Himalayas or the Scottish Highlands?
Route: Bidean nam Bian
Munros: Bidean nam Bian, Stob Coire Sgreamhach
Date walked: 01/03/2020
Time taken: 7 hours
Distance: 15km
Ascent: 1500m
Stuck in lockdown I found myself reminiscing about one of the best days in the mountains to date.
For me, the adrenaline and excitement always starts pumping when Aonach Eagach comes into view as you round the bend from Glencoe village.
The days goal was the amazing, complex and fathers favourite mountain, Bidean Nam Bian. accompanying me was my childhood friend Harris who had just turned 20, we set off from the car park towards Coire nan Lochan feeling absolutely tiny in the presence of the 3 sisters.
walking beneath Coire nan Lochans buttresses and icy gullys always reminds me of the Lord of the Rings
moving on we ascended Coire nan Lochans western ridge passing by impressive cornice and pinnacles and eventually made it to the summit.
After a few minutes we descended to the bealach between Stob Coire nan Lochan & Bidean nam Bian, as we paused to put on crampons we met another hill walker and nervously laughed together looking at the very steep icy ascent to the first munro of the day. we waited for the hill walker we had just met to ascend first allowing me to get some amazing pictures of her showing the sheer scale of the mountain!
now it was our turn!
Finally on top of Bidean Nam Bian the views were spectacular, it felt like we could've easily been in the Alps or Himalayas! the heat was amazing we were both in t shirts 1150 meters high in Scotland in March!
after spending some time taking in the views we continued down the brilliant ridge on route to Stob Coire Sgreamhach.
Just before we started the ascent to Stob Coire Sgreamhach we saw that our original plan to descend into the Lost Valley was not possible as massive cornice was blocking our way, this didn't really matter as when I was planning the route I knew it was unlikely we couldve safely gotten down that way so I had a plan B which was to descend down the north east ridge to Beinn Fhada. after making it to the 2nd munro of the day, Sgreamhach, we continued down towards Beinn Fhada. initially it was very steep and exposed which was exciting but levelled out