free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
my very recent trip to glencoe
well, night before i decided i was not going anywhere (couldnt be bothered), and on such nice day (as forecasted) i still would be happy to do a wee beach walk like yellowcraigs to nth berwick..
..fine.... but as soon as i opened my eyes next morning i knew that i HAVE to go to glencoe
i chose a route which i have been thinking about for some time already (about a year) but i knew that my partner wouldnt like it too much, so i kind of left it for a 'only me' trip. and so it was.
the route is not too long but rather tiresome. 2 munros, walk thru wet rough moorland, steep climb up the rocky ridge, unpleasant way down.. but when i finally made it down, i felt awesome
so here is how it all happened the day started rather nice, and thou i rarely stop on my way just to take pics, i just couldnt miss this opportunity (bridge of orchy hills)
leave the car at glencoe ski centre, jump over the burn (not INTO the burn as i did and ended up wet 10 metres after i started the walk!). there is a faint path (many faint paths) going thru the moorland but soon i discovered that the best idea is just going straight ahead, with no regard to any path. going thru the moorland is wet, rough and long.
cam ghleann -i will climb both those mountains in couple of hours
the most difficult part of the route, north-west ridge of creise. basicaly, the route goes straight up the ridge (just before the summit, there is a path to avoid difficult scramble just at the summit, path goes to the left, via grassy slope)
as you could see from the map i drafted, i joined the ridge about 1/4 way up. that's what i saw when looked up, my heart beat a wee bit faster ..
stop dearg & ben nevis range
apparently this route up has been walked before, there was a faint 'on and off' path. still, quite steep and most of the time i had to use my hands to hold on to .. whatever. that day i was the only one going up this way. and i admit, i felt kind of relieved that i was by myself and didnt have to feel responsible for anybody else
going up the ridge involved: sliding down on the mud, uncontrolled sliding on fine loose scree, rock climbing and crawling up the grass (on 4). all the way up was very steep and very exposed, i had a feeling that one bad step and i will slide all the way down, to the very foot of the mountain
path avoiding the tricky scramble just below the summit of sron na creise
second summit of the day stob a'ghlais choire
stob na broige & stob na doire (buachaille etive mor)
on sron na creise, very happy
way up stob a'ghlais choire
yuppiii!!!! first munro of the day, creise, in a sight range finally!
looking back towards stob a'ghlais choire
meall a'bhuiridh & bridge of orchy munros
clach leathad
my goddness and what views i had! visibility was good enough to identify such mountains as: schiehallion, rannoch moor, bridge of orchy munros (beinn dorain group), ben vorlich & stuc a chroin, ben more & stob binnein, ben lawers group, tarmachan ridge, cruach ardrain, ben cruachan, glen etive munros, buachaile etive beag (stob dubh), aonach eagach, beinn a'breithir, bidean nam bian, stob coire nan lochan, stob coire sgreamhach, ben nevis range, stob ban....
bidean nam bian
looking back to creise
there is a fairly large cairn marking a path off down, going to the dip between creise ridge and meall a'bhuiridh.
go down, bum-slide down, climb down the big boulders towards the dip and meall a'bhuiridh. comparing to creise's northwest ridge it's like a walk in princes street gardens
nice and easy, and quite enjoyable
creise, stretched like a caterpillar
clach leathad
meall a'bhuiridh summit
oh, just cant stop admiring the views!
bridge of orchy munros
way down from the summit of meall a'bhuiridh as far as to the chairlift station, was all covered in a calf deep snow. i could have avoided it by walking on a side (grassy-stony, wet slope) but taking a snowy route down was sooo much more comfortable and easier! didnt have to watch my steps at all
however i ended up with my feet wet, as the snow was deep enough to penetrate the boots from top. but, hey, who cares!
when i reached the upper station of chair lift and discovered that it is actually on (yes yes yeeeeess!) there was no argument to make me think i should actually WALK down
this saved me about 40 mins of walk, cost a fiver and was worth every penny! before i hit the road home i had a quick cake and coke in the ski cafe, happy and proud of myself
in my opinion, the route up that i chose was the most attractive option of bagging the two. i really wouldnt fancy going up and down the same way, not to mention deep snow and neverending false summits. i guess i would be already fed up with whole route before i even reached meall a'bhuiridh.
taking the northwest ridge route produced so much adrenaline that my mind was more occupied with 'where to put my feet now and what to hold on to' than with the actuall efford of walking up the hill
dont get me wrong, it was hard going and rather difficult one, finding the way up was tricky sometimes and there also were 2 rather tricky steps to take, but the overall was quite positive
now, if you are interested in getting to know some more details and seeing more pics from that day, click here:
http://around-scotland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/meall-abhuiridh-creise-via-north-west.htmlENJOY!!!
Ela
