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GUIDE TO THE RIVER COUPALL (A82 to Etive Confluence) NAME OF RIVER: Coupall. WHERE IS IT?: At the top of Glen Etive. Heading south on the A82 from Glencoe and Fort William, it's the first river you see to the right after leaving Glencoe. Don't confuse it with the River Coe! PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: The River Coupall is the first stream you cross when you go down the turnoff road towards the Middle Etive. The trip can be ended here, or you can carry on into the Etive as far as Triple Falls - recommended. For the put-in, drive up the A8 towards Glencoe until you see a track from the road crossing the Coupall by a bridge. Park in a layby and launch here. Map. APPROX LENGTH: 3 km. TIME NEEDED: 1 hour. ACCESS SITUATION: Unknown. It's out in the sticks! WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: The water level needs to be really high after recent heavy rain. The riverbed should be full. GRADING: 4 (5). MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Yep! GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This section starts flat, just admire the grand scenery as you float under the cliffs of Buchaille Etive Mor. Eventually gradient kicks in, with a long series of steep slides and ledges with a few sticky stoppers. Despite the promising gradient the whole run never really gets out of control and the only surprises are what some of the rock formations do to the line you wanted to take. In full spate, these slides would be out of this world. The river eases a bit, then there is a ten foot drop into a gorge - Grade 5. Consider the centre line, or an awkward sneak down the left. If you don't like it, the river ends 50 metres away at the bridge. Andy McFadden adds (Jan 2000)...'I ran the last drop on the Coupall in Glen Etive last week. The level was up a bit because of all the rain, hail etc. The lead in is a two tier drop, the last of which is likely to backender you. Best run on river left. The pool directly above the 10 foot drop is squirrelly, but provides a chance to regroup after the previous two drops. The river divides around a large boulder in the middle. The river right channel looks fine, but is virtually inaccessible from the pool. The best line is to run just left of the centre boulder. The water drops rather nastily onto a rock directly below, but a good sweep on the right (maybe off the rock) and a jet half way down help to kick over and to the left of the rock. The current below kicks hard against a wall and you need to keep your wits about you to prevent a pin after running the fall.' You can of course continue down the Upper River Etive from the end of the Coupall. This will be thumping bouncy Grade 2-3 if the Coupall is up - a great wind-down. OTHER NOTES: If you have enough water, this is recommended! Afterwards, go do the top Etive. CONTRIBUTED BY: Mark Rainsley, Andy Simes, Ian McFadden, (St. Andrews Uni, idm3@st-andrews.ac.uk) and various others. |
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