Spectacular day above Glencoe Mountain Resort

[johnbythell]

After a long day out on Ben Starav and neighbours the day before, I got a late (10am) start on Saturday morning and headed up towards Meall a' Bhuiridh and Creise above the Glencoe Mountain Resort where I was staying. But what a day it was! Crisp and crystal-clear skies made for amazing alpine-like feel and the occasional cloud drifting in made it even more spectacular. In these conditions, virtually any mountain scenery would be brilliant, but I really enjoyed these two Munros, which I didn't feel were spoiled by the ski developments, which are well out of sight by the time you reach the first top (but maybe I'm biased as I also like to ski).

Meall a Buiridh and Creise 25 Nov 2023.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

The view back down to the ski centre from part way up the initial track up under the chair lift. I'm personally not too bothered by all the ski clutter, as it is relatively well confined and controlled. It also gives a small window on the mountain environment for a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't experience it.

The vast open space of the Rannoch Moor looking spectacular after reaching the shoulder near the chair lift station

Already some beautiful skies appearing, looking northwest. Stob Dearg with the last remnants of the early morning mists

Contrail art

Buchaille Etive Mor and the Nevis range behind

As I got to the summit of Meall a' Buiridh, the cloud was swirling in and out, making for some spectacular atmospheric views

Starting the descent down to the bealach, which has a few bits of easy scrambling, with the view along the connecting traverse and ascent ridge onto the Creise-Leathad plateau

There was still some swirling cloud around as I descended

But 20 min later when I reached the bealach, it was completely gone, here looking back on Meall a' Bhuiridh

Cresting the broad ridge-plateau after some fine (though quite icy) scrambling up the ridge and breathtaking views opened up to the southwest

and west

It is a relatively flat walk over to the Creise summit, but with spectacular views and skies

With the silhouette of Ben Cruachan drawing the eye

Creise summit

Just coming down off the summit, with Stob Dearg in the foreground and the Nevis range behind, looking like it's about 3 miles away

But Ben Cruachan keeps drawing you back

Time to stop for lunch and just soak it all in

I eventually had to start the return - here looking back at the connecting ridge, which I got the spikes on for the descent as there was quite a bit of ice around on the dark side, often hidden under a dusting of snow

Stob Ghabhar to the south

Back on the summit of Meall a' Bhuiridh

It was a pleasant walk back down the slope to the mid station on the chair lift, especially with this backdrop

The moon was up and the sun going down as I went down the steep and heavily iced descent under the chairlift, which needed a bit of care and picking around

There are some definite benefits to all the ski infrastructure!

An absolutely spectacular day in the mountains with a crystal-clear views, open space and a real alpine feel. And on the weekend too!!

[Anne C]

Beautiful! What a day you had with the colours and light.
I was up there a couple of weeks back, decent forecast but the clag didn’t lift as suggested and saw nothing! One to do again….

[Gordon1973]

Sorry, not replying specifically to your walk report but I couldn’t figure out how to create a new post, hoping the WalkHighlands community can help out here. We were doing the Buachaille Etive Mor walk yesterday (Saturday 2nd December), we got talking to a group of 5 younger people (I think it was 2 guys, 3 girls) at the bealach after the initial climb (literally!!!!) up the coire. we were about to head up Stob Dearg, the group of 5 had just come down from Stob Dearg. They asked us if we had found a pair of gloves on our way up the coire - we hadn’t. We went our separate ways and on our way back down from the Stob Dearg summit we found a pair of gloves, so we assumed they were the ‘missing’ gloves. We thought we would probably see them again at some point to hopefully reunite the gloves with their rightful owner. We eventually saw them again a few hundred metres below us on the descent down to the Lairig Gartain. We managed to communicate down to them that we had found the gloves and we got a thumbs-up acknowledgment. As they were a good bit ahead of us, I think they were going slow to allow us to catch up but due to the icy conditions, we were making slow progress so I don’t know if they just got cold and headed back to their starting point. As we HADN’T parked our car at Altnafeadh but at the car park about 1 kilometre west of Altnafeadh, we didn’t see them. We stopped at Altnafeadh on the way past but could not see anyone.
Hopefully someone reading this recognises themselves or recognises who it may be from my (sorry, long) description and we can get the gloves back to the rightful owner. The gloves looked very new and are a good brand, they may have been an early Xmas present.
Over to you guys, fingers crossed.

[johnbythell]

Sorry, not replying specifically to your walk report but I couldn’t figure out how to create a new post, hoping the WalkHighlands community can help out

I've posted it on the Lost and Found forum, good luck!
John

[johnbythell]

Beautiful! What a day you had with the colours and light.
I was up there a couple of weeks back, decent forecast but the clag didn’t lift as suggested and saw nothing! One to do again….

Thanks Anne, good luck for next time!

[Gordon1973]

Thanks for doing that.

[JWCW2014]

Lovely photos John, and a great report.

[dogplodder]

Congratulations on report of the month!

What a stunning day you had with great photos of a fabulous pair of hills.

[johnbythell]

Lovely photos John, and a great report.

Thanks! Memorable day!

[johnbythell]

Congratulations on report of the month!

What a stunning day you had with great photos of a fabulous pair of hills.

Whoa!!! I really wasn't expecting that, a lot of great reports this month!

[jayedubya73]

Well deserved report of the month, absolutely brilliant photos!

[sakura1989]

Fantastic report of a great mountain day! Thank you for the photos - I did these 2 Munros a couple of years ago in howling rain with zero visibility so it's good to see what the views should look like!

[johnbythell]

Well deserved report of the month, absolutely brilliant photos!

Thanks!

[johnbythell]

Fantastic report of a great mountain day! Thank you for the photos - I did these 2 Munros a couple of years ago in howling rain with zero visibility so it's good to see what the views should look like!

Thanks Sakura, it does just change everything to get the weather- the poor days just make these ones even more special!

[JWCW2014]

Fantastic report of a great mountain day! Thank you for the photos - I did these 2 Munros a couple of years ago in howling rain with zero visibility so it's good to see what the views should look like!

I’d the same first time round and a much better day second time with my son - well worth another visit (as John’s photos show!)