A very early start on a June monday morning saw me heading north hoping to beat the expected crowds. I got parked up at the back of three after a leisurely drive through rannoch moor in the dark, dodging the million or so deer. Just enough time for a quick nap which was really just wriggling about trying to find a comfortable position. By half four I was fed up and it was near enough daylight so I just headed out.
Gloomy Stob Dearg in almost daytime.
A good and obvious path leads quickly upwards to the right of the scree.
I noticed some saxifrage and went a bit of a wander through the boulders looking for more alpines.
I couldn't find the "path" again, if there even is actually one all the way up, so it turned into an interesting scramble. Merrell boots and wet rocks are not a good combination apparently.
It was absolutely boiling the whole way up here. No wind at all. A very odd experience on a Munro. By the time I scrambled up to the top of the gully, the views were really opening up and the sun was just starting to burn away the morning cloud.
The mountain gets rather pink up here on the final pull to the summit.
The views over Rannoch Moor were tremendous.
The south side down to Glen Etive looked a tad steep.
As good as the views are from these hills, the real star of this mountain is the ridge walk between Stob Dearg and Stob na Broige.
Conditions were absolutely perfect with periods of walking in clouds then suddenly clearing and seeing the ridge ahead appear out of nowhere. I much prefer this to walking in perfect visibility.
A few smaller summits are passed.
Looking back down the valley between little and big buachie
No views from Stob na Broiga
Getting down from here to the valley floor was somewhat challenging. There are a couple of options but it's pretty slippy and steep. I ended up on my arse a good few times
It looks rather benign in this photo however.
The path back to the car parking spot follows a small burn.
A final parting shot of a splendid mountain.
