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Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc


Postby gman » Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:02 pm

Route description: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stùc

Munros included on this walk: An Stùc, Meall Garbh (Ben Lawers), Meall Greigh

Date walked: 12/04/2012

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 16.5 km

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Left Lawers Hotel car park about 10am, sign says it's OK for walkers to use lower car park which is free if you spend money in hotel or a fiver for non-customers. Weather looked fine - sunny with a wee bit of cloud. Set off towards horn shop:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0001.jpg

Track goes up the side of house (I thought it was their drive at first) and leads to farm, the path is well signposted from there and it's a pleasant wander up, 2 stiles to cross then the Lawers conservation area bit, Meall Greigh behind:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0005.jpg

Looking back down to Loch Tay:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0006.jpg

An old shieling:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0011.jpg

Followed the WH route instead of going directly up, my map showed route up a burn but there's actually another to cross just before. A couple were going straight up instead. Bit of a slog up, worst part of the day! View to snowy Lawers, An Stuc, Meall Garbh:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0027.jpg

Finally got to cairn at top, other couple got there after me & our pace was about the same all day so route up the burn is probably quicker:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0029.jpg

Second cairn further along, weather still great (so far):
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0037.jpg

Path down & up to Meall Garbh, bit muddy and snow getting deeper here. Path isn't always easy to see but ok on a day with good visibility:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0042.jpg

Looking back up Meall Greigh, easy incline down unlike what was to come:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0047.jpg

Fence leading up Meall Garbh:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0049.jpg

Loch Tay, more snow here. Snow was OK to walk on with boots, not icy:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0052.jpg

Getting higher, met a group of youngsters here coming the opposite way. They said route to An Stuc was fine - I didn't have axe or crampons and thought it could be dodgy with snow/ice so that was a relief.:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0055.jpg

Meall Garbh cairn, Lawers had the most snow and An Stuc looming further on:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0060.jpg

Easy descent at first then a wee scramble, clouds getting a bit darker:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0071.jpg

An Stuc, had heard this was tricky but was ok even with a wee bit of snow. There's a path that starts on the left avoiding most of the snow. I decided to go straight up instead cos that would obviously be quicker :? Met a guy who had come over Lawers, snow was deep up there but no real probs - quite a few doing 5 Munros but 3 fine for me :D
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0076.jpg

Way up was ok, no path to follow but joined it towards the top. Some hand holds are actually rocks buried in dirt and not actually attached to crags. Looking down:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0084.jpg

Cairn at top:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0087.jpg

Onwards & downwards, had heard descent from here was dodgy but it was fine, the ascent of An Stuc from Meall Garbh was the trickiest part and going in this direction meant scrambling up rather than down which I think is easier.
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0092.jpg

Descent path from An Stuc, big snowdrift blocks the way but easy to walk around:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0094.jpg

Followed left side of burn to lochan, it's steep with crags ahead so care needed. I kept close to the burn. Lochan at the bottom:
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0097.jpg

Descent route next to burn, had to be careful towards the top where crags are.
meall garbh_12Apr2012_0098.jpg

Snow flecks had been falling on the peaks but was getting heavier now so camera got packed away. Followed the right side of lochan, boggy with peat hags, then followed on the right side of stream which goes right back to the ascent path. There were a couple of groups camped out here, maybe DofE, some were returning to tents and didn't look impressed with snow falling - it's character building though, I thought as I returned to hotel for hot food :D
Last edited by gman on Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby Jockstar » Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:55 pm

Good effort especially with An Stuc in snowy conditions. :D And I agree with you regarding Meall Greigh as it seems a long walk but I thought the best way to tackle it is head on and not by following the burn. Also the better way around the Lochan as you begin to head for home is down the left had side as there is a better path :D
Good to get three - the other two can be done easier from the other side :D
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby Fudgie » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:00 pm

If you did that yesterday then I may have met you at the bottom of Meall Garbh :thumbup:
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby gman » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:37 pm

Fudgie wrote:If you did that yesterday then I may have met you at the bottom of Meall Garbh :thumbup:

Yeah that was me, got the date wrong on report - you'd left footprints so I could see where the deep snow was, cheers! :D
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby Fudgie » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:44 pm

gman wrote:
Fudgie wrote:If you did that yesterday then I may have met you at the bottom of Meall Garbh :thumbup:

Yeah that was me, got the date wrong on report - you'd left footprints so I could see where the deep snow was, cheers! :D


If you had carried on to Ben Lawers you would have seen a Fudgie shaped hole where I fell over on the way down :oops: :D I passed that group of scouts you mentioned and they all looked surprisingly fresh :shock:
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby ChrisW » Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:36 pm

Great report Gman and beautiful pics of the stunning Scottish scenery "it's character building though, I thought as I returned to hotel for hot food" that bit had me laughing....great finish :thumbup: :lol:
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby quoman » Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:00 pm

Good report gman and nice photo's Snow was OK to walk on with boots that always helps :lol:
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby Malckyb » Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:21 pm

Nice report..we are planning to do this walk on Sunday. :)
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby jwramsay » Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:43 pm

Great report and super photos!

I did this the opposite way around 2 weeks ago and going down An Stuc is not as bad as it looks to be fair. Great walk. If you have two cars park one at Ben Lawers hotel and drive to the Visitors centre car park and get all 5 - Glas, Lawers, Stc, Garbh, Greigh.

My report is here:

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19897
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby SMRussell » Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:18 pm

Good stuff - enjoyed that.

Always interested to hear what folks think of "the peak" - so many mixed reviews. Personally I found it a fun but straightforward scramble. I reckon it all comes down to whether of not you're a scrambling fan and can handle heights.
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Re: Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc

Postby Malckyb » Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:13 pm

We did this walk today..thats a steep descent down that gully to the Lochan after An Stuc!! :shock: ..i was more scared there than the scramble up An Stuc..a slip would mean rolling down to the Lochan! :lol: ..we just did Meal Garbh and An Stuc though from the Lawers hotel..Meal Griegh looked a bit bland....was a fab day!! :)
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