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There are times when a simple day hill walking is not enough. There are days when I need to disappear deep into the hills for a few days and be one with nature. Checking the map I had spotted a place in Glen Nevis, past the usual weekend campers at the An Steall Waterfall, to a nameless spot nestled between the Mamores and Grey Corries at the foot of Binnean Beag. It looked perfect and a good starting point for the Grey Corries.
Packing for 3 days and 2 nights is nerve racking,
as I was anxious not to forget anything. It took me an hour and with 2 additional can of beer squashed into the top (a can after a long day is a must) and an ice axe packed to the side, my bag brought 20.5 kilo on the scale
. A bit too heavy for my liking, but I had calculated that I should not need more than 2 -2.5h to the spot I have chosen for ‘Basecamp’
The night before my departure, the sore throat I had nursed since 4 days turned into a cold and annoyed I went to bed coughing through the night. I woke up, not feeling my best, but deciding that if I was fine from the neck down, I could ignore my sore throat and slight deaf ears…the hills will cure me!
During the drive up to Fort William I sucked on a pack of throat lozenges, music on loud and could not help to try my ‘new’ hoarse voice singing along to songs, which was accomplished with regular cough fits…lovely?!
I arrived at the car park in Glen Nevis just after 18:00 hours and shouldering my pack I set off into the wilderness.
The walk in
Cold aside, I was feeling great and the heavy pack did not bother me as much as I had worried about. I walked past the beautiful An Steall waterfall and for the first hour the path was easy. This unfortunately did not last, as I was soon wading through soggy ground, peat bogs, mud and burns. But the views were amazing, Ben Nevis, the Mamores and the Aonachs to my left and right. I had climbed all of them in the past and looking up to them with a smile on my face, it felt like saying hello to old friends. Time was flying and before I knew it I had reached my destination area. Looking for a spot to camp away from the path I found a small area at the foot of Binnean Beag with a view towards the grey Corries Ridge and Stop Ban. Perfect!
Steall Waterfall
The easy part of the walk in
By 20:30 I had set up camp and sitting outside my tent with a pot noodle dinner and a cold beer in my hand, I would not have swapped this for the best hotel in the world. It was a blissful solitude.
My home for the next 2 days
Having finished my dinner, I washed the pot out with some moss and water and after brushing my teeth in the burn I went to bed. With my PJs, thick socks, hat and fleece jacket on. I climbed into my two layered down sleeping bag combination. The night was freezing and my icy toes simply did not warm up. Feeling cold my cough which had settled a bit through out the day, started to get worse and topping it was a running nose. Laying awake and feeling crappy,
I would have happily chosen a warm hotel bed over my tiny tent and through out the night I was drifting in and out of sleep feeling miserable.
I woke up at 06:15 and for the first time I felt warm. I looked outside, but thick clouds covered up the hills. I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I decided to listen to my body and rest some more, before I got up at 07:40. By that time I felt more awake and the clouds looked slightly less thick with some clear skies in the far distance. Time for a quick wash in the burn! A few minutes later my fingers and a few other body parts were numb with the cold water, but I was certainly awake now.
I cleaned up my tent, collected the sea of used handkerchiefs which were scattered around my sleeping bag and packed my second smaller backpack. By the time I was done the clouds had lifted and a beautiful day was ahead of me.
The clouds were lifting
The perfect day one hour later
The 4 Grey CorriesI had decided to walk straight up to Sgurr Choinnich Beag. A plan I had done so many times before, but never with a full blown cold. Walking up the steep hill was like walking at altitude, my heart was racing, I was out of breath and I never had needed so many breaks in my life. Half way up I came across my first dead deer I have seen up the hills which would be one of 4 (!) during the next two days. It could not have been dead for long and I stroked its back feeling sad.
Moving on I saw 2 people approaching the same hill, but they were soon ahead of me. By the time I reached the first top I was exhausted, but what a view! I somehow had never imagined the Grey Corries being so beautiful and I sat for a long time just taking it all in before moving on.
Saying good bye to my campsite until the evening
The first dead deer of the day
Looking back towards the Mamores
Some pretty deep snow
Some climbing fun
The Aonachs and Mamores
The Mamores with Glen Coe behind
The full ridge lay ahead of me and I was glad that I had packed my ice axe, as the other side of Sgurr Choinnich Beag was in full snow cover and quite icy. Moving down slowly I got to the bealach and unpacked my coloured Easter Eggs, which miraculously had stayed intact…after all it was Easter Sunday. Having lunch I sat in the sun and just enjoyed being in the hills.
Moving along I was surprised how pleasant the ridge was (once you are up) and how easy the path is. Walking on a combination of snow and grass I soon stood on the third Munro Stob Choire Claurigh and looked towards Stop Ban which looked tiny from my view point..On my approached I had met a couple who had asked me to look out for some black sun glasses they had lost. Unfortunately I did not find them, but told them to keep an eye on the lost and found on walkhighlands. (Just in case anyone has found them the couple would be grateful, if you add them to the lost and found part in the forum)
The ridge
Sgurr Choinnich Beag snow covered slope and the Aonachs
Happy Easter
So beautiful
Towards the second last Munro
Looking back
Ben Nevis behind the Aonachs
View towards the West
Tiny Stob Ban- hard to believe it is a Munro of 970m
Looking up to Stob Ban
The wee loch and the 2 Munros next to Loch Treig in the distance
Great rock
The way back to my tent
The way back
Looking back up
Sunset
Moving down Stob Choire Claurigh towards Stop Ban was a bit of a pain due to the loose scree, but I loved the rock formations at the bottom. Struggling with the final pull up the last Munro due to my cold, I was glad when I stood at the top and managed to see the area were my tent was. I was done in and ready for bed! I was not sure if there was a suggested path down Stop Ban, but I found sticking to the right hand site of the mountain worked well. Finally 9 hours after setting off I was back at my campsite. The sun was warm and sitting down like the evening before, I made dinner, while looking up towards the ridge I had just climbed – nice!
Having learned from the previous night, I made up a ‘hot water bottle’ by boiling water and adding it in my metal water bottle.
With the hot bottle wrapped in my small camping towel, tucked deep inside my sleeping bag, I lay in bed with my book and hip flask of malt whiskey. It was such an improvement from the previous night. I think I must have fallen sleep just after 21:00h and slept stone like for the next 12 hours.
I woke up feeling amazing. My cough was still there, but the dull feeling in my head and blocked ears were gone. I got up and feeling brave (and very alone) I walked half naked to the burn for a wash.
My surprise was great when I looked up and saw people in the distance.
Letting out a short scream, I threw myself to the ground while quickly putting on my clothes. Waiting for them to pass and disappear in the distance. I took my second turn for a wash when seconds later the next couple of people approached- ARGH!
Where did they come from? Growling I waited for them to pass before I finally managed to finish my wash.
Looking around I decided that it was too cold to hang on, so I packed my bag and started the walk back to the car. All in all I had some amazing times (minus the cold) and can only recommend the approach from Glen Nevis when climbing the Grey Corries. I will certainly be back at some point!!
The walk back
Glen Nevis just before the car park
