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As my next trip to Scotland is coming closer and closer now (without any munros or corbetts to tackle - this time my task is just to make my girlfriend fall in love with Scotland) I’m remembering last year’s walks and the fact that I hadn’t written a report about our walk up Stob Ban and Mullach nan Coirean. Here it is!
First of all this was a premiere: It was the first time in nine years that my sister Nadine and me could do big walks on five days in a row (Ben Donich, Beinn Buidhe, Beinn a Bheitir, Garbh Bheinn (Loch Leven) and today Stob Ban). Maybe we could have managed this before if we were no good weather walkers, but that’s the way we are.
Like all the days before there was sunshine and enough blue sky for a pair of trousers, but the wind had become stronger. When we left our car at the car park in Glen Nevis it felt like we might just stretch our legs a bit and turn around after some time, but we tried it anyway.
The walk up the stalkers’ path along the Allt Coire a'Mhusgain was quite pleasant. The gradient wasn’t steep, and slowly but surely we got higher and higher. After nearly two hours at about 650m we put our windstopper fleece on because the wind blasts had become even stronger. But Nadine didn’t complain and we went on, the rock face of Stob Ban to the right being really impressive.
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- the gentle walk up
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- the East face of Stob Ban
A little bit later we arrived at the bealach between Sgurr an Iubhair and Stob Ban and turned right to climb the latter one.
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- just before a Scotsman appeared (but not on a horse)
Suddenly a Scotsman with a kilt appeared and overtook us. He had walked along the Devil’s Ridge and wanted to climb Stob Ban now. He was of the opinion that the wind wouldn’t get much stronger any more. We thought that the blasts were fierce enough anyway and went on, falling back behind the Scotsman but luckily not down the cliffs as we kept a safe distance to the cliffs to the right. Finally the path become rocky and steep, but we didn’t give up and made it to the top of Stob Ban.
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- the last rocky slopes
The wind was surprisingly calm at the top, so we took the chance, our lunch out and sat down to rest. The Scotsman was sitting there too and was about to send a complicated SMS.
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- still cell phone reception on Stob Ban
He told us that the day after that he would help to re-measure Beinn Teallach – after that it might happen that Beinn Teallach is no munro any more. To get the correct height they intended to make measurements with expensive GPS devices for more than two hours. (This surely was no fun because the next day it rained from morning till evening.) Some days later they intended to go on with Ben Vane.
During our chat with the Scotsman someone else came climbing up the north ridge. He stepped on the summit cairn with one foot and in the next moment he was gone.
We stayed for more than 20 minutes, enjoying our tea, tomato bread and cheese and the views towards Ben Nevis, the Devil’s Ridge, the Mamores, Garbh Bheinn and Beinn a Bheitir. But finally it was time to walk on, first northwards down a path on a bouldery slope, then westwards along a gentle ridge.
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- north ridge of Stob Ban
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- the gentle ridge towards Mullach nan Coirean
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- the work of an unknown artist?
The blasts were still accompanying us, and when we reached the enormous summit cairn of Mullach nan Coirean we didn’t find a calm spot. So we didn’t stay long and headed down the ridge, first northwards then northeastwards. It took some time till we found a quiet spot to relax from the windswept and steep descent down the ridge.
Then we walked further down along the fence which was to our right. When it turned left we climbed over it and entered the forest. The path down here looked well used, but very neglected. There were trees having fallen across it, others had grown partly over it and to the left the slopes dropped down very steeply. Some parts of the path looked as if they wouldn’t survive many more walkers. But there seems to be no better way (or did anybody find one?).
We were glad when this part was over and we could enjoy the walk down the forest track with no steep drops and heavy blasts threatening us.
