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Following on from my traverse of the Easains from Corrour to Fersit last year, I decided to use the same start and finish points, but this time staying east of Loch Treig to include Beinn na Lap, Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain. I had contemplated leaving the car at the Laggan Dam as an alternative, and walking out through the forest, but last time I looked there was a locked gate on the dam road with some quite uninviting spikes on top, so gave that a miss, and reverted to the Fersit/Loch Treig end point.
Given I had a bit of cycling then a train to catch at 8:15am, I overnighted in Kingussie so as not to have such an early start. I reached Fersit about 7:40am, got the bike out and freewheeled (mostly) down to Tulloch station, arriving a sensible 10 minutes early. Must have been rush hour, as there were already 6 others on the platform waiting for the train which arrived exactly on time. Good old ScotRail. And so up to Corrour.
- Corrour Station
I didn't bother with breakfast in the Station House this time, just got organised and set off along the track to Loch Ossian, then left and straight up on to the south west ridge of Beinn na Lap. There is an indistict path over the grassy slope. A bit spongy in places, but generally good going and not that steep. Once on the ridge, it's just a short walk over stoney ground, passing a stone shelter ring overlooking Loch Ossian, then on to the summit cairn.
- Loch Ossian
Although there was a chilly wind, the sun was out making for very pleasant walking conditions. Beinn na Lap is not the most inspiring Munro, and probably one of the easiest using Corrour as a start point - the train gets the first 400m of ascent done for you. The summit is a great vantage point however.
- Looking North from Beinn na Lap to Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain
Now it was time to get somewhat off the beaten track. I headed directly down the fairly steep north west flank of Beinn na Lap towards the bealach. Not the best terrain, a mixture of grass, heather and small boulders, quite boggy in places, but not too bad in descent. The watershed appeared to have some peat hags which I was keen to avoid, so I kept slightly to the right aiming for the upper part of the Allt Feith na-h-Ealaidh which meanders through the flat grassy valley floor at about 500m. Once down I had to head upstream a short distance to find a crossing point, as it was a bit too wide and deep on the flat.
- Looking NE by the Allt Feith na-h-Ealaidh
Once over the burn, I continued north west up the flank of Garbh-beinn, the most southerly extension of the Chno Dearg massif. Fortunately this ascent was slightly less steep and more grassy than the descent. It was easy enough to pick a route to gain the broad ridge running generally north east and on to the summit of Chno Dearg. A very pleasant stroll indeed, over gently sloping grass,moss and stones for about 4km over Meall Garbh and on to the summit of Chno Dearg. Great views all around, especially across to the Easains and all the way to Ben Nevis. Everything still looks very brown at this time of year, not just the result of my mobile phone photos. Still plenty snow on the high hills, and a little on the Easains, but absolutely nothing here. I was carrying crampons and an ice axe as ballast again......
- Easains from Meall Garbh
- Summit of Chno Dearg, looking North
Chno Dearg is pretty much just a grassy mound apart from the coire east of Meall Garbh but Stob Coire Sgriodain appeared a whole lot more rugged, looking over to the west. After a short break by the summit cairn of Chno Dearg, I headed back down to the south west, veering west to cross the broad flat area between the two Munros. There was a path winding through the crags over the undulating and rocky south east ridge of Stob Coire Sgriodain. Certainly rougher terrain, but easy enough and the summit came up quite quickly after crossing the cleft of Glac Bhan.
- Looking SW towards the Mamores from Glac Bhan
As mentioned in the WH guide, the summit of Stob Coire Sgriodain has very impressive and airy views over Loch Treig. From the summit crag you can look directly down over very steep slopes onto the railway line which must be almost 700m below.
- Summit of Stob Coire Sgriodain
- Loch Treig from summit of Stob Coire Sgriodain
Next stop Fersit, so I headed north over Sron na-Garbh-bheinn. There was a path which picked a route down amongst the crags making for easy and fast progress initially until the terrain became less rocky but still steep where I lost the path. Thereafter it was just a case of picking a route through boggy ground best I could until I picked an ATV track which headed right before continuing down to the grasssy field with the sheep pens and sheds. A short walk along the track and I was back at the car at the Fersit/Loch Treig parking area.
