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Munros: Stob Choire Claurigh, Stob Coire an Laoigh, Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr.
Date: 02/01/2025.
Distance: 22.5km.
Ascent: 1640m.
Time taken: 10 hours 30 minutes.
Weather: Cold and fairly still. Clag mostly clinging to highest summits.
After last Hogmanay on Skye, we fancied another one away from home. In the end it was so wet on the 31st that many roads were flooded (we got wetter cycling down to Loch Ness than we did swimming in it...) and we decided to leave our trip until the morning of the 1st. Well...we felt lazy so didn't end up leaving until almost lunchtime. In the end we didn't have time for a walk, so had a swim at Fort Augustus and stopped off at the Commando Memorial for a lovely sunset. The great Glen and Fort Augustus were pretty busy and there were even a couple of shops open.
New years day swim in Loch Ness 
Tomorrows hills from the Commando Memorial The 2nd of January looked really promising weather-wise so we had decided to park up above Corriechoille and get an early start on the Grey Corries. A reasonably ambitious undertaking at this time of the year (especially with fresh snow) but we reckoned if we set off at 7am, we'd get the best of them in the daylight.
It was a cold morning and a couple of the van doors had frozen, but we were up and on our way shortly after 7:15 am. An easy walk up the Lairig Leacach track took us past the Wee Minister, and by the time we needed to leave it there was enough light to see by. Unsurprisingly it was a long plod onto the N ridge of Stob Coire Gaibhre but the light was improving all of the time. Although there was fresh snow there wasn't that much of it so it didn't slow us down too much.
Wee Minister in the dark 
Light finally appears over Spean Bridge 
Aonach Mor 
Loch Lochy Munros 
Looking towards the Aonachs 
Aonachs and Carn Mor Dearg 
Stob a Choire Mheadhoin and Stob Choire Easain By the time we reached Stob Coire Gaibhre it was lovely and sunny. 2 other cars had parked up by us by the time we left the van and one of the occupants had caught us up by now - he was doing the same route. We had spotted the other two below us on the track earlier, and guessed that they were also going to include Stob Ban.
Stob Coire na Ceannain 
Across Cruach Innse 
Aonachs with an almost-sighting of Ben Nevis 
Loch Laggan and Stob Choire Ceannain 
Coire na Ceannain and Cruach Innse It's still quite a long way up to Stob Coire Claurigh from here but worth remembering that it is in the top 15 by height. A brief stop on the curious stony plateau to the north of the summit to switch gloves around and have a drink was seriously cold - despite getting my thermal mitts on, it took a good 10 minutes for me to be able to feel my fingers again. Progress across the freshly-powdered scree was a little on the slow side, and we climbed up onto the summit ridge, unsure whether there would be any difficulties in these conditions. There weren't
Stob Choire Claurigh 
North across Stob Choire Gaibhre 
Glen Roy 
Aonachs and finally a glimpse of the Ben 
Jackie on Stob Coire Claurigh Sadly we were in the cloud now, but the summit was entirely free of the gentle breaths of wind that had made us so cold earlier. From here onwards we enjoyed the winter wonderland but didn't really get to experience the full greyness of the Grey Corries (mainly because it was cloudy but also because the distinctive rock looked like any other under snow). The fresh snow on angular blocks slowed us down a bit but we didn't make bad progress over the intervening tops. Cloud occasionally shifted back to give us a bit of a view here and there.
Stob Coire Claurigh summit 
Stob Coire na Ceannain 
Summit ridge 
Coire Cath na Sine 
On the ridge Eventually we reached the second Munro, Stob Coire an Laoigh. Again any slight breeze we had felt on the ridge had now completely vanished - it seemed to be the way on each of the main summits today. However it felt less bitter here, and there were even signs of slight melting on bits of the ridge - it appeared that the temperature was barely below freezing. We had lunch on this summit and were passed by a group of 6 - one of them in shorts! Even in my years of wearing shorts most of the time I think I would have drawn the line at today. We also chatted to a couple more guys who caught us up - one had stayed in Lairig Leacach the night before, and they had both come in over Stob Ban. Everyone bar one guy (the one who had stayed in the bothy) decided to do the out-and-back to Sgurr Coinnich Mor, as did we once we reached the next summit. It was a little later than we would have liked but we reckoned we still had plenty of time to get much lower down the hill before dark.
Jackie descending 
Looking back up Stob Coire Easain This bit of ridge threw me - it was much steeper and rockier than I remembered. Turned out I didn't remember - my only other time up Sgurr Coinnich Mor was from Steall Falls, and I had actually never been along this bit of ridge before! We were passed by the group of 6 returning as we reached the col, and the way ahead looked epic. Again nothing difficult but it almost looked like approaching Sgurr Alasdair from the Bad Step at times. The ridge levelled off about halfway up and there were some interesting fissures between the rocks that you wouldn't want to fall into.
Approaching Sgurr Choinnich Mor 
Some sunshine to the north At the summit was probably the best clearing of the clag that we were going to get on the main ridge - looking down to the head of Glen Nevis looked way more remote and forbidding than it actually is.
Summit of Sgurr Choinnich 
Sgurr a Bhuic and the head of Glen Nevis 
Back to Sgurr Choinnich Mor 
Jackie on Sgurr Choinnich Mor Then it was time to retrace our steps to Stob Choire Easain. We met yet another group on the summit of this - they decided that it was probably too late to do the out-and-back we had done. We dropped off down the north ridge (narrowly missing the summit of a Munro top we discovered afterwards) and eventually got some views in the last light of the day. Lower down we picked up a quad track, although we lost it again. Jackie decided to look at her phone while walking and promptly slid on a patch of ice - amusing for one of us
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Sun setting behind Aonach Beag 
Looking down the N ridge of Stob Coire Easain 
Last lightThe daylight got us close to the edge of the forest, after which we were feeling our way for a few minutes until we reached the gate in the fence. We decided it was probably time to get torches out here - well calculated as we were only 500m from a good forestry track now. That 500m ended up being some of the worst ground of the day - the path following the firebreak was quite a squelch! Once that was over, it was a simple 3.5km march back to the starting point. Still, back before 6pm wasn't bad at all. We decided to stay another night right where we were, which resulted in going to bed fairly early as it was cold. Even if we didn't quite get the blue-sky day we had expected, it is always satisfying to get a decent day in so early in the year. It certainly felt like a proper mountain day.
