Magnificent Mamores Meander - with a twist

[Fife Flyer]

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A pre-arranged outing to make the most of the continuing weather window. Cat (cmarcol) had volunteered/suggested the outing and after looking at my red balloons was kind of regretting offering to be the pilot for the day
We have walked a few times before and have taken it in turns to drive, which makes sense as we are almost a stones throw apart, providing you have a strong throwing arm
Cat suggested Stob Ban and I assumed she was meaning a trip to the Grey Corries, so the route was studied and downloaded to my phone. However we had crossed wires as Cat was fancying the Mamores and had a very good reason for heading back to the Mamores. I will let her explain and divulge all the gory details
So Stob Ban and Mullach nan Coirean were to be the destination and they proved to be an excellent work out in more ways than usual
Cat was uplifting me at 7am and we set off, the first major decision was which way to head, up the A9 to Dalwhinnie or west to Crianlarich and through Glencoe. I suggested the A9 so that was the way we went, returning by the other route.
We arrived at the far end of Glen Nevis and parked in the large car park which was almost empty, I suppose being a Tuesday we could hardly expect it to be heaving
As Cat had been along the initial part of the walk, navigating or keeping to the path was easy. I would imagine after a wet spell the path would be more like a burn, there were a few boggy patches and that after the recent dry weather - probably caused by snow melt

DSCF0993 by martin_beswick, a low level shot of Glen Nevis

The path climbs gradually up to the bealach at the top end of Glen Nevis and as you start the gradual ascent the views start to open up. Just before we reached the bealach the first patch of snow appeared, we surveyed the surrounding area and even though there were obvious footsteps on the snow, we skirted round the side of it as we did for the majority of the day. Having said that the only real snow field that we had to negotiate was on the summit of Stob Ban, more of that later

DSCF1005 by martin_beswick, - Cat demonstrating the good meandering path

DSCF1006 by martin_beswick, - Glen Nevis from a bit higher up

DSCF1008 by martin_beswick, - this shot indicates how the glen narrows towards the top

DSCF1012 by martin_beswick, - water feature on the way up

DSCF1014 by martin_beswick, - zoom to a couple who followed us all day

DSCF1015 by martin_beswick, - another water feature

DSCF1019 by martin_beswick, - interesting singular trees surviving on quite steep slopes

DSCF1024 by martin_beswick, - large snow field which was easy to cross, Stob Ban can be seen peeping up in the back ground

DSCF1025 by martin_beswick, - Stob Ban looming a bit larger and looking rather impressive

DSCF1026 by martin_beswick, - Cat demonstrating how warm it was even when being surrounded by snow

Before we knew it we had reached the bealach, where we had superb all round views which was mainly dominated to the west by the "Ring of Steal" which looked interesting, undulating and challenging

DSCF1030 by martin_beswick, - Stob Ban getting bigger

DSCF1029 by martin_beswick, - Glen Nevis again

DSCF1039 by martin_beswick, - Nice cornice with Ring of Steal in the background

DSCF1036 by martin_beswick, - view to the south

We decided to have our 'elevenses' before tackling the interesting ascent of Stob Ban and after the fuel stop the hardest part of the walk began

DSCF1040 by martin_beswick, - The way ahead avoiding the white stuff to the right

DSCF1044 by martin_beswick, - looking back towards the Ring of Steal

DSCF1047 by martin_beswick, - nice bit of blue snow

DSCF1053 by martin_beswick, - looking down on the West Highland Way and a few ants walking along it

Having said that there is an excellent path that winds it's way steeply up the side of Stob Ban, interrupted occasionally by some mild scrambling over larger obstacles

DSCF1055 by martin_beswick, - looking back, first shot of the Ben with it's own individual cloud

DSCF1057 by martin_beswick, - Stob Ban summit getting closer

DSCF1059 by martin_beswick, - looking back down to the bealach

DSCF1060 by martin_beswick, - first view of Mullach nan Coirean and the ridge that takes you there

DSCF1062 by martin_beswick, - Devils Ridge and Sgurr a Mhaim (Ring of Steal)

The summit of Stob Ban was reached after a few stops, purely to take photo's and to admire/take in the views
The summit area was tiny and what looked like the highest point was snow covered and as the approach shots show didn't look entirely safe. So we gingerly took a few steps near to the highest point and quickly retreated

DSCF1066 by martin_beswick, - snow covered summit

DSCF1069 by martin_beswick, - Cat pointing at something

DSCF1072 by martin_beswick, - West Highland Way winding it's way north

DSCF1073 by martin_beswick, - the north ridge up Stob Ban, we were tempted to venture out that way

DSCF1077 by martin_beswick, - ready to drop?

