Black mount stobs

[roughwalker]

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This walk had been on my mind since a failed attempt last year when me and my mate came up and bombed miserably. My mate does everything at 100mph without exception, if it can't be done quickly, it's not worth doing,probably something to do with the fact he has 4 kids under the age of 10
We had set off at his usual regimental pace and by the time we reached the point where the stalkers path cuts off from the main path he was struggling to keep up with the pace he was setting . He decided we should carry on up the main path and head up from the bealach (i wasn't going to argue,i kinda knew by that point the slightest thing going wrong would bring about a retreat back to the car).when we reached the bealach,a short burst of rain brought about the "thats it! i've had enough!!" I'd been waiting for and that was that
So this time i set off at a far more leisurely pace at around 10:30 determined to see a bit more of these mountains. I left the carpark and headed along the road and across victoria bridge and turned left shortly after, the track follows the river for a good bit before turning off just after the green hut.








The path from the hut was pretty wet and boggy in places, but posed no problem. It's only when you take the stalkers path up stob a'choire odhair that it starts to get steep, the zig zag path takes a bit of the sting out of it though.
This is where the views start to open out.


looking up towards the aonach eagach



looking southwest(ish)






It was a straight forward walk up to the summit, steep to start,a bit of huffing and puffing, but the gradient eases after a while and all the while stob ghabhar starts to look very impressive








On reaching the top there was a group of three having a break and admiring the views,a lady who was leading a couple of german guys,she said that she'd never seen the path up so wet and boggy.
They went on their way after 10 minutes,she was explaining the finery of "haggis neeps and tatties" as they left
This left me the summit to myself,the views all around were superb.


rannoch moor



bidean



After refuelling and taking in the views i set off down the hill towards stob ghabhar, it didn't take long to catch and pass the group from the summit,they were heading back down.
it didn't take that long to reach the base of the couloir butress which looked pretty steep,in fact coirein lochains walls are all impressively high and steep.





The path was pretty clear for most of the way,some sections of scree and some optional scrambling to spice it up a bit,but it wasn't quite as hard as i thought it was going to be.
On reaching the ridge the views opened out again,but my eyes were drawn to the ridge ahead,crossing it reminded me a bit of the cmd arete, (a very small bit) easy enough and alot of fun .


looking back to the ridge



the ben takes centre stage



the orchy hills and loch tulla



stob a'choire odhar



stob ghabhar summit






It was just a short pull up to the summit from here and again the views were stunning, the cloud was a bit thicker than it had been but there was still bits of bright sunshine lighting up parts of what were otherwise dark brooding mountains.visibility was excellent.















After quite a while on the summit i reluctantly headed back the way i came for a bit then followed the line of fence posts down,it was quite easy going til the waterfall where it steepened up quite a bit, there was a few tricky bits but nothing major. It really is an impressive series of waterfalls.






Reaching the bottom of the falls meant the last of any difficulties and it was the longish walk back to the carpark.
When i reached the track beside the river there was a dear eating the grass,getting the camera out it duly posed for a couple of shots








stopped at the bridge for one last photo



This was a great walk,stob ghabhar especially was alot of fun,and the views were stunning.

[jamesb63]

Will need to do these 2 soon myself ,I Know the ground very well
an old friend was the sheppard/stalker on Clashgour
and I spent many happy times there

[roughwalker]

Will need to do these 2 soon myself ,I Know the ground very well
an old friend was the sheppard/stalker on Clashgour
and I spent many happy times there

Yeah,its a great walk in a great area

[Silverhill]

Two very fine hills with great views. Your pictures do them justice. And what a great shot of the deer! I have got good memories of this trip, thanks for taking me back.
Assuming your mate still wants to do them, you could park one car at Victoria Bridge and a second car at the White Corries car park and also include Creise and Meall a’ Bhuiridh. It is a great traverse with more great views.

[Gordie12]

Wow.......that looked like a brilliant day and your pics are great.

Still to do these two, closest I've got was walking past on the West Highland Way. To be honest I had no plans to do these hills this year but that may change now.

[Alteknacker]

A really wonderful place, if the weather's on your side (I was up on the same hills 3 days later than you). Looks like you took pics of the same fabulous views as I. We're truly the privileged ones

I smiled at your account of your first trip: I do everything solo these days, unless it's with my brother, for exactly the reason that you need to be pace/mojo compatible with someone else if you're not alone: either you have the embarrassment of slowing down someone much fitter than you are; or vice versa (and then the emotion is less socially acceptable than embarrassment ).

[roughwalker]

Two very fine hills with great views. Your pictures do them justice. And what a great shot of the deer! I have got good memories of this trip, thanks for taking me back.
Assuming your mate still wants to do them, you could park one car at Victoria Bridge and a second car at the White Corries car park and also include Creise and Meall a’ Bhuiridh. It is a great traverse with more great views.

Thanks silverhill,getting my mate up one munro at the moment would be a major achievement let alone four

Wow.......that looked like a brilliant day and your pics are great.

Still to do these two, closest I've got was walking past on the West Highland Way. To be honest I had no plans to do these hills this year but that may change now.

Thanks gordie,it was a brilliant day,i would highly recommend these hills,especially stob ghabhar

A really wonderful place, if the weather's on your side (I was up on the same hills 3 days later than you). Looks like you took pics of the same fabulous views as I. We're truly the privileged ones

I smiled at your account of your first trip: I do everything solo these days, unless it's with my brother, for exactly the reason that you need to be pace/mojo compatible with someone else if you're not alone: either you have the embarrassment of slowing down someone much fitter than you are; or vice versa (and then the emotion is less socially acceptable than embarrassment ).

Thanks alteknacker,it is a wonderful place. I too do most walking myself,but have a group i go with occasionally, although i don't like slowing someone down or being hurried up the hill,i really don't mind waiting for slower people,just means you can take it all a bit more