The Dalmally Horseshoe
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:25 pmAt the east end of the Cruachan Ridge the beautiful ridges and peaks of Coire Chreachainn over look the village of Dalmally. The round of this fine coire is known as the Dalmally Horseshoe. Starting from the junction of the A85 with the B8077 we followed a track through a field of coos around the base of Monadh Driseig (the east ridge of Beinn a'Bhuiridh) and into Coire Chreachainn. The weather wasn't promising with cloud down to a low level and the rain starting as we began the climb of the East Ridge of Stob Garbh, the first peak of the day.
The ridge starts of broad and undefined, steep and grassy but as we climbed the ridge narrowed, steepened and passed the snow line. The snow was soft, wet and gave little purchase on the steep slopes of the ridge. As we reached the main ridge we were in thick cloud and took a bearing to get us to the summit of Stob Garbh. From Stob Garbh the ridge to Stob Daimh is well defined and we were able to follow the coire rim without much difficulty, reaching the days only munro summit in a fierce wind and deteriorating visibility. The way onward to Sron Isean wasn't exactly clear with steep snowy ground all around the NE aspect of the peak and visibility of only a few metres. Trust in your compass...following a bearing from the summit we made our way carefully down the slopes and as we got lower the visibility improved enough to let us see we were on track. A short climb saw us at the cairn of Sron Isean, so far we hadn't had any kind of view and on this summit was no different. As we began our descent of the East Ridge a brief break in the cloud gave us a glimpse of Beinn Eunaich glowing in the sun...it vanished as quickly as it had appeared and we continued down into the cloud. A short while later the cloud really began to break up and gave us fantastic views all around.
The ridge continued on pleasantly until we cut off into the coire just before the nose. Very steep grassy slopes took us back down to pick up the path which led us back past the coos to the car. This is a great route and perfect for a shorter winter day out.
- Looking down the east ridge of Stob Garbh
The ridge starts of broad and undefined, steep and grassy but as we climbed the ridge narrowed, steepened and passed the snow line. The snow was soft, wet and gave little purchase on the steep slopes of the ridge. As we reached the main ridge we were in thick cloud and took a bearing to get us to the summit of Stob Garbh. From Stob Garbh the ridge to Stob Daimh is well defined and we were able to follow the coire rim without much difficulty, reaching the days only munro summit in a fierce wind and deteriorating visibility. The way onward to Sron Isean wasn't exactly clear with steep snowy ground all around the NE aspect of the peak and visibility of only a few metres. Trust in your compass...following a bearing from the summit we made our way carefully down the slopes and as we got lower the visibility improved enough to let us see we were on track. A short climb saw us at the cairn of Sron Isean, so far we hadn't had any kind of view and on this summit was no different. As we began our descent of the East Ridge a brief break in the cloud gave us a glimpse of Beinn Eunaich glowing in the sun...it vanished as quickly as it had appeared and we continued down into the cloud. A short while later the cloud really began to break up and gave us fantastic views all around.
The ridge continued on pleasantly until we cut off into the coire just before the nose. Very steep grassy slopes took us back down to pick up the path which led us back past the coos to the car. This is a great route and perfect for a shorter winter day out.