Completed by. Dave, Julie and Wilson
Weather. Clear with mainly blue skies
Time. 8 hrs
Distance. 12 km
Ascent. 1390 m
Hills. Munro’s x 2
Corbett’s x 0
Bidean Nam Bian and Stob Corie Sgreamgach
Starting from.
Car park, at the Pass of Glen Coe.
We camped over night just down from the car park at the pass of Glen Coe, and after a very restless night due to a bad pitch and the dog playing up we were up and gone by just after 7.15 am.
Basically we stuck with the Walkhighlands route, but instead of dropping down into the hidden valley after our 2nd Munro we decided to head along the ridge of Beinn Fhada, then drop into the hidden Valley just prior to the 811m spot height.
Pretty good path all the way up Coire Nan Lochan, (getting repaired in bits ) but we seemed to lose it around the 3 small lochans shown on the OS map. The path was soon found again as we emerged on to the NE ridge of Stob Coire Nan Lochan. From here the path gains height fairly rapidly, and it was not to long before the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan is reached. Nice views to be had from here over to Ballachulish and beyond. From here we drop off the Stob approx 150 m before climbing again on to Bidean Nam Bian.
We fully intended to nip over and catch the Corbett Beinn Maol Chaluim, but the mist had come down thick and fast as we descended the stob, and was still pretty persistent as we dropped off Bidean Nam Bia. By the time the Bealach at Stob Coire Sgreamgach was reached it had lifted leaving fine view all round. “””typical”””
Stob Coire Sgreamgach was soon reached leaving us fine views back over our days walk, the ridge along Beinn Fhada looked lumpy and bumpy, certainly looked more interesting than going down into the hidden valley.
We stuck to the ridge and we were glad we did. It is pretty steep near the top of Stob Coire Sgreamhach a bit hands on at times, but nothing to Technical. There was another steep bit about 100m vertical down from the summit, again hands on at times ( wee bit more care was needed at this section ) the ridge from here on was a nice walk all the way to the 811m point.
- higher steep part
- lower steep part
This was where we planned to descend into the lost valley…..
This was also where the fun started……
We worked our way down about 100m/ 150m or so with not to much probs; the dog did need help on some bits but was ok thus far.
We then slid down a short steep grass gully 30m long. Encountering some steep crags at the end of the gully about 15m drop, we could either carry on or double back, we decide to carry on. I got half way down and decide to drop the rucksack as it was really hampering my safety.
Julie above was making good progress, the main problem was the dog he was not having it, there was no way he was coming down. Thankfully we both get down safe, but the dog he is still high above barking like a dafftie and getting all stressed. Far below you could see people walking along the floor of the hidden valley, several groups stopped and were looking up probably wondering WTF is going on up there !
I get ordered to get back up and get the dog.. After a nerve racking climb, and white Knuckle vegetation gripping, im back up and looking for an alternative route down. The dog and I drop into a gully and scramble our way down, the gully soon narrows, steepens and the dog starts stressing again.
The dog bolts it ( I presume he is trying to find his mum ) leaving me to climb back up and try and find him. I eventually catch up with him and have to resort to taking the cord from my jacket for a lead, there is no way im chasing him around the hill again.
Mean while Julie has her own problems, She also ascends via gully. She later tells me when I catch up with her about 200m from the valley floor that the gully was steep, narrow and then narrowed off more. This was where she was going to leave the gully, as the ground was better for walking or scrambling.
She was carrying both packs and was finding it difficult in the gully. She tells me she launched the packs on to a ledge and pulled her self up trying to get out of the gully and accidentally kicked the bags into the gully travelling a fair distance in the process. Back in she has to go, down the gully even further to retrieve the bags then back up to her point of exit.
Back to me, well the dog and I are making steady progress down slightly better terrain, and after approx 1hr 15 mins we are all united again. Injury free we head down to the valley floor making for the nice walk through the forest, finally reaching the car park after 8hrs.
Lessons learned…..
Know your dog’s limitations.
Ban the wife from Scrambling through steep gully’s ( due to expensive manicure bills )..
