Heavy Whalley: A life in Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue

EVENING TALK:

Heavy Whalley, A life in Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue

Wednesday 9th August, Corrie Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Hosted by the Arran Mountain festival. This promises to be an exciting evening.  Heavey is an experienced local mountaineer, who has dedicated his life to the mountains and mountain rescue. He has many adventures to tell both on Arran, and further afield.

If that isn't enough, Kirstie and I will be talking about our Arran 700s challenge, and Arran MRT will be flipping their legendary burgers...

Adults £10, u16 £7. Tickets from Arran Active.  BYOB!

Slovenské Tatry

Lucy: I've just returned from a fantastic week assisting Andy Charlton of Adventure Expeditions: Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition experts. Alongside their excellent UK based journeys, they also provide a number of bespoke European Gold expeditions including an adventurous and frankly, stunning journey through the Tatra mountains of Slovakia.

Initially, we based ourselves on the Polish side of the border in the bustling town of Zakopane for acclimatisation and last minute equipment and food purchases. Once underway, we quickly crossed the border in to Slovakia. The first day we explored the eastern fringes of the White, or Belianske Tatry. With quiet farms and meadows, this was a big contrast to the noisy tourism of the Polish side.

Belianské (White) Tatry

For the following three days, we crossed the White Tatra, and headed deep in to the High Tatra, or Vysoke Tatry, journeying from hut to hut and crossing remote mountain cols. We met a few fellow travellers, and almost as many chamois and marmots. We saw no sign of the reported bears and wolves.

This was was my first time in this wild and exciting mountain range. The nearest comparison I can come up with, is that it is like a huge pumped up Cuillin Ridge, with dark and jagged ridges towering over remote lakes and corries. The terrain is complex and steep, but the paths we used are well maintained, making this a great place for a very special DofE Gold exped.

Vysoké (High) Tatry

Tatra Chamois

Lomnický štít Cable Car

Téryho Chata mountain hut.

A special whisky tasting

Lucy: All quiet on the blog recently but that doesn't reflect daily life here at Arran Wild Walks, both Wally and I have been flat out with freelance work, Duke of Edinburgh's Award expeditions and otter watching trips. Today was a little outside the ordinary however and worth a quick update. 

As part of the annual Arran Malt and Music Festival, I was commissioned, along with Jackie Newman of Arran in Focus,  to lead a walk to a special tasting at Loch Na Davie, which is the source of the water that the world renowned Arran Malt Whisky is distilled from.  The location of the disillery, in the remote village of Lochranza was selected for the special qualities of this water- purity, pH and minerals, as well as being in plentiful supply year round.

This point was not lost on our intrepid explorers who endured wet peat bog and plenty of standing water to achieve their mission: A dram on the shores of the loch where the magic starts.  And what a special dram it was!

Holy Isle: Arran Mountain Festival

Lucy: Today I was volunteering for the Arran Mountain Festival. The festival's strapline is "Small groups, big walks, huge fun" and it certainly delivers. Every year I lead the Holy Isle walk, in partnership with Russell and Elspeth Cheshire from the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST). Whilst our walk isn't the biggest, it has lots of adventure in the form of a trip over to the island in Russell and Elspeth's RIB and the feeling of being marooned, if only for a few hours.

Today the weather was pretty wild, with strong winds, and a bit of mist on the summit of the island (Mullach Mor, 314m). There's a bit of a scramble over the top, spiced up by the crosswind, which the team enjoyed. Once we had descended back to sea level, we took a leisurely stroll back along the coast passsing nesting oystercatchers and curious seals.

Arran 700s- The Go Pro edit

The all talented Kirstie Smith made a wee film about our exploits on the #Arran700s, raising money for mountain rescue on Arran and in Malawi: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Arran700s

Arran 700s

Somewhere in the clag on the Western Hills.

Lucy: What a day, what an amazing, sore, exhausting and ultimately uplifting day.  We were truly blessed with the weather, and with generous helpers who all played their part in getting us through our Arran 700s trek.

Kirstie's partner Mark was up all night on a lifeboat shout, but still managed to drive us to Pirnmill for our dawn start. Kirstie's wee search dog Caileag joined us and we headed for the Western Hills, still swathed in clag from the previous day's weather. The first few summits came thick and fast, ticking off the Beinn Bharrain ridge, serenaded by Golden Plover.  These "peeper squeakers" as we called them accompanied us all the way around the top of Glen Iorsa and up on the the Leac an Tobair of Caisteal Abhail. The mist cleared and it was super exciting to get our first glimpse of the eastern part of the island.

Getting up on to Caisteal Abhail was a monster, and was the point at which I began to doubt myself, but Kirstie kept the banter going and after some food we both felt better.  Cir Mhor was a doddle and we were given an extra bounce by four gentlemen who kindly emptied their wallets in support of the cause.  Things got mentally tougher as we traversed under A'chir, for an out and back to Beinn Nuis via Beinn Tarsuin (so good we climbed it twice). It was a bit grim to pass A'Chir twice and not climb it.  Even wee Caileag started to lose her enthusiasm and it began to rain.

