walkhighlands

Share your personal walking route experiences in Scotland, and comment on other peoples' reports.
Warning Please note that hillwalking when there is snow lying requires an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge, experience and skill to use them correctly. Summer routes may not be viable or appropriate in winter. See winter information on our skills and safety pages for more information.

Scorching day for Ben Lui from Dalrigh (A82/Tyndrum)

Scorching day for Ben Lui from Dalrigh (A82/Tyndrum)


Postby jwramsay » Tue May 09, 2017 7:22 am

Route description: Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chlèibh

Munros included on this walk: Beinn a' Chlèibh, Ben Lui

Date walked: 07/05/2017

Time taken: 9 hours

Distance: 16 km

Ascent: 1330m

2 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).

Sunday 7th May 2017 saw a ridge of high pressure sitting over Scotland so we were guaranteed a great day out in the hills.

We had initially wanted to bag a pair down deepest Glen Etive, but at Crianlarich we noticed a road sign indicating that the A82 would be closed from Bridge Of Orchy at 9pm, there was no way we'd be back by then, so we changed our minds and headed to the mighty Ben Lui instead.

Peter and I had climbed this previously from the carpark on the A85 side, catching the smaller munro Beinn a Cheilbh too.

We had always said that we would love to return and go the long approach from Dalrigh, so we plumped for that.

We parked up around 11:30am, suprised that the car park at Dalrigh was not full! Not having a description of the route to hand was an issue, with the phone only allowing GPRS. We headed for the river and went right, it wasn't long before we merged back to the landrover track that goes all the way to the base of Ben Lui.



This track, hell lets call it a motorway, is 3 lane all the way to the Cononish mine and farm with the green roofs and would lend itself very much to cycling. Its pretty flat and the surface, althought not tarmac, is really good with no massive potholes.

After the farm the track becomes more dual carriageway rather than motorway, still very cycleable mind. It starts to gently climb uphill before eventually falling down to a river at the base of Ben Lui.

A good time to have a break, take on some food and a cup of coffee. The path onwards is obvious, its to the right of the small river that flows from Ben Lui, you gain about 1000 feet here quite quickly until you reach the Coire.

There is a small cairn on this path which marks the decision point - head on the very faint path to the right and up onto Stob Garbh, or stick with the main path and head left.

We fancied a bit of scrambling so chose the latter option. The main path eventually fizzles out at the Bolder field and then you chose your route. We headed up a small gully with some real nice unexposed scrambling.
Once at the top of this you can then skirt round Ben Lui and climb it from the path that comes from Ben Oss, or follow the scrambling path left heading straight towards the summit. There is a bit more exposure here but nothing too daunting. It brought us right out at the summit on Ben Lui, which was busy as lots of walkers had arrived from the A85 carpark.

Unlike our last visit here, which was clagged, the views were stunning and due to the great visibility, we could see all the way to Arran, Jura, Mull on the West and Ben Nevis, CMD and the Aonachs to the North. We filled out boots with photos and videos on both summits before dropping steeply to Stob Garbh.

The path here skirts the cliffs, so real care needs to taken, but its all fine. Once on the plateau of Stob Garbh you look back up to the summit of Ben Lui and those cliffs are very imposing. A cairn marks the top of the 600 foot drop back down to the coire, picking up the main path and retracing your steps another 1000 feet to the river at the end of the dual carriageway. A two hour walkout to the car saw us return at 20:30, giving a 9 hour time for the walk, 4 hours of which is the motorway there and back.

A tremendous day on the hills!
Attachments

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

User avatar
jwramsay
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 304
Munros:109   Corbetts:8
Fionas:4   Donalds:3
Joined: Oct 11, 2010
Location: Wishaw

Re: Scorching day for Ben Lui from Dalrigh (A82/Tyndrum)

Postby jwramsay » Tue May 09, 2017 7:55 am

Been looking up some of the distances as the crow flies:

1. Goatfell Arran - 55 miles
2. Paps of Jura - 58 miles
3. Ben Nevis - 29 miles

Awesome visibility!
User avatar
jwramsay
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 304
Munros:109   Corbetts:8
Fionas:4   Donalds:3
Joined: Oct 11, 2010
Location: Wishaw

Re: Scorching day for Ben Lui from Dalrigh (A82/Tyndrum)

Postby PerthAlly » Tue May 09, 2017 8:52 am

Super video clip 8)

I passed Ben Lui on Sunday at 8am. The view was fantastic, a wee dusting of snow in the corrie.

It's a canny hike in from Dalrigh; a good fat burner :D

I was up Beinn Sgulaird in Appin. I could see the Paps of Jura but don't recall seeing Arran.

Aye, Sunday was a peach of day for walkers !
User avatar
PerthAlly
Mountaineer
 
Posts: 371
Munros:145   Corbetts:15
Fionas:1   Donalds:5
Sub 2000:3   
Joined: Jul 23, 2014

Re: Scorching day for Ben Lui from Dalrigh (A82/Tyndrum)

Postby montie » Tue May 09, 2017 9:26 am

Nice walk. Shame about the three lane track though haha. I suppose it makes the walk in that wee bit easier.
montie
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 38
Joined: Apr 25, 2017

2 people think this report is great.
Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).




Can you help support Walkhighlands?


Our forum is free from adverts - your generosity keeps it running.
Can you help support Walkhighlands and this community by donating by direct debit?



Return to Walk reports - Scotland

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Jaywizz, jmarkb, Marty Maciver, ScotFinn65 and 86 guests