Ben Starav

Glen Etive is the most breathtaking spot in Scotland, which is why Ali, James, Karen and myself decided to head into the Glen and camp at the bottom of Ben Starav, (1078m) to prepare for the climb to the summit the following morning.

Walking from the car, laiden with two rucksacks each, to our camping spot was ironically one of the toughest part of the journey; although, it was definitely worth all the effort to find such a charming spot hidden from the path. The site was nestled next to River Etive with a view of the surrounding spectacular mountains. Note to self: pack lighter next time!

The tents faced onto the snow peaked top of Stob Coir an Albannaich and to the right (out of shot) Glas Bheinn Mhor and Ben Starav.

Once unpacked, we decided to take a wander down to Loch Etive as a warm up to the following day’s climb. The ground was quite uneven and boggy but was worth it to come across stunning scenery like this one below.

In the middle of nowhere we stumbled across an old thatched cottage which was a former stalker’s cottage, it’s now a bothy and used as a residential base for Venture Scotland. The mist above the chimney looks like smoke from their fire but the cottage was empty .

In the morning, after some bacon rolls and some tea, we set off nice and early through mud and boggy terrain, passing some spectacular waterfalls on the way.

As we climbed higher and higher the rain and mist got thicker and thicker, eventually turning into snow.

The next couple of photos are looking down towards Loch Etive before the weather closed in.

Here are Ali and James laughing before the snow really started to fall.

I was going for the wind swept look here….

Not laughing now!

The snow got deeper and deeper until we finally reached the top. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of us next to the cairn;  it was far too cold and windy to even think about getting our lunch out, nevermind the cameras. We were planning on heading round and bagging the other two summits but because of the weather and time restrictions we reluctantly headed back down the way we came. When we come back to do the other two, hopefully we’ll see the spectacular view that everyone talks about from these mountains!

Karen, Ali and myself nearing the summit (picture taken by James).

This  picture, taken by Karen, makes it look much worse than it actually was (or perhaps I  just had tunnel vision!).  This is James trying to take a picture of the sheer drop to the side of the mountain.

Another one by James, this time on our way down.

The snow cleared again as we came back down to sea level and the sun actually popped out for a short time. Unfortunately, most of this time I had condensation in my lens and couldn’t take many pictures! I managed to get this one though; quite a contrast to the weather we had a couple of hours earlier!

Lastly, a view of all three munros from the road: Stob Coir an Albannaich to the left, Glas Bheinn Mhor in the middle and Ben Starav (the summit in the clouds that you can’t see behind the first peak on the right).

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