A'Chir Summit

Morale was saved by dropping in to Glen Rosa to meet Mark and Wally. The rain stopped and Caileag had the chance for a nap with Mark while Wally made himself in to a human boulder problem, physically getting us on to the summit block of A'chir. This was the bit that had been daunting both of us thoughout our preparation and with that over, it was as if a weight was lifted from our shoulders.  The four of us and Caileag skipped under Cir Mhor and up to the Saddle to meet Arran MRT Team Leader Alan McNichol, waiting with a huge flask of tea, biscuits, Jelly babies etc. We cooked a bit of scran, and were ready for the last three not insignificant summits. Caileag, bless her, was done in and returned down the Glen with Mark and Alan.

Up, up, up, with help from Wally...

I'd always known that the climb out of the saddle would be hard, but Wally stayed with us and helped to pace us up the ridge. It was great to have his company as we ticked off North Goatfell and Mullach Buidhe (the second summit of this name of the day).  Finally, before we knew it, we were on Goatfell. Absolutely punch drunk but over the moon.

So its a huge thanks to everyone involved, especially our Arran MRT colleagues who were out on a shout late on Saturday night but didn't call us, thereby not jeopardising our attempt.  Of couse we'd have turned out if asked, and postponed the challenge, but they saved us from this fate as well as successfully finding a missing person on a dark, damp night in a remote part of the island.  This is what MRTs do, made up of volunteers who unquestioningly put themselves forward to help those in need. I've met some of the finest people on the planet through MR and if you ever need them, they will do their best to help you. 

We enjoyed the challenge despite the hard graft,  and the biggest thrill is seeing the amount of money we have raised so far for our own Arran and Mulanje MRT in Malawi, a team with very few resources, who not only save lives in the mountains but support vulnerable people in their community,  a place with little or no safety net. 

We both love being part of an MR team, the teamwork and camararderie are a big part of the reason why we do it,  as well as wanting to help those in need in the hills that we love. MR work is expensive, and rightly free in the UK at the point of access. MR teams depend on public donations to do their work.  Thank you for your support (and to Kirstie and Wally for these great pics)! Please keep the cash rolling in. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Arran700s

The Saddle and the Goats

Wally writes: Today I was on the ridge above Glen Rosa with two clients from the Alpine regions of Europe, Beatrice and Elizabeth. Although our mountains are a little smaller than theirs, they punch above their weight and we had a very enjoyable day traversing the highest ridge on Arran.

We approached via the lovely Glen Rosa, and from the Saddle took the steep scrambly ridge up to North Goatfell.  From there it was a steep rocky romp over and around the blocky tors of Stacach and on to the summit of Goatfell.  The sun shone all day! Good luck to Beatrice and Elizabeth who begin their circumnavigation of Arran via the Coastal Way tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will continue to be fine.

Beinn Bharrain

Lucy writes:  I've been working with Jen and Steve for the last couple of days and they have certainly brought some fabulous weather with them. Yesterday we explored Arran's wildlife in a leisurely fashion with the help of a vehicle and a spotting scope... enjoying resident wildlife such as otters and golden eagles, as well as a bit of excitement from some interesting passage migrants including whimbrel and black tailed godwit.

Today we headed for the Western Hills. The morning mist soon cleared and treated us to a stunning traverse of Arran's wildest hills. Thanks to recent dry weather the crossing of the bog to get to the base of the ridge was cristpy rather than squidy, and up high a fresh breeze kept us cool in the blazing sunshine. A magnificent day, and great clients to enjoy it with!

The Three Beinns

Wally writes: Today I went for a walk with Mallory and Sophie, and their trusty humans, Nicola and Russell. We headed up on to the Three Beinns ridge, a high level horseshoe at the quieter end of the Goatfell range.

The conditions were mostly kind to us.  It was a good day to chew the fat, talk about weather and the geology around us, and admire the expansive views. We found some ice and snow on the northern shady side of Beinn Tarsuinn.  At one point a snow shower came up at us from the depths of Coire Daingean, but mostly the sun shone. Thanks all for a great day's work in the hills!

Navigation Coaching

Wally writes: Yesterday afternoon I headed to the southern moors with client David for some navigation coaching to help him prep for his forthcoming Mountain Leader Assessment. It was a beautiful day, with wall to wall sunshine and amazing views of the northern hills, so we planned to navigate past sunset and in to the night to make the most of the featureless terrain.

Setting off from the highest point on the Ross Road, we criss-crossed the plateau, with David leading navigation legs as well as practicing relocation techniques by following me blind on other legs.

After the sun finally set, we enjoyed a bite to eat on A'Cruach, and then David navigated us through the darkness to the highest point on the String Road, where a vehicle was waiting. 

I'd like to wish David the best of luck in his ML assessment!

Summit of A'Chruach.