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With a good (probably) forecast on the cards for most of Saturday, I wisely decided to head through to Glencoe for the weekend to escape the horrors of Eurovision. Finished work early on Friday, which is always a good feeling and headed through via the horrors of Perth's atrocious road network, then Crieff. I had toyed with the idea of a quick single up Ben Chonzie on the way, but give it was a Friday with decent weather in prospect, I just headed straight to Glencoe to make sure i got a decent space at the Red Squirrel campsite. This turned out to be a sensible decision, as by 8pm to the place was packed.
After a laughably bad portion of supernoodles for tea, I thought i'd head along the road for a wee wander. It was a lovely evening with some nice light on Sgor nam Fiannaidh, which only served to highlight how horrible the Clachaig Gully descent must be
- Clachaig Gully & Sgor nam Fiannaidh
I continued along the road, resisting the temptation to have a pint in the Clachaig and followed the River Coe along as I'm sure i'd spotted a couple of nice spots for photos on the way in.
- A look up Glencoe, AE on the the left
There was indeed a cracking waterfall just beyond the turn off to the Clachaig, it had a fair bit of force behind it, probably snow melt etc making it's way off the hills.
- River Coe Waterfall
I walked about a mile back towards the campsite before realising I'd left the car keys sitting on a rock beside the waterfall. *facepalm* Still, it was a nice night and a good leg stretcher. Got back to the even-busier campsite which had a near blanket of smoke from the various fires, had a quick shower, and settled down for a crap sleep in the tent.
The following morning looked great. Blue skies, with little wind
I packed up and headed up the road, having decided I'd tackle the full Buachaille Etive Mor ridge, as my previous visit in 2013 for SCoob and Fi's brilliant compleation day, I'd only done Stob Dearg and headed back down the Corrie. I parked up at Altnafeadh, happily getting a spot on the roadside layby, rather than risking the sump-tearing car park across the road, a scene of much amusement (and probably a garage visit or two) on Scoob and Fi's day.
I hummed and hayed for a while, as I could see a bank of snow at the top of Coire na Tulaich. In the end I decided to go for it anyway. If it was too dodgy, I'd come back and do something else on the way home. It was a glorious morning, and virtually everyone seemed to be heading for Curved Ridge. I'd have been tempted had my fitness not been atrociously poor.
- Stob Dearg & Coire na Tulaich
- Looking down towards the wee Buachaille
I made my way up at a half decent pace, enjoying the brief respites of shade in the Corrie, and taking plenty of photo stops/rests. The views were great higher up.
- Nevis Range and the Mamores from the upper part of Coire na Tulaich
Near the final steep section, I joined another John, a fine lad from Aberdeen who also intended to do the full ridge. We had to dodge the path on a few bits due to dodgy-looking snow cover, and compared our mutual dislike of loose and steep scree. We rejoined the path on the final scrambly section, and met the snowy bank. Having earlier seen someone safely exit the Corrie, using helpfully deep footsteps we headed up with no difficulties, although once on the top, didn't spend too long standing about on the massive cornice for obvious reasons
The views were fantastic from here.
- Stob "Why am I not a Munro" na Doire
- The cornice, the Corrie and the distant hills of the Mamores, Nevis and Grey Corries
From the Bealach it's a fairly easy stroll up a gentle incline to the fabulous summit of Stob Dearg and it's glorious view across the vast expanse of Rannoch Moor and beyond. What a place.
- From Stob Dearg's Summit
After a bite to eat and the admiration of the jaw-dropping views, we got moving back down to the bealach and along to Stob Na Doire, debating (as presumably almost everyone does) how on earth it can't be a separate Munro. The ascent looked quite depressing as we knew there was a tonne of height to lose over it's other side. As it turn's out, the climb wasn't horrible, however the steep, rocky and seemingly never-ending descent was not much fun, and my dodgy knee was playing up. It was a relief to reach the relatively serene ridge leading up to Stob Coire Altruim, picking out the descent path to the Lairig Gartain on the way. We stopped at the wee cairn on Altrium to don a layer as the sun had gone, with a strong wind now on the scene. A total contrast to earlier conditions. It was also a nice spot to look back along at the day's walk so far.
- Stob Dearg and Stob na Broige from Stob Coire Altruim
After this, it's a fairly short walk along a nice ridge on mildly undulating terrain, with a very short pull up to the summit of Stob na Broige. The views weren't great as the sky was overcast. We did however spy a totally bizarre bit of cloud action back on Stob Dearg, hopefully visible on the photo:
- Weird Clouds
There's no doubt a sensible, technical reason for this, but it looked pretty cool, almost as if the cloud was being thrown against the mountain. I hadn't seen anything like it before.
After a most welcome cheese piece, it was time to head back along the ridge, and find the marker cairn for what promised to be a soul-destroying descent back to the Lairig Gartain. I could hardly flex my knee by this point, so it wasn't the greatest experience I've had in the hills, to say the least
Steep, rocky and wet in places. There was also an unexpected but quite cool scrambly bit which ran alongside a nice waterfall.
- The Descent
Thankfully we were soon at the floor of the Lairig Gartain, following the half decent path out, over a handful of stream crossings, back to the incredibly busy A82 and a mildly hairy walk along the roadside back to the car.
This was a fine day, with a hugely enjoyable ridgewalk out to the second munro, after sensational views from the first. A truly wonderful mountain.