After taking quite a few photo's it was time to move on and start the descent over the loose stones and scree, a path had been worn into the stones and zig zagged down. We decided to venture out and have a peek at the approach route from the north ridge, however we didn't go very far as Cat was a wee bit freaked out by the narrowness and exposure of the ridge The main problem was we would have had to cross the exposed ridge in both directions

DSCF1085 by martin_beswick, - north ridge, looks interesting and rather narrow

DSCF1086 by martin_beswick, - Cat on the approach to the north ridge, view to the south in background

DSCF1078 by martin_beswick, - looking back up to the summit of Stob Ban and the stoney scree descent

DSCF1088 by martin_beswick, - the way ahead, summit of Mullach on the far right

DSCF1094 by martin_beswick, - the Ben in cloud for a change

DSCF1096 by martin_beswick, - the couple who were following us, taking the high route

DSCF1102 by martin_beswick, - looking back at Stob Ban, looks totally different

DSCF1103 by martin_beswick, - noticeable change in rock colour

The walk along the ridge between the summits was very pleasureable and the little sting in the tail was the trudge up to the summit of Mullach nan Coirean We knew it was psychological but we still huffed and puffed The summit cairn was worth the effort, a very well constructed mound of stones, which made an excellent spot to take some photo's of and from

DSCF1113 by martin_beswick, - first real view of the summit cairn on Mullach

DSCF1114 by martin_beswick, - summit cairn in the foreground with the ridge leading to Meall a' Chaorainn in the background

DSCF1116 by martin_beswick, - the Ben still in cloud

DSCF1115 by martin_beswick, - can't remember what direction this was

DSCF1117 by martin_beswick, - how to climb a cairn

DSCF1118 by martin_beswick, - summit pose

DSCF1122 by martin_beswick, - another summit pose

DSCF1124 by martin_beswick, - and another

DSCF1130 by martin_beswick, - looking back, what a shot

And so to the final descent, this where things didn't exactly go according to plan We could use lots of excuses, too much talking, lack of concentration, enjoying the views etc. End result we started the descent down the wrong shoulder This after I had made a mental note of the descent route, by looking over the route the night before and Cat was also aware of the possibility of taking the wrong shoulder
It wasn't until we had descended maybe 100m that Cat realised the error, especially as the shoulder we should have descended on was to our right, with a rather large gully in between
We contemplated going back, but after checking the map and surveying the way ahead (down) we decided to continue. We could see we weren't the first muppets to descend this way as at times there was a path
In the distance we could see a fence coming up the side of the shoulder and a newly constructed style over the fence which was obviously there for a reason

DSCF1138 by martin_beswick, - the shoulder we were descending

DSCF1139 by martin_beswick, - fence and style

DSCF1140 by martin_beswick, - fence going downhill

DSCF1142 by martin_beswick, - looking back up our descent route

We opted to make use of the style and follow the fence downhill, the descent turned out to be very easy on tufty grass intermingled with the usual heather. The one concern we had was we knew there was going to be a river/burn/stream to cross at the bottom, however when we reached the burn, crossing it required no wandering up and down the bank, makes a change for me
Once across the burn we reached another style and this is the point where we were back on track We estimated that our mistake was probably a much quicker descent and as the majority had been on grass, far easier on the joints
After the style there was a nice stoney path that descended through the deforested area, that really does look a mess. You would think in this day and age there must be some way of tidying up after the timber has been removed There are diversion signs that virtually direct you back to the car park, avoiding any active forestry work. We arrived back at the car park in just under 6 hours, feeling rather pleased with our days efforts
Big THANKS to Cat for 'volunteering' to drive and for your great company, the only time there was any silence was when we were puffing and panting going uphill
Off out tomorrow before the weather changes, little hill/s

[simon-b]

Another good one, Martin.

[Jock McJock]

Nice report and pics. Stob Ban is starting to stick out like a sore thumb on my Munro map, need to get that sorted soon

[hopper68]

Good report and some cracking pictures.

[rockhopper]

Enjoyed that - looked great (posing notwithstanding ).
Must get back here some time having seen nothing first time round - cheers

[cmarcol]

Cat was fancying the Mamores and had a very good reason for heading back to the Mamores. I will let her explain and divulge all the gory details

No

e decided to venture out and have a peek at the approach route from the north ridge, however we didn't go very far as Cat was a wee bit freaked out by the narrowness and exposure of the ridge The main problem was we would have had to cross the exposed ridge in both directions

Hey! I would have had no problem crossing it once but crossing it knowing I had to go back that way..... NOPE

We could use lots of excuses, too much talking, lack of concentration, enjoying the views etc. End result we started the descent down the wrong shoulder This after I had made a mental note of the descent route, by looking over the route the night before and Cat was also aware of the possibility of taking the wrong shoulder

Not at all. Anyone can blindly follow a GPS We were practising our true navigation and map reading skills

Excellent day - cheers for the company. I'll definitely return to ascend via the North Ridge some day (not the North Buttress though )
Next stop for me - Ring of Steall!