Meall Odhar from Tyndrum

[rob munbett]

I was heading up to Corran bunkhouse for a weekend with my friends. I thought I'd break my journey with a hill on the way up and since the cloud was down on the 'big hills', I thought Meall Odhar would be ideal - and so it proved. I parked at Tyndrum lower station, crossed the railway and turned immediately right along a forest road. After about five minutes I reached the rocky stream bed on the left and started finding the best route up. Soon, I arrived at the old lead-mines and wound my way up on the obvious zig-zag track through the desolate landscape. At the top of this track I headed over towards the summit of Sron nan Colan and had my first sight of Meall Odhar.

Summit of Sron nan Colan (r) with Meall Odhar beyond

Over the top of SnC, I started a descent towards Creag Bhuidhe on soft ground and quickly reached to top corner of the forest.

Descending Sron nan Colan looking over to Creag Bhuidhe (r) and Meall Odhar (l)

Looking back to Sron nan Colan

From here, the route was clear - follow the obvious rib of white rock (with a fence-line,too) to the summit plateau. There was even a bit of a path - on a Graham!

Meall Odhar from the corner of the forest (summit on right)

Looking up the 'rocky rib'

Getting over to the summit was simply case of turning right at the top of the 'rib' and strolling over to the large cairn. Unfortunately, the views were limited by the low cloud but at least my top was clear.

The summit cairn of meall Odhar with Beinn Chuirn in cloud

It was pretty breezy and a light drizzle was falling so I decided not to linger. On the way up, I had noticed a bit of a man-made shelter near the outflow from the lochan, so I headed back down the rib and sat there to enjoy a bit of lunch before heading back down my route of ascent.

Descending the 'rocky rib' towards the sheltered lunch spot

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[GillC]

Pinching this wee route for next week,,been trying to get back into upwards walking lol dodgy knees been keeping me low level,,looks like a good one to kickstart the hills again.

[jmarkb]

It's a nice wee hill! The white rib is an interesting feature - as far as I can tell from geology mapping it is a continuation of the vein that is being mined for gold at Cononish (though maybe not for much longer according to the news today: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-67359137 ).