the south bank to a bridge near the mouth of the Allt a’ Choire Dubh, but is quite a respectable track from the bridge eastwards to Kinlocharkaig. Peat haggs, however, are one’s only method of gaining the path up Gleann a' Chaorruinn, which, like the other paths here mentioned, is unknown to Bartholomew, and which also is a high road to Kinlocharkaig. In the ^len, however, it is somewhat indistinct where most needed. The river to be ascended is more noteworthy for its fringe of birches than its eponymous rowans, though the name was doubtless given in order to distinguish it from the stream down Coire a’ Bheithe of Sghrr nan Coireachan. The glen is lovely at this part, and the bracken with its red-brown roots must be seen to be appreciated. The ridge to be attacked was very conspicuous from nearer Loch Arkaig, for it came down second from the furthest end of the hill. Once near it, however, it seemed lost in a mass of eQually long flanks. The brae was steep (or was this merely the effects of a sleepless journey from Chichester two nights before?). However that may be, the cairn was reached after four and a half hours’ easy going. Here I saw a brown bird, smaller than a blackbird, whose note somewhat resembled the twanging of a bit of membrane or elastic, only more liquid. The mist was now thick, but not wet. After a while it cleared somewhat, so I waited hoping to glean some informa tion for the “ Guide Book.” When the Streap * appeared it showed to great advantage, the N. side being excessively steep and fully deserving its appellation: (the) climb. It is, I should think, quite as sheer as Beinn na Muich Dhuibhe from the Pools of Dee, but minus the boulders. But (though drawn indeed from a different angle,) I thought at the time that the sketch in Vol. I. was perhaps just a * Pronounced strthp or rather J|rr"into, the vowel being drawled a little. 158 The Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. wee bit fanciful, as the hill is more of a wide face than a peaked ridge. Its cairn is easily seen from Sgurr Thuilm. When Sgurr nan Coireachan appeared, it revealed a long bumpy ridge connecting it to Sgurr Thuilm. The cairn lies well back on this hill, to the left of the Finnan’s sources, and in a thick mist the E. peak might easily seem the highest point.* Gulvain was next to clear, and hardly seemed to merit the meaning given to it by a man I had met in the train : wild,—but perhaps this referred to its remoteness. From here one of the most conspicuous hills is Sgurr Dhomhnuillj- of Ardgour. This shapely cone, showing out well from Sgdr na Ciche, Ladhar Bheinn, Saddle, Aonach air Chrith and in fact all over N.W. Inverness and Wester Ross, does not deserve the neglect accorded to so many fine peaks under standard height. It may be searched for in vain in the Index, and all the notice as yet given to it is comprised in some three (enthusiastic) pages (X II. 154 sqq.). Yet even if not a Munro it looks one, and its steep contour makes one wonder if there cannot be some climbing. And if visibility from a number of points eQually ensures visibility o f a number of points, then for view alone this hill should be given a niche in the new revision of the S.M.C. Pantheon. (The same may be said of the eQually ignored Ben Tee (2,956 feet) in Glengarry forest.) Descending by the Coire Chaiseil burn in a fine sunset, I lay down when below the level of Meall an Fhir Eoin [pron. fieren = eagle] to enjoy the view of Sgurr Thuilm which now fully justified its name, the peak standing up tall and handsome. From where I was, E. of the summit of the meall and with its connecting ridge out of sight, the hill looked very fine, a solitary dome studded with rock at the top. J Yet very little of it would yield pitches. * The cairn vouchsafed to Sgurr Thuilm is a very miserable affair and seems to lie a few yards from the highest point. 1 have noticed this to be a rather common trait among cairns. t ‘ Donald’s peak’ is misspelt in Bartholomew who gives it as D h o m h a il. I The boulders on this hill, all over it and along the path up Glen Finnan are very deeply scored and contorted with lines twisting in all directions. The number of garnets to be found is not, as Comer says M a y K}oO. A. E. Robettson. GLEN DESSAKKY, ‘ Out of the Golden Remote Wild West.’ 159 (This remark from my diary is confirmed by V III. 134.) The return was made along the Pean, here wonderfully clear and still, with beautifully coloured weeds.

Load more