Ben Lawers & An Stuc
Whilst the 7 Munros of the Ben Lawers group can be tackled in one (very)
long day, assuming you have 2 cars, it is considerably more enjoyable to split
the group up into 2 or 3 more manageable chunks. With just 67 summits left to complete her
(first?) Munro round, Jennifer was very happy to start her 2016 campaign
adopting this strategy.
Stunning spring weather and sensible start-of-season planning combined
to produce a great couple of days high above Killin tackling the westernmost 2
and easternmost 3 of the range. This has
left Ben Lawers itself and Beinn Ghlas for another time - the end, in fact, as
Jenn has decided that the UK’s 10th highest peak would be a fitting
candidate as her last Munro!
Ben Lawers (West): Meall a’ Choire Leith & Meall Corranaich
We parked beneath the large cairn beside the road at the head of the
pass into Glen Lyon. The outlying grassy
lump of Meall a’ Choire Leith is awkwardly placed some way north of the main
Lawers ridge.
Meall Corranaich
There’s no convenient direct path from this direction so we
traversed across the open country using the contours to negotiate an
intermediate mound and then around the NW shoulder of Meall Corranaich into
Coire Gorm before finally arriving at the mountain proper! Whilst we paused for refreshment, a lone
fell-runner appeared from over the summit scattering a herd of at least 25 red
deer that disappeared into Coire Liath.
Meall a’ Choire Leith
Having intercepted the main ridge path (at last), we followed it up the
short, easy southern ridge of Meall a’ Choire Leith to the flat summit (926m;
hill of the grey corrie). This is much more of a Glen Lyon hill than
a Loch Tay one and you can see why, given the commanding views you enjoy
of that glen from the rounded summit. A
pair of ptarmigan surveyed our upward progress; their white winter plumage
almost gone.
We returned down the mountain’s southern ridge which in turn lead
conveniently on to the northern ridge of our next peak. This was
excellent ridge walking now and steep grassy slopes on either side helped reinforce
the airy feel about the walk. We
side-stepped a couple of large snowfields and it did get a touch breezy, but in
no time at all we were standing on our 2nd summit and Munro of the
day: Meall Corranaich (1069m; crooked hill).
Last of the Snow on Meall Corranaich
Ben Lawers (East): Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh & An Stuc
Day 2 saw us parking at the private lay-by opposite the bone-carving
shop in Lawers village. Having happily paid
our £5 contribution to bone-carving research and Highland industry, we headed
up the pretty wee path that winds up through the mixed woodland alongside the
Lawers Burn. It’s a lovely spot.
A lack of wind was beginning to make the sheltered woodland too warm for
comfort when just in time, we broke out on to the open hillside and a most
welcome breeze. At 550m, we left the
burn and climbed up the featureless grassy slopes to intersect the ridge (and
path) that lead to the very welcoming summit of Meall Greigh (1001m; hill of
horse studs).
Intermittent high cloud and occasional gusty winds kept the temperature
down, but we could see for miles and the sun shone for much of the day. A second fell-runner appeared silently out of nowhere
immediately behind us prompting a near-coronary event (she could have worn a
bell!); ironically, our only human contact of the day. The easy path and decaying fence posts lead
us along the broad grassy shoulder and up to the rather more interesting summit
ridge of Meall Garbh (1118m; rough hill).
Once here, the view became dominated by Ben Lawers itself and right in
front of us, the sharp wedge of today’s final Munro: An Stuc. It’s less
than a kilometre away but you have to descend steeply to the narrow bealach
between the peaks and then climb even more steeply up the fairly eroded path that
leads up a greasy gulley to the small summit of the mountain – An Stuc (1118m;
the peak). This is perhaps the most photogenic and interesting of the
Lawers range and is well placed directly above the feline-shaped Lochan nan Cat
which sits snugly beneath the encircling cliffs of An Stuc’s eastern aspect.
We descended SW to the Bealach Dubh (black pass) and then peeled
off left and descended steeply to the W shore of the lochan - usually fairly
straightforward, but complicated today by a most inconveniently-placed
snowfield that required some careful attention!
Once down, we traversed the open ground beside the lochan and followed
it until we picked up the morning’s path for a very entertaining descent back
down to Lawers village.
So, after another prolonged winter in the Highlands, spring has finally
arrived and these 2 fine hill days have hopefully set the scene for a cracking
summer’s hillwalking……
Check out my plans for similar walks at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/summer/summer.htm
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