free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
The time had come for my first ever wild camp this weekend, and me and dad decided we were going to do all 10 mamores
over the course of the weekend.
To get it clear early on, we didn't
, we'd have to cope with a mere 8 over the weekend
, 5 today.
So, we arrived with the bags packed and in the car at Kinlochleven?!?
Yep, we have to be different
Headed up on the West Highland Way, where dad was keenly examining every inch of it for the Glencoe Marathon in October (glad it's not me
) and soon we emerged from the trees to pretty good views of Kinlochleven
- The pipes of the old aluminium smelter clearly visible
Carried on the WHW, past Tigh-na-sleubhaich
- How the heck do you pronounce that?!?
After a strange encounter with some motorbikers, we headed almost to Lairigmor, but not quite, before turning off onto the mental route up Sgurr na h-Uilin.
- This is the emotion of happiness, usually experienced when on a path, but most definitely not when climbing up a hill the mental way
- This frog has never, ever seen a human before now, because no human in the right mind would ever go here
- Sometimes when climbing munros there is no path and that is considered every man for himself. This, however is considered THE man for himself
After what felt like years of climbing, we reached the ridge where it was 'simply'
a stroll up to Meall a' Chaorainn, a top of Mullach nan Coirean. From here, it was fairly easy along the ridge to the summit of our first munro of the day.
- Mullach nan Coirean
- We've got to walk that!
- Stop taking photos and let me have lunch!
After lunch it was down along the ridge, where we arrived at the first of 3 tops on the way to Stob Ban
- This is Dad and his mate Ben, who's a bit camera shy today
Once we were over the next top and into the bealach Stob Ban looked so steep to get on, but we plodded it out.
- Stob Ban
The descent from Stob Ban was even steeper than the ascent.
- Coire a' Mhusgain and Glen Nevis
Down into the bealach it was then, with jelly legs for the first time (of many). From here, we took the path down into Coire name Miseach, which is beautiful, although the Lochan has quite a lot of green algae in it. Then it was up the zig-zags towards the bealach. We battled through the pain and after so much hard work, we looked down to see how much ascent we had done - one zig-zag
How are we going to cope with this?
Finally we reached the belach, where we were heading for Sgurr a' Mhaim from. We patched the bags here.
- Coire nam Miseach
The next part of our journey took us along the Ring of Steall, which Dad did years and years and years ago when he was young with Mum. This part was called the Devil's Ridge, which I thought sounded awesome but dad said it was pretty easy.
- Easy!
The bit we found out later was called the bad step has a path down to the west below it, but this still has a wee scramble. We took this path and after a wee scramble down into Bealach a' Chip, headed up to Sgurr a' Mhaim.
- Stob Ban from Sgurr a' Mhaim
- Another big cairn
- Sgurr a' Mhaim
- The Devil's Ridge
We headed back along the dramatic Devil's Ridge, picked up the bags and began the ascent up to Sgurr an Iubhair. We were getting tired by this point so it took a while.
- It's tiring carrying your bed!
- This is Bidean nam Bian with loads of snow on in LATE AUGUST!!!
It looked like we might be running out of time for our planned camp below Binnein Beag, so we picked up the pace up Am Bodach.
- Am Bodach
- The view over Loch Leven on the lower summit of Am Bodach when one of the bad squawls of weather came through
We were really struggling for energy and the descent of Am Bodach was almost vertical, so we stopped halfway down to decide what to do. We decided to try and find a pitch below Bealach a' Chadha Riabhaich.
We finally reached the bealach and began the long ascent up Stob Coire a' Chairn.
- Stob Choire a' Chairn
We started descending towards Bealach a' Chadha Riabhaich. The weather was doing everything it could to lift our tired spirits.
- An Garbhanach
We reached the bealach surprisingly quickly and picked up the path down to the east. We were looking for a pitch in desperation and when we found one that looked like it was suitably flat we pitched the tent desperately quickly and started cooking tea.
- Night!
How are we going to find the energy to get home tomorrow?
Here's how!