A Sunny day and 2 Ballachulish Grahams

[Julie]

A sunny day forecast and a day off work, I'd had my eye on these 2 for ages and so today was the day. I decided to do them from Ballachulish, as suggested in the Grahams book and i did fancy the ridge on Sgorr a'Choise and i didn't fancy the slog up from the A82 to Meall Mor .

the 2 hills for today

So I parked at the visitor centre in Ballachulish, up the road, past the school and up the track, quite wet in places for 2.4 miles where i waded the river (about knee high) and puffed up 700 ft of steep, pathless heathery hillside to gain the ridge of Sgorr a 'Choise

That was a slog

The ridge was a delight and the rest of the ascent sailed by with views of giants all around

The summit of Sgorr a 'Choise with the Ballachulish horseshoe

The Mamores and the Ben

I sat in the sun for 30 mins, taking in the views before dropping down steeply to the minor top and down to the bealach between the two. There is a fence but it does have an opening for skinny people!!

what goes down the hill....

must make the 1000ft of reascent to Meall Mor

I met the only person i saw all day here and had a wee chat then it was up to the summit of Meall Mor, it was actually ok going on short grass, not much heather and i just plodded up. The summit is on a wee line of crags with views opening up down loch leven, across the mamores and Ben Nevis and if you walk a bit further from the summit there a view down the whole of glen coe with the aonach eagach looking good.

Bidean

Glen coe

Then i back tracked and followed the wide ridge down to the forestry, or what's left of it, very busy here harvesting, there is a deer fence with a post which i climbed at the corner, as lots of other people had done, no gate that i could see but the base of the the fence could be lifted for a dog to squeeze under, then along an old wall and onto a god ugly new forestry road for a 100 mts or so then hung a left onto a track for another 150 ft ish of ascent to the mast above Ballachulish.

Loch leven and the mast and the remains of the forestry

This is still at over 1000 ft and its a steep, slidey wet grass descent on tired legs to the path which arrives at the quarry and the car.
A FAb day out, on my own with great views and sunshine and no midges, however a racer back sports bra + a vest top + rucksack+ no suntan lotion=very odd sunburn patterns!! :
It was about 5 hrs 30 walking with 30 mins at each summit, it was 10 miles as i zig zag on steep grass going up and down and it was about 3500 ft as ascent. FAB!
Here's a few more photos

Meall mor from the mast

Sgorr a'choise

Loch Leven and the bridge

The old slate quarry

[Julie]

The river would be fine I think, it was a bit high due to snow melt and i was wearing running shoes and had wet fet already so i didn't look too hard for a dry spot, i just paddled through it. It is a great way to do the hill and the ridge was splendid! Hope you get as nice a day as i did