Giants and Keds

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Having bought Highland Scrambles South and then left it sat largely untouched for about a year I decided it was time to actually give some of them a go. The forecast looked better for further north but my husband was insistent on celebrating our wedding anniversary on either Saturday or Sunday and told me I was only allowed to disappear off for one day. I messaged my usual walking companions and nobody was free bar Tommy, who messaged saying he was in Fort William for Lochaber Live and would be up for a hillwalk on the Saturday but in the vicinity of the Fort and our pal Tina would be coming too. I consulted the book and decided on the Giant's Staircase underneath Stob Ban. I wasn't super confident Tommy would actually make it as neither I or Tommy are very good at having small nights out, and Lochaber Live didn't sound like it would be a quiet one, but thankfully Tide Lines were on last and Tommy left after only one of their tunes, meaning he and Tina were only half an hour late to meet me at Spean Bridge.

After what was a only a relatively small amount of faffing for Tommy, we set off on bikes up the track, aiming for the Lairig Leacach bothy. Tina had borrowed Tommy's pal's bike and despite Tommy's assurances that he'd adjusted the brakes on it, she was having difficulty stopping on downhill sections, and difficulty on uphill sections caused by a bent wheel. We slowly made our way uphill, stopping briefly beside the wee minister only to find a large human **** right next to it, complete with bog roll. Some people are scum.

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We deposited the bikes next to the bothy and after a brief stop for a snack, followed the somewhat boggy path up behind the bothy into Coire Claurigh. The keds were everywhere, for (supposedly) non biting insects they cause a lot of annoyance, often trying to crawl into your hair, which if you're aware of what they do to deer is quite disconcerting. At the top Tina decided her knees were not going to hold up and headed back down to the bothy for a quiet day of snoozing in the sunshine. It definitely could have been wetter underfoot, the previous week of sunshine had definitely dried out the ground a bit, but our boots were still damp by the time we reached the bottom of the Giant's Staircase. Even having slightly wet boots made scrambling up the first slabs a challenge, the quartzite losing all grip with even the smallest hint of moisture. Thankfully it was hot and sunny enough that this dampness soon evaporated and we were able to get some purchase as we picked our way up the slabs.

The scrambling itself was hugely enjoyable. The staircase is made up of lots of shelves separated by large slabs, all of which are completely avoidable if you do decide you want to miss one out, and all of which have multiple options, making them as difficult or as easy as you like. You can definitely push yourself to do more or miss out anything with any real challenge. As we got higher we got more ambitious with our routes, before finally biting off a bit more than we could chew on the final slab. Both of us had a small wobble, but eventually manged to make it over the hardest section and sat in the sun catching our breath and congratulating ourselves on an obstacle conquered.

We followed a badly eroded path the rest of the way to the top of Stob Ban, winding our way up through the scree and loose earth steeply up towards the summit. Lunch and a snooze was had in the sunshine, drinking in the views over towards Laggan, before switching sides to take in the Mammores. I enjoyed a short nap, but Tommy having not packed much in the way of warm clothes was keen to get moving again as the wind had picked up and he was losing heat fast. Instead of following the eroded path back down to the bealach, we went about 100m down the south west shoulder of Stob Ban before descending a much more gently graded and less eroded slope north west and contouring round a grassy hillside back to the top of the staircase. We rejoined a path which picked its way over the grassy shoulder of Stob Choire Claurigh, making fast progress over the firm ground at the start. The grass gradually disappeared, making way for large blocks of quartzite, becoming scree only for the very last section just beneath the summit.

We didn't stick about long on the summit, the wind was now stripping the sun of all its warmth and although the views were fantastic, we were also conscious we'd abandoned Tina, not giving her any idea of how long we'd be. We picked our way over the shattered ridge before dropping down on the short arete which separates Stob Coire na Ceannain from the main peak. This is obviously well enough used as a route, a light path picks it's way over the sharp slabs of rock taking away any exposure unless you want to clamber over the shards protruding from the top of the ridgeline.

The descent was a delight compared to some of the walks I've done in the last few months, grassy but not tussocky and steep enough to lose height quickly without being a nightmare for the knees. We reached the bothy expecting to find Tina waiting for us but her bike had gone, so without much faff, we sped off downhill back to the car. It was at this point we really appreciated the bikes, it took barely more than half an hour to cover the whole distance, and we felt extra smug when passing a couple of groups of walkers plodding the long distance back out. We arrived back at the cars to find Tina's bike and pack but no sign of Tina, but after a short search, found her dozing next to the river in the company of a red squirrel. All of us had had a wonderful day.