walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Wild Glamping on the Mamores - Day 1

Wild Glamping on the Mamores - Day 1


Postby Quadbarrel » Thu Aug 28, 2014 7:24 pm

Munros included on this walk: Am Bodach, Mullach nan Coirean, Sgùrr a' Mhàim, Stob Bàn (Mamores), Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Date walked: 23/08/2014

Time taken: 11 hours

Distance: 23.5 km

Ascent: 2100m

2 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

The time had come for my first ever wild camp this weekend, and me and dad decided we were going to do all 10 mamores :shock: over the course of the weekend.

To get it clear early on, we didn't :crazy: , we'd have to cope with a mere 8 over the weekend :wink: , 5 today.

So, we arrived with the bags packed and in the car at Kinlochleven?!? :?

Yep, we have to be different :roll:


GPX.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts


Headed up on the West Highland Way, where dad was keenly examining every inch of it for the Glencoe Marathon in October (glad it's not me :wink: ) and soon we emerged from the trees to pretty good views of Kinlochleven

1.jpg
The pipes of the old aluminium smelter clearly visible


Carried on the WHW, past Tigh-na-sleubhaich

3.jpg
How the heck do you pronounce that?!?


After a strange encounter with some motorbikers, we headed almost to Lairigmor, but not quite, before turning off onto the mental route up Sgurr na h-Uilin.

6.jpg
This is the emotion of happiness, usually experienced when on a path, but most definitely not when climbing up a hill the mental way


7.jpg
This frog has never, ever seen a human before now, because no human in the right mind would ever go here


8.jpg
Sometimes when climbing munros there is no path and that is considered every man for himself. This, however is considered THE man for himself


After what felt like years of climbing, we reached the ridge where it was 'simply' :wink: a stroll up to Meall a' Chaorainn, a top of Mullach nan Coirean. From here, it was fairly easy along the ridge to the summit of our first munro of the day.

12.jpg
Mullach nan Coirean


14.jpg
We've got to walk that!


15.jpg
Stop taking photos and let me have lunch!


After lunch it was down along the ridge, where we arrived at the first of 3 tops on the way to Stob Ban

18.jpg
This is Dad and his mate Ben, who's a bit camera shy today


Once we were over the next top and into the bealach Stob Ban looked so steep to get on, but we plodded it out.

19.jpg
Stob Ban


The descent from Stob Ban was even steeper than the ascent.

20.jpg
Coire a' Mhusgain and Glen Nevis


Down into the bealach it was then, with jelly legs for the first time (of many). From here, we took the path down into Coire name Miseach, which is beautiful, although the Lochan has quite a lot of green algae in it. Then it was up the zig-zags towards the bealach. We battled through the pain and after so much hard work, we looked down to see how much ascent we had done - one zig-zag :o
How are we going to cope with this?
Finally we reached the belach, where we were heading for Sgurr a' Mhaim from. We patched the bags here.

21.jpg
Coire nam Miseach


The next part of our journey took us along the Ring of Steall, which Dad did years and years and years ago when he was young with Mum. This part was called the Devil's Ridge, which I thought sounded awesome but dad said it was pretty easy.

22.jpg
Easy!


The bit we found out later was called the bad step has a path down to the west below it, but this still has a wee scramble. We took this path and after a wee scramble down into Bealach a' Chip, headed up to Sgurr a' Mhaim.

24.jpg
Stob Ban from Sgurr a' Mhaim


25.jpg
Another big cairn


26.jpg
Sgurr a' Mhaim


27.jpg
The Devil's Ridge


We headed back along the dramatic Devil's Ridge, picked up the bags and began the ascent up to Sgurr an Iubhair. We were getting tired by this point so it took a while.

29.jpg
It's tiring carrying your bed!


28.jpg
This is Bidean nam Bian with loads of snow on in LATE AUGUST!!!


It looked like we might be running out of time for our planned camp below Binnein Beag, so we picked up the pace up Am Bodach.

31.jpg
Am Bodach


32.jpg
The view over Loch Leven on the lower summit of Am Bodach when one of the bad squawls of weather came through


We were really struggling for energy and the descent of Am Bodach was almost vertical, so we stopped halfway down to decide what to do. We decided to try and find a pitch below Bealach a' Chadha Riabhaich.

We finally reached the bealach and began the long ascent up Stob Coire a' Chairn.

33.jpg
Stob Choire a' Chairn


We started descending towards Bealach a' Chadha Riabhaich. The weather was doing everything it could to lift our tired spirits.

35.jpg
An Garbhanach


We reached the bealach surprisingly quickly and picked up the path down to the east. We were looking for a pitch in desperation and when we found one that looked like it was suitably flat we pitched the tent desperately quickly and started cooking tea.

36.jpg
Night!


How are we going to find the energy to get home tomorrow?

Here's how!
User avatar
Quadbarrel
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 30
Munros:143   Corbetts:51
Fionas:34   Donalds:20
Sub 2000:58   Hewitts:18
Wainwrights:30   Islands:3
Joined: Aug 14, 2012
Location: Glasgow

Re: Wild Glamping on the Mamores - Day 1

Postby Johnny Corbett » Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:40 am

Great stuff i'll go read day 2 now :D
User avatar
Johnny Corbett
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 2983
Munros:25   Corbetts:214
Fionas:168   Donalds:74
Sub 2000:302   Hewitts:1
Islands:14
Joined: May 14, 2010
Location: Livingston

Re: Wild Glamping on the Mamores - Day 1

Postby AnnieMacD » Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:23 pm

That was a great read. I was getting more and more tired with you! Love the photo entitled "It's tiring carrying your bed!" - says it all! Well done both of you.
User avatar
AnnieMacD
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 789
Munros:25   Corbetts:15
Fionas:13   
Sub 2000:8   
Joined: Jun 25, 2013
Location: Applecross

2 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 32 guests