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Creag Mac Ranaich from Glen Ogle

Creag Mac Ranaich from Glen Ogle


Postby past my sell by date » Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:42 pm

Corbetts included on this walk: Creag Mac Ranaich

Date walked: 15/03/2016

Time taken: 4.5 hours

Distance: 12 km

Ascent: 667m

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Another stunning day :)
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Looking down Loch Earn from St. Fillans
Being fundamentally a rather lazy bugger I normally climb this hill - which I do quite often - from the head of Glen Ogle as (a) it is only a short drive and (b) you get a start of nearly 300m :D From the big car park on the East side I nip behind Glen Ogle cottages on to the old railway and head North.
You can take the first track on the Left, but it's very boggy and at the end you have to climb through a hole in a very ricketty deer fence :( so I think it's marginally quicker to continue and take the larger track further on. - NB. an extra track not shown on the map has just been created for harvesting
Where the track branches, the forest is quite open and there are good views down Loch Tay and across Glen Dochart
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Lawers Group
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Sgiath Chuil - what a difference a good covering of snow makes :shock: :)
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A lot of the forest has been cleared here and Ben More and Stobinian soon appear.
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The track seems to comes to an end, but a path pushes on through the trees and after a short while joins the main track up Glen Dubh
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You come out of the woods on to the main track, which heads L through a gate and on up the glen at an agreeable angle with pleasant views back across Glen Dochart
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Looking in the other direction Meall an Fhiodian - an outlier of Meall an-t- Seallaidh - fills the horizon
The slopes of Creag Mac Ranaich above the 600m top of the pass are too steep for a direct ascent (in winter anyway): I have never found a path as there isn't really any particularly good route, but I usually leave the track a hundred metres or so before the high point. The summit is on the extreme L (North ) end of a long ridge, but unfortunately the terrain consists of rightward sloping ramps, so that you are continually climbing diagonally away from your objective :( The snow was firm - seriously icy near the top - and it seemed a long 220 m of ascent , but the views were splendid :)
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The top comes into sight
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Closer
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]Meall an-t-Seallaidh
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The little knob below and immediately L of Stobinian is the Graham The Stob I think
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Looking down Glen Dochart
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Zoomed - I had to draw a lot of lines on the map to work this out, but the low peak on the Left is Fiarach with parts of the Ben Lui Group behind. R of that is Beinn a Bhuiridh, and the unmistakeable spikes of Cruachan (50km away). In front - in the sun - is Beinn Chuirn: Meall Odhar is further R with Beinn Eunaich behind it
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Beinn Challuim on the L with Beinn nan Imrean in front of it. Meall Glas and Beinn Cheathaich centre R with the higher hills - Creag Mhor and Beinn Sheasgarnaich - at the back
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North across Loch Tay
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Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin
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The wider view includes Beinn Each

Descent
It's not elegant, it's not pretty and it's not even terribly enjoyable, but by far the quickest way back to base (an hour in good conditions) is head north down the watershed and peel off R directly down the boggy hillside towards the car park. :lol: If you keep to the far L at the bottom there are no fences to cross .

EDIT Nov 2018
Now I would descend by "superdirect" https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=85410
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The North side was very icy and I had some difficulty with the first 20m of the descent - even with a short ice axe. I normally go down this broad gully and then keep leftish, but this time it was far too icy to get into, so Ifollowed some footsteps over the knoll to its R, and kept on the South side of the stream for a bit. There was nice firm neve for quite a while
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Looking back to the top
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Afternoon sunshine on Tayside :)
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An evening view of Vorlich from near the pass
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Last edited by past my sell by date on Fri Dec 20, 2019 3:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
past my sell by date
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Re: Creag Mac Ranaich from Glen Ogle

Postby rockhopper » Thu Mar 17, 2016 11:53 pm

Interesting - that looked a good way to approach and a cracking day too. Thought I was being lazy by using the usual Kendrum approach as it meant I could cycle up to about the 400m level but yours looks even better - cheers :)
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Re: Creag Mac Ranaich from Glen Ogle

Postby basscadet » Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:09 pm

I came down that way, and have to agree that the scenery over that side of the hill is far bonnier than the usual route from Lochearnhead - Canny see your photos, but looking forward to it when I get home - Thanks for posting :D
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Re: Creag Mac Ranaich from Glen Ogle

Postby past my sell by date » Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:27 pm

rockhopper wrote:Interesting - that looked a good way to approach and a cracking day too. Thought I was being lazy by using the usual Kendrum approach as it meant I could cycle up to about the 400m level but yours looks even better - cheers :)

Thanks RH: I usually get a cracking day - I have seven every week to choose from :) - One of the few benefits of being PMSBD :lol: :lol: :lol:
I' ve also done Meall an-t-Seallaidh this way - sans camera - followed the track to about the same place , headed up the slopes before Meall an Fhiodhain (shown in one of the pics) and followed the high ground South. It was all frozen, so I've no idea how boggy it is summer
past my sell by date
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