Walkhighlands

On Friday 24th March 2017 I was standing on top of Stob Ban in the Grey Corries looking across at one of my favourite places.

View of the Mamores 24/03/17


Fast forward 2 months to thursday 25th May 2017 and I was there in totally different conditions


The Ring of Steall from Polldubh


I set off from Polldubh on the riverside path alongside the Nevis


Soon I reached the footbridge for the first of two crossings of the River Nevis


I was now on the road for a short distance and got a low flypast down the glen from the search and rescue helicopter which was floating about the ben all day


Zoomed


An ominous sign


Clouds rolling down from Ben Nevis


I reached the end of the road and was soon through the Nevis Gorge "the best half mile in Scotland" I don't have the words to describe the gorge. The following is from WH Murray.


"Its distinctive character is not Alpine but Himalayan, this despite its relatively small scale. At its top end, on either side of the glen, Ben Nevis and Sgurr a'Mhaim project spurs of rock seeming to pinch off the higher from the lower reaches. Through this rock barrier the river Nevis has carved a deep and tortuous channel. Above the rampart it flows level, but now has burst through the gut, its white fury gouging pots and cauldrons out of the rock bed, churning past gigantic boulders in a fall of 400 feet. The gorge resounds to its thunder. The walls are wooded in old scots pines, rowans, birches and oak. Through them a footpath winds up the true right bank .It gives clear views of the wild river, of the natural wood on the far side, and in itself is a path of extraordinary interest and beauty. The throat of the gorge is v-shaped. Through its cleft can be seen the wide flash of the Steall waterfall

It was after reading those words over 30 years ago I first walked the gorge to visit the great falls.

An Steall Ban


I crossed the wire bridge but didn't take any photos (so here is an old one )


There may be finer places in Scotland than this but not many.


The climb up An Gearanach was on a good stalkers path but relentless in the heat.


On the ridge looking back to the first munro


The approach to An Garbhanach has fairly easy scrambling but care is needed and I reckon its safer on the crest than the bypass path
An Garbhanach on the right


From this point it was up and down the next two munros then the ex munro (I stopped taking pictures for a while because of the heat, my water situation, sunburn prevention etc ) onwards to the Devils ridge and Sgurr a'Mhaim.


The ridge is impressive and again care is needed at one point but there is a bypass path on the left
Looking back on the Devils Ridge


And again


The view across from Sgurr a'Mhaim showing the many dangers and traps on the southside of Ben Nevis.



I ran out of water at the summit cairn and I had been rationing it also. There is no water on the descent either. I was glad when I got to the road that I hadn't left it at the top car park as I now only had a few yards to crawl to the car for refreshments.

Nice report, great conditions.


Is this "route of the month" or something, there seem to have been loads of reports recently! Why not, though, its a top round.

Nice report. That looked beautiful in the sunshine, but I am sure it was hard work in the heat. A definate culinary theme to walk titles for May,

Enjoyed that - you certainly picked a great day for it Keep thinking to myself that I need to get back here some day having seen almost nothing in the clag - that said, water supply wasn't so much of an issue that day - cheers

I sure was cookin' on that day!!!

Lovely quote at the start of the report, and great to see what that part of Glen Nevis looks like: I've only traversed it in the dark, and all I experienced of the Steall Falls was the sound . But it's clear that, as you say, there may be finer places in Scotland than this, but not many!

Good to be reminded of a great day, and apologies once again for not recalling our paths crossing on Devil's Ridge.

Mal Grey wrote:Nice report, great conditions.


Is this "route of the month" or something, there seem to have been loads of reports recently! Why not, though, its a top round.

Cheers Mal. It is a great route.

Cairngorm creeper wrote:Nice report. That looked beautiful in the sunshine, but I am sure it was hard work in the heat. A definate culinary theme to walk titles for May,

Cheers CG Yes it was worth suffering the heat just for the vistas.

RTC wrote:Great photos, especially of Devil's Ridge.

Thanks for your comments RTC.

rockhopper wrote:Enjoyed that - you certainly picked a great day for it Keep thinking to myself that I need to get back here some day having seen almost nothing in the clag - that said, water supply wasn't so much of an issue that day - cheers

Thanks rockhopper.It is an area I visit often even in the rain when the falls can be very impressive but when the river is a raging torrent the bridge is harder to cross - even though it's all in the head

Alteknacker wrote:I sure was cookin' on that day!!!


Lovely quote at the start of the report, and great to see what that part of Glen Nevis looks like: I've only traversed it in the dark, and all I experienced of the Steall Falls was the sound . But it's clear that, as you say, there may be finer places in Scotland than this, but not many!

Good to be reminded of a great day, and apologies once again for not recalling our paths crossing on Devil's Ridge.

Cheers Altenacker that was a big day you had especially in that heat. I'm sure our paths will cross again. All the best

Hi Sunset tripper! The pictures you made look amazing! I was there as wel, this year with the same weather. You can never have enough pictures of the Mamores.

ere1 wrote:Hi Sunset tripper! The pictures you made look amazing! I was there as wel, this year with the same weather. You can never have enough pictures of the Mamores.

Cheers ere1. We could do with some of that weather now.

It's a superb day out. We did this circuit a few years back in very similar conditions (cooking heat). I enjoyed the scrambling over An Garbhanach, not difficult at all I'd love to repeat the round anticlockwise (Sgurr a Mhaim first) but not necessarily in a scorchio.
An Garbhanach... No, nothing difficult here (ha ha ha):

BTW I think my report on Ring of Steel was called "4 eggs in one basket" or something like that... Though in cooking conditions even the eggs got scrambled!

Cheers BlackPanther. It's definitely a route worth repeating. Great photo, it makes it look quite intimidating
But not too bad in reality.