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What a day! I had planned this walk for a couple of months ago and had to postpone it due to bad weather and had everything crossed that we would have a decent day. Decent ? It was glorious.
After camping out by Loch Lubhair near Crianlarich with my mate Stevie, we headed up to Glencoe to meet up with Tam, Jim and Graeme who had driven up from Paisley. As it was we slept in and they had to wait around in the midge infested car park for half an hour or so before me arrived at 8.30 am .
We told them to head on as we hadn`t changed from the previous night and as we stood there changing into fresh underwear and brushing our teeth, the first tourist bus of the day drew up
, just as well they were French
- Gearr Aonoch & Aonoch Dubh
We quickly got into our stride and headed up the path between Gearr Aonoch & Aonoch Dubh and it wasn`t long before the sweat was dripping off us and i felt like the beer and burgers from the night before were about to be chucked up
As it was we caught up with the other guys and once we reached a little pool of water they allowed us to stop and rid ourselves of the black marks and stink of campfire from our faces.
From here we could look back and see the Aonach Eagach ridge.
- Am Bodach ?
- a.e
And Stob Coire nan Lochan was rising up in front of us.
- Stob Coire nan Lochan
We continued our way up towards the three lochans but couldn`t help looking back at the a.e ridge.
- waterfall
- waterfall
We reached the plateau were the three lochans lie and stopped for lunch and some pics.
- Pinnacle Buttress
- Lochan
From the three lochans we headed to the right of the buttress were we saw some rock climbers making there way up the stacks, we headed up to the ridgeline from Aonoch Dubh to Stob Coire nan Lochan. Jim had powered ahead and once I had caught up with him we decided to head over to Aonoch Dubh and the other three waited for us at the bottom of the climb up S.C.n.L. From here we could see over to Loch Leven and Loch Linhie and of course over the ridge toward Ben Nevis which bathed majestically in the sunshine above everything else.
- Lochs
- Ben Nevis
- me
We caught back up with the others and headed onwards and upwards, stopping behind the huge pillars and climbing over onto them for some dramatic pics.
- ?
I had read so much about this walk, escecially on this site but they hadn`t prepared me for just how amazing this walk is, on a day like we had this hill has everything. We were now heading over the boulders towards the summit of S.C.n.L which i think are from leftover volcanic basalt which look like pumus stone but are very sharp. Graem kept refering the walk to like something from the Lord of the Rings but this bit was more like a Led Zeppelin album cover.
- houses of the holy ?
- BigZane clambering over the rocks
It really is a huge boulder field here that you have to get over and as you near the summit the path appears and disappears intermitantly but it`s a case of just picking your way through it till you reach the top. I think this bit could be a bit dodgy on a wet day but we really enjoyed scrambling up over the rocks.
After a munch we were joined at the top where we were joined by a group of english walkers who took our summit pic.
- Stob Coire nan Lochan summit
- Stob Coire Sgreamhach
We then made our way down and up to Bidean nam Bian.
- looking over to Ben Nevis
Once onto the summit we headed over to the other top before coming back for a rest and cahtted to a few walkers we met, coming over from various directions. We had a good laugh, took more pics and headed for our final peak of the day.
On our walk over to Stob Coire Sgreamhach we met a united nations of walkers, English, Chech,Polish, Dutch and German as well as a few Scots
It was on the final climb up this second Munro that i began to feel really tired and i think the altitude and sun were getting to my head.
- plank !
- Sgreamhachhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !
After another rousing break we made our way down towards the scree chute into the hidden valley. I think this was the most dangerous part of the walk and we took our time to slowly make our way down with loose scree and the odd boulder falling down beside us. I can`t emphasise enough how dodgy this bit is, even rocks that we were gripping onto for support were crumbling in our hands. But we made it safely down and into the hidden valley for a long walk back. It really was an awsome day with four great companions and lots of friendly walkers. thanks for reading and i will add acouple more pics later.