The Smiddy, Dundonnell – 14th-15th July 2023 | 45 Degrees Mountaineering Club

Intro

Another month, another classic hut! The Smiddy, a JMCS hut, is a gem of a place down near the mouth of Little Loch Broom, just as you enter Dundonnell from the East. A few members had stayed here previously with Fraz’s 2003 entry in the book possibly the earliest of those.

The hut is compact and bijou, a large single room with a well kitted-out kitchen, open-plan dining/seating area and a very decent fire. No space for a drying room or shower, but there’s a toilet and just enough space for 10 folk sleeping in two tiers of alpine style bunks (more of which later!).

Members Attending

Jim Aire; Angus Campbell; Raymond Evenden; James Duncan Fraser; George Henderson; Susan Henderson; Norrie Shand; Lorn Smith; Gerry Weir; & Mike Winton.

Apologies

Wallace Booth.

Friday

The best day of the weekend weather-wise was looking likely to be Friday beforehand and only George & Susan; Raymond & Fraz; and Angus were in a position to take get out among the hills.

George & Susan drove part of the way North on Thursday night before parking up in their van and completing their journey on Friday morning, when they headed for the Southern Fannichs, tackling four of them to take them over halfway on their fourth round of the Munros. Contrary to forecast, lots of navigation was required as the cloud base stayed low.

Angus meantime, temporarily freed from the shackles of the car-sick kid, was able to travel North early on Friday, with enough time left to tackle a couple of the Western Fannichs, Sgurr Breac and A’ Chailleach from Loch a’ Bhraoin. The compass was out a fair bit here too.

Similarly, Raymond and Fraz had headed North on Thursday afternoon and spent an extra night at the hut, before walking right from the door on to An Teallach, to get their weekend off to a great start, with a similar story on the tops, not much farther North.

*Fraz nearing the summit trig on Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill – Raymond Evenden*

*Fraz astride Sgurr Fiona – Raymond Evenden*

Mike W and Norrie headed directly for the hut, as did Jim, Lorn and Gerry, arriving just as Fraz and Raymond returned from An Teallach.

SATURDAY

Following a good evening, there was some overnight drama when Jim took a tumble from his bunk in the dark, while getting up to answer a call of nature. Luckily Angus was “on call” to tend to a nasty cut on Jim’s ear, there wasn’t much sleep to be had after that, unless you’re Norrie or Raymond, both of whom managed to sleep through the commotion! Temporarily patched-up, Jim was all for the hills in the morning and it took some, not so gentle, encouragement to persuade him to get his ear checked out, with Fraz and Raymond volunteering to accompany him. So, no hills for the guys today and thankfully all was well but for a few stitches and some bruising.

*New signage for the bunks for a “climber-down situation” at The Smiddy! – Anon*

*The only climbing for Jim, Fraz & Raymond today, were the stairs in here! – Anon*

Saturday was a day of two halves weather wise. The forecast was pretty grim so, most started out in pleasant conditions, with little confidence of it lasting and fully expecting it to change quickly.

Norrie tackled the Corbett of Sail Mhor from Ardessie, something of a last hurrah for his ankle before going under the knife himself. A pleasant stroll up past the falls, a relatively easy river crossing then up to summit with fantastic views in all directions. He descended from the summit, passing some other old goats on the way – and then BANG! Deep black skies, torrential rain, thunder, lightning and the burns and rivers in serious spate, forcing a detour to return safely to the road.

*Mountain goats on Sail Mhor – Norrie Shand*

*Ardessie Falls, a spectacular sight in spate – Norrie Shand*

Gerry set out to follow in Fraz and Raymond’s footsteps of the previous day and enjoyed fine conditions all the way to the first Munro of the day, Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill.

*An Teallach’s Sgurr Fiona & the Corrag Bhuidhe pinnacles (from Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill) – Gerry Weir*

The forecast thunderstorms then rolled in and as Gerry reached Sgurr Fiona, his second Munro of the day, the skies darkened, the heavens opened and the forecast thunderstorm hit with the same vengeance Norrie was soon to be experiencing on neighbouring Sail Mhor.

