Meall Dearg - but not the hard way!

[PeteR]

Given the "wash out" that had been May this year I was desparate to get back out on the hills. I'd even had to resort to decorating to keep myself occupied in the intervening few weeks so a chance to get out of the house and get some fresh air was definitely needed.

I decided to take it easy for my first walk back - choosing to tackle Meall Dearg on the Aonach Eagach ridge via its much easier north east ridge. The approach is from loch levenside up gleann a' chaolais along a fairly good (if boggy in places) path. The start of the walk gave a nice sneaky view of the pap of glencoe.

Pap of glencoe

Although the day had started off with the cloud below the summits I was happy to see that it was lifting nicely as I was making my way into the gleann.

Early view of my target

Eventually the good path became a little sketchy and it was a case of making my way up onto the saddle between the MD north east ridge and the corbett garbh bheinn. My guide book suggested keeping close to the stream which came down from the saddle, which despite taking you away from the ridge did actually provide the best route onto the saddle (avoiding lots of undulations that would have had to be encountered if I had looked to go straight up onto the saddle). Gaining height gave a nice view back down the gleann to loch leven.

View back the way I'd come

But it was the views ahead that were starting to grab my attention as the AE ridge started to open up to my right

The AE ridge

Heading up onto the bealach also opened up a nice view of the eventual route up onto the summit of MD

Route to the summit

It also gave a nice view looking along the blackwater resevoir too

Blackwater resevoir

The best route up the north east ridge is to stay close to the line of fence posts that appear as you head to the high point of the saddle.

Fence post route to the top

Early on the path was a little sketchy, but as I got higher up, and things became a bit steeper, a good path had developed close to the fence posts which was easy to follow and made much easier work of a section which otherwise would have dragged if I had had to find my own way up over grass and boulders.

As I made my way up a look back gave some good views of the Mamores , particularly stob ban and sgurr a' mhaim

Stob ban of the mamores

Sgurr a' mhaim

The view of sgurr a' mhaim was probably more impressive as ben nevis behind it was shrouded in cloud. A little while later, when the cloud had lifted the view didn't strike me a so good, as the bulk of the ben seemed to engulf everything around it.

I did get a nice view of buachaille etive mor peeking between am bodach and MD

Stob dearg

After an initial section of steep ascent the ridge levels for a short while, before a final short, easy rise to the summit. As I popped up onto the levelling I got my first proper views of stob coire leith, sgorr nam fiannaidh and the AE ridge. This really took my breath away Fantastic views

Stob coire leith and sgorr nam fiannaidh

AE ridge

Beinn a bheithir didn't look bad either

Beinn a bheithir

Hitting the summit and the views were amazing Suddenly the hills of glencoe came into view and the view along the AE ridge was incredible. Looking at the ridge from the summit I was beginning to think that it didn't look as daunting as I had previously thought I've since read the reports and seen the pictures from Stretch and others on their memorable day out on the AE ridge the day before I'm still having nightmares about those pictures Apparently it isn't as straightforward as I thought

Here's some of my pictures from the summit

View along AE ridge from MD summit

And again

Bidean nam bian

And again

Am bodach

And again

I spent a fair amount of time on the summit of MD. It was perfectly still and quite warm. I was the only person about, although I could see people either end of the main ridge. I hadn't really expected much from the route, but so far the day had been much better than expected. I was transfixed by the the AE ridge, so decided to have a bit of a wander along to the first of the chimneys.

Start of of the AE proper

And again

I've got to say that even the view down to the base of the chimney was bad enough It looked a bit tricky to get down to (which I wouldn't particularly enjoy), although I was quite taken by the climb up the chimney ...... assuming I ever get the bottle to tackle the ridge one day

Eventually it was time to make my way back down

As I did so I made sure I made the most of the view back to the AE ridge in all it's scary spleandour Got a good view of a walker standing on top of one of the pinnacles as they made their way across

Walker on AE ridge

Looking back to the AE ridge

On getting to the bottom of the north east ridge of MD it was then a pleasant walk back down to the kinlochleven road and my car, taking in the views back toward the loch

Back toward loch leven

At the moment I'm a coward and recent reports on the AE ridge just go to confirm that point of view For those who want to enjoy the sight of the AE ridge without the need to scare themselves stupid then climbing MD via its north east ridge is a good alternative option. Personally I'm gald I did this walk. It wasn't too taxing, gave superb views of the AE ridge, glencoe and appin hills as well as ben nevis and the mamores and has given me just the boost I need to get back out next weekend

[ChrisW]

Really great report (as always) PeteR - this looks a fantastic walk and some of those views are spectacular, this could well be worth the 3.5 hour drive from my place

[PeteR]

Thanks Chris.

I would say it's well worth the trip, as the AE ridge is something else when you see it at close quarters One for a fine day though as the saddle could be difficult to negotiate in mist.

[Alan S]

Excellent report and pics there PeteR great to see some more shots of the ridge and the surrounding hills as on my recent trip i didnt pay too much attention to what was around me, just what was in front of me

Cheers
Alan

[Johnny Corbett]

Good idea to climb Meall Dearg to get a taster of the ridge before attempting it. I may do the same with the girlfriend incase she bottles it

[anasta]

Great report Loving all the pictures, especially of the ridge