Sron Na Creise Ridge

[Boodaa]

25-04-09

Been a while since I've been in the hills so i decided to tackle something with an edge, the Sron Na Creise Ridge did not let me down.

Started from the white corries car park over the bog which was fairly firm underfoot. The weather was fine with a haze lying over Rannoch Moor. On turning the corner I was greeted with this...

Sron Na Creise Ridge

My route is in red, going for the higher ground lower down rather than slogging up the grass after i'd crossed the river. As you cross the central gully, looking up you could see one of the massive boulders overhanging. These massive boulder are the start of the ridge proper, this gave me a better idea of where I was heading to once on the ridge. There really was no reason to worry. The lower half of the ridge being mainly a mixutre of grass and slabs with good holds. Keeping left I came out at the boulder field, with this crossed I made my way up a ramp of loose rock in the central gully.

Central gully

Once the top of this gully is reached the real scrambling starts. No opportunity to get the camara out here as this was mostly hands on with no hands off. Nice big jugs to hold on to though. The weather was turning a bit cloudy but this was fine back in the mountains at last!!!

At the summit of Sron Na Creise, Creise is an easy walk away but I was feeling the lack of mountain fitness as I came up to the summit and another Munro to go!!

As I start off to Meall a'Bhuiridh the I could see some rain coming in over the black mount which hit just before I got to the summit. This time my legs really were feeling it. The hail was on so no time to hang about at the summit I head for the car park and found the best part of the day still to come.

With snow still holding and waterproofs on I glaslided down from the summit chairlifts to the bottom huts. Approx 300 - 400m in about 10mins. With every up there is a down and that was one to remember.

With new vigour in the legs I desended the last 300m to the car park with a twinkle in my toes.

It's great to be Back in the Mountains!!!

[kevsbald]

Excellent - I've always wanted to tackle this ridge and pondered the line from Glen Etive - if you don't have copyright on this, I'll be replicating your journey in the next couple of weeks. The red-line is very helpful.
Well done and the hills are a cure-all for the daily grind.

[Boodaa]

No problem Kevsbald, enjoy.

Lots of variations on this one, like the buttress after the massive boulders, I was just happy to get my hands on some rock again though.

[Paul Webster]

I've pondered this too - the gully looks a bit unpleasant in your photo though

[Boodaa]

The Gully wasn't that bad if you kept to the right hand wall.

In hindsight I should have climbed this buttress, it was the only part of the ridge I missed but my head was down and I was trying to stop my heart from jumping out of my chest.

[yokehead]

Good to see someone else going for the excellent scope this hill has to offer, nice job in your ascent. And descent. It also gives a circuit for Creise and Meall a'Bhuiridh instead of the out and back option. It was good for me to see your photo of the whole hill, it was a bit misty when I was there in March, when I climbed a gully toward the other end of the hill then did the circuit. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=838&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Thanks for sharing your trip, hope you get out again soon!

[buachaille]

The beauty of this scramble is that you can make it as hard as you like just by heading a bit further out left. Here's one of my photos from near the top : http://paul-keenan.fotopic.net/p29005630.html

Cheers,
Paul