*Weather closing-in on Sgurr Fiona (& Gerry!) – Gerry Weir*

Now, we all know of Gerry’s fondness for inclement weather days on the hill and he’s been in storms up high before, but never inside the cloud that’s causing it, nor on the highest point around at the time. The thunder was all around him and the sky flashing white overhead, as the lightning hit the ground…suffice to say Gerry was questioning his life choices and didn’t hang around. Having safely negotiated his way off the summit, Gerry gathered himself and realised he was on the wrong side of the hill. It felt to him like something from an Indiana Jones movie as boulders rolled down the hill, pushed by the torrents of water descending around him, nearly taking him with them. He got his bearings and followed a careful descent, skirting round hill to avoid the still cloudy tops, making for slow going, but safely down and back out to the hut.

Angus and Lorn had taken note of the damp outlook for Saturday and the prospect of thunder and lightning, but headed out anyway in the hope it wouldn’t come to pass. Their group shorn to two, following a stormy and restless night, they changed their original plan to the standard route for the Beinn Dearg hills (anti-clockwise) just South of Ullapool. It remained dry and warm on the walk in up the glen, with the tops shrouded in cloud, which soon lifted, brightening-up nicely. Some 5km up the track, they switched to a clockwise approach, after a couple descending said they’d been unable to get across the river further up, due to the heavy overnight rain. Soon reaching the lochan beneath Eididh nan Clach Geala, they grabbed a bite to eat there, before topping-out under blue skies & incredible views North to the Assynt hills and West over An Teallach (all also clear at this point). They headed over to Meall nan Ceapraichean taking in, more by luck than design, the Munro Top of Ceann Garbh on route. The skies beyond Cona Meall and Beinn Dearg looked ominously black now, so waterproofs were donned and on they continued. The thunder and rain rolled in quickly from the South, rumbling away to either side of them, accompanied by light rain, all the way on to Cona Meall and, on approach to the summit, a few loud cracks directly overhead quickened the pace and forced a sharp about turn at the summit. They descended quickly back the way we’d came before veering off towards Beinn Dearg. The sun came out again here and they took on more food before heading up by the wall and, just as they contemplated another clear summit, the clag rolled in again, this time from the North! No views on top of Beinn Dearg so they wasted no time at the summit and headed back down (seeing their only flash of lightning of the day, over Ullapool way). They were soon back in t-shirts for the long walk-out, interspersed with the odd light shower. As hoped with the directional change, the waters had subsided sufficiently to allow them to ford the burns without difficulty on the descent.

*Zoomed view North to the Assynt hills – Lorn Smith*

*Beautifully sunny & warm all the way up on to Eididh nan Clach Geala – Lorn Smith*

*Dark, moody skies fast approaching Cona Mheall (l) & Beinn Dearg (r) – Lorn Smith*

*After the storm, Meall nan Ceapraichean (from Beinn Dearg) – Lorn Smith*

Mike Winton had earlier headed for the same Inverlael start point, however his target was the distant Seana Bhraigh where he enjoyed a similarly warm and bright first half of his day which, having used the bike for the start and finish, enabled him to bag Seana Bhraigh before the worst of the weather closed-in.

*Up out of the forest (& bike stowed) – Mike Winton*

*(It’s a long way to) Seana Bhraigh… before the storm – Mike Winton*

George and Susan opted for an easier day and scaled the Marilyn, Beinn nam Ban, which can be seen from the kitchen window of The Smiddy, on the other side of Little Loch Broom.

They all regrouped back at The Smiddy for the usual night of good-natured craic, song and rehydration, where George had the old blacksmith’s fire roaring as usual.

*11.15pm Gerry still going strong (Beinn nam Ban out the kitchen window!) – James Duncan Fraser*

Sunday

Sunday’s forecast was poorer still and almost everyone headed for home, once the hut had been restored, with Lorn travelling back with Angus to free up a seat in the front of Gerry’s van…for Jimmy’s lug! All joking aside, we were all mightily glad that all was well with Jim on what was an otherwise excellent weekend.

*A more than worthy footnote to this weekend, was that George and Susan drove North, rather than South, taking the ferry to the Outer Hebrides to complete their very impressive SECOND round of the Corbetts on Clisham (An Cliseam), with the minimum of fuss! Yet another incredible feat from these two, to add to all the rest. Huge congratulations from everyone at the club and it’s on to the next challenge for the dynamic duo, whatever that may be.