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Grahams: The Pap of Glencoe
Date: 23/05/2023.
Distance: 6km.
Ascent: 740m.
Time taken: 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Weather: Better afterwards! Warm and muggy with cloud on the summit.
Having been down to the south of England over the weekend, I was working for a couple of days in Glasgow. I decided to finish early on Tuesday and go back to Inverness via the west coast for a change. This was potentially a mistake as I actually failed to leave until almost 4pm. I hit slow traffic getting out of Glasgow then even slower up the side of Loch Lomond. There were a couple of options for a quick hill along the way but the Pap appealed the most for some reason.
Perhaps not the best choice. By the time I reached Glencoe there were intermittent showers with the cloud down on the high summits (and also on mine). It was almost 6:30pm by the time I got going. Not the time to be exploring new routes so I stuck to the standard route.
A bit gloomy up Glen Coe 
Some nice light on Loch Leven Things were getting better though. I passed a few folk descending on the lower reaches of the hill then I was on my own.
Improving all the time The col between the Pap and Sgorr nam Fhiannaidh was just grazing the cloud and the final ascent was steeper than remembered. Sadly no views from the summit, which was the main reason for going up there!
...but not at the top! I decided to take a more direct route down - there is something of a path this way going straight down the SW face of the hill. It didn't take long to get out of the cloud. While the best view from here is usually across to Garbh Bheinn, the cloud and light this evening had other ideas and put Meall Mor and the lower reaches of Glencoe in focus. The going was pretty steep and slithery by this direct route but I couldn't hang around - I could just feel the midges moving in when I did. By the time I was down to the lower part of the hill the summit had emerged from the cloud
.
Emerging from the cloud 
Clear down Loch Leven again 
Looking back to the summit - almost clear now 
Sun coming out 
Lovely light over Beinn Maol Chaluim and Meall Mor 
Sunshine on the side of Aonach DubhIn the end I managed to get back to the car in under 2 hours. This was what I had been aiming for but I didn't think it would actually happen. I think my reason for wanting to go back up here was that it was one of my first Scottish summits. We probably did it as a family 2 or 3 times in the early to mid 1990s, but I haven't been up since I was a student in 2002 - literally half a lifetime ago. So despite the lack of views it was a fond return.
On the downside I missed the chippy in Ballachulish and had to settle for a McDonalds in Fort William as my dinner - makes a good snack but a disappointing meal!
