sgurr a mhaim and Devils Ridge
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:52 pmThe intention was to do the ring of steall on Saturday, but given the horrendous weather, we decided to find a route that would be possible in the wet/windy conditions. The obvious answer was to do Devil's Ridge! We started from the wee car park beside the bridge at Achriabhach (ref-145684), went over the stile and followed the rather boggy path up the glen heading in a SE direction following the Allt Coire a Mhusgain.
This path itself was at a nice angle, slowly taking us up to the lochan just below sgurr an lubhair. After about 2 1/4 hours you reach a cairn of stones at the bealach.
At this point we followed the path directly round the west of the lochan, which then zig-zagged its way up between stob coire an lubhair and stob choire a Mhail. It was pretty wet at this stage, and minimal visibility. Luckily there was little navigation to do, as we were now starting the notorious Devil's ridge.
Although it was windy, it wasnt so bad to blow u off ! the ridge itself, is just an easy stroll as long as u put one foot in front of the other.
At one point there is a rocky scramble bit, which can be avoided by taking a lower path on either side. After 1/2 hr on the ridge you eventually come to a climb to the summit of the first munro of the day, Sgurr a Mhaim.
From here there is an obvious path which heads NW steeply down hill, over shale, and leads back to the starting point again. All-in-all, not the full ring, given the conditions, but good to do just to get a munro in!
As you can tell, terrible day for photos, but it did start to clear as we came down...typical! I managed to get one decetn shot of Stob Ban again.
Next time, I can concentrate on the ring via Stob Ban, and miss out the Devil's Ridge.
- Waterfall at Start of walk
- Start of Walk - Path from stile
- Gate after 45 mins walking
This path itself was at a nice angle, slowly taking us up to the lochan just below sgurr an lubhair. After about 2 1/4 hours you reach a cairn of stones at the bealach.
- Cairns at Bealach
- Track leading to Bealach at a nice steady angle
- Stob Ban on your right as you walk up (for another time!)
At this point we followed the path directly round the west of the lochan, which then zig-zagged its way up between stob coire an lubhair and stob choire a Mhail. It was pretty wet at this stage, and minimal visibility. Luckily there was little navigation to do, as we were now starting the notorious Devil's ridge.
- Start of Devil's Ridge
- Fantastic Views!!
Although it was windy, it wasnt so bad to blow u off ! the ridge itself, is just an easy stroll as long as u put one foot in front of the other.
At one point there is a rocky scramble bit, which can be avoided by taking a lower path on either side. After 1/2 hr on the ridge you eventually come to a climb to the summit of the first munro of the day, Sgurr a Mhaim.
- Top of Sgurr a Mhaim (a bit wet!)
From here there is an obvious path which heads NW steeply down hill, over shale, and leads back to the starting point again. All-in-all, not the full ring, given the conditions, but good to do just to get a munro in!
- Route down which is quite steep but a decent path.
- path down
- at last!!the weather starts to clear!
As you can tell, terrible day for photos, but it did start to clear as we came down...typical! I managed to get one decetn shot of Stob Ban again.
Next time, I can concentrate on the ring via Stob Ban, and miss out the Devil's Ridge.