This 3-day excursion followed on directly from Matt’s
Atholl trip and involved some interesting logistics and remote hills. It was a trip that needed doing before the
days got much shorter with the onset of winter.
Stob Ghabhar
& Stob a’ Choire Odhair
Stob Ghabhar From Near Forest Lodge
Starting from the walker’s car park ½ Km short of Forest Lodge on the old road out of
Bridge of Orchy, we crossed Victoria Bridge and headed W alongside the Abhainn
Shira. We saw our cloud-enshrouded hills
soon after leaving the pinewoods and followed the track to the world’s smallest
climbing hut before turning N and taking the stalker’s path up into the higher
ground.
Stob a’ Choire Odhair
Crossing a burn at about 450m, we climbed its W bank
up a broad ridge on an excellent stalker’s path that lead, in time, into cloud past
a family of ptarmigan and on to our first summit of the day: Stob a’ Choire
Odhair (945m; peak of the dun-coloured
corrie). On a clear day this summit
gives expansive views across Rannoch Moor to the E and closer to hand, the
peaks of the Blackmount to the N. But alas,
not today!
Aonach Eagach & Stob Ghabhar
Descending the mountain’s W ridge (on a compass
bearing), we soon emerged from the cloud and continued to the intervening
bealach at the head of Coire Toaig.
Continuing W a short way, the path then turns S and climbs steep slopes
to the rocky ridge of Aonach Eagach, emerging by a small cairn. The ridge, narrow in places, continues W
climbing the remaining 100m to the summit perched high above the abyss of
Coirein Lochain. Stob Ghabhar (1090m; peak of goats) is one very fine
mountain.
Unfortunately, the cloud denied us any view and Matt
& Jenn missed out on seeing the mountain at its best. We descended the SE ridge, crossing the Allt
Toaig at about 250m and regained the inbound stalker’s path. Do not be tempted to cut the corner when
descending - the hidden crags of Creag an Steallaire will catch you out!
Beinn
Achaladair & Beinn a’ Chreachain
Beinn a’ Chreachain
Joined by Doctor Jon for Day 2, we parked near the
entrance of the Achallader Farm track and followed the sign-posted path up into
Coire Achaladair. The path was in pretty
good shape for the time of year but it can get quite boggy in wet weather. It took us almost 2hrs to reach the skyline
at the head of Coire Daingean where we entered cloud and turned N up the gently-sloping
S ridge of our mountain. The going is
easy and you pass a subsidiary top at 1002m before a diminutive cairn marks the
flat summit of Beinn Achaladair (1038m;
hill of the field by the hard water).
Still no view!
Coire Achaladair
A short way beyond the summit, yet another cairn marks
a key navigation point as you need to turn sharp right and descend SE to avoid
the steep cliffs that guard the NE face of Beinn Achaladair. A short while later the path trends NE and
descends steeply over a series of rocky steps to a bealach at 813m.
Beinn Achaladair
From here, the climbing resumes up and over a minor
top, Meall Buidhe (978m), after which you pick up a path that seems to appear
out of nowhere to the right. This cuts
across the S slope of the ridge to the bealach above the steep cliffs of Coire
an Lochain. This impressive spot is well
worth a few minutes of your time as the view N down into the corrie and blue
Lochan a’ Chreachain deserves a look - as does the wide open view across the
wilderness of Rannoch Moor. It was our
first - and best - view of the day!
Coire an Lochain
Above the bealach, a straightforward climb of 150m
leads to the large cairn that crowns the remote summit of Beinn a’ Chreachain (1081m; scallop-shaped hill). All the low cloud had now gone and we were
treated to great views in all directions.
Beinn Mhanach
We retraced our steps back to the bealach beyond Meall
Buidhe before turning S across open ground past a big herd of deer towards the
wide grassy bealach at the head of Gleann Cailliche. Originally, we had planned to climb Beinn
Mhanach as well but time was running out so we headed home. From just above the bealach, we followed the
750m contour around the S flank of Beinn Achaladair to return to the head of
Coire Daingean last seen several hours previously. Then it was just a matter of retracing that
morning’s route down into Coire Achaladair and back to the car. Beinn Mhanach awaits another day.
The Corrour
Hills
Our final day saw us boarding the morning sleeper
service from Bridge of Orchy station to Corrour Halt. We had the 3 Corrour Munros that surround
Loch Ossian to do before the evening train.
Most reasonably fit hillwalker’s should achieve this with time to
spare. We did.
Beinn na Lap
The 400m start from Corrour helps a lot and you should
get to the top of Beinn na Lap in less than 2hrs. We followed the track around the W end of
Loch Ossian to where a cairn marks the start of a path that climbs the open
hillside to the skyline. The summit
cairn lies just past a tiny lochan and overlooks the steep E corrie of the
mountain: Beinn na Lap (935m; dappled hill).
The Mamores From Beinn na Lap
In clear conditions, like we had today, you
can see just how near you are to Lochaber with the Mamores, Grey Corries and
Ben Nevis all appearing surprisingly close looking NW.
If descending to Corrour Lodge, the trick is to head S
from the cairn a short distance before picking up gentler slops that descend to
the featureless bog-land that holds Loch na Lap. Assuming you can see it, aim for a patch of
bright green grass just beyond the Allt Loch na Lap where a simple wooden bridge
crosses the burn and connects with a welcome path that leads down through the
woods to Loch Ossian.
Sgor Gaibhre & Carn Dearg Above Loch Ossian
Once around the E end of the Loch, follow the track S
beside the Allt a’ Choire Chreagaich.
Soon after emerging from the woods, turn L and strike out across open
ground and up the steepening nose of Meall Nathrach Mor. From here, the ground levels out and you
follow the 820m contour around the S flank of Sgor Choinnich to the Bealach nan
Sgor. From here, we got a fine view of
the shapely cone of Schiehallion away to the SE. A steep but steady climb of 150m brought us
to the top of our 2nd Munro of the day: Sgor Gaibhre (955m; peak of the goat).
We descended W from the top down easy grassy slopes to
a slightly boggy bealach (Mam Ban) before beginning our final climb of the day
up the NE ridge to our final peak: Carn Dearg (941m; red hill). A short
sharp shower had us reaching for the waterproofs but it soon blew through.
With the station in sight and plenty of time before
the train arrived, we descended W down the N flank of Gualainn Chlachach before
picking up the old ‘Road to the Isles’ track .
This lead us past Peter’s Rock before turning W down to the shore of
Loch Ossian. There were crowds around
the youth hostel as we passed and by the time we reached the station, there
must have been almost 50 people waiting for the train. It was a busy end to a quiet day made all the
more interesting by the enforced logistics.
And all the more fun because of the train ride!
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