Five go to Glencoe

[tomyboy73]

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.

[tomyboy73]

Bidean nam Bian

Buachailles

Hidden Valley

Ben Nevis

Ben Starav & Loch Etive

Hidden valley

hidden valley

The last part of the hidden valley took us throught the thick forest at the end and there are a couple of dodgy moments crossing the water and the final climb up the wooden staircase really was a struggle aftrer all that but, this has been my favourite day on the hills and would recommended it to anyone.

[csimbad]

Well done tomboy73 and the rest of you, looked a very good day, cracking pics and report glad to see you came out unscaved to the hidden valley can't wait to get up this way myself soon hopefully.

[gammy leg walker]

Great report & pictures tomboy,looks like you had similar weather to the day I climbed Bidean.

Did you dook your head in the wee pool between Gear Aonach & Aonach Dubh

[tomyboy73]

Great report & pictures tomboy,looks like you had similar weather to the day I climbed Bidean.

Did you dook your head in the wee pool between Gear Aonach & Aonach Dubh

Yeah, more than my head, i had my morning wash in that pool after oversleeping in the tent and heading up there crusty eyed and stinking of smoke from the campfire, Thanks

[Penguin]

Cracking pics, looks amazing. Can't wait to go there myself. Nice one.

Penguin

[late starter]

WOW , what FANTASTIC photos !!

[erin_niamh]

great report & excellent photos. will def be having a look at this for future

[pollyh33]

Wowsers Tomyboy!!!

Doesn't get much better than that surely????

Loved everything about this report. So glad you had such a fabbie time

PS nae gaiters???

[tomyboy73]

thanks everyone,
Polly,
i just took the gaiters off for the pics

[gagfax]

Cracking weekend wasn't it. Looks like you had an ideal day up there. I did these the other way round, in less than ideal weather and with a descent straight down the front of SCaL from the summit.

[tomyboy73]

aye it was great Gary. Congrats on makin the ton i hear you`ve got a ghost writer now !

[gagfax]

Cheers Tommy. Ghost writer Aye i'll leave the report to Polly, I'm rubbish at them. If she does it there'll be loads of sex, violence and car chases, a bit like an episode of The Professionals (Im Bodie)

[pollyh33]

Cheers Tommy. Ghost writer Aye i'll leave the report to Polly, I'm rubbish at them. If she does it there'll be loads of sex, violence and car chases, a bit like an episode of The Professionals (Im Bodie)

Bodie??? you wish!!! I was in the official Lewis Collins Fan Club!!!

[Mountainlove]

Great report and pictures...did that route in April this year on a similar glorious day...best part was to see a group of 20 stags just before crossing the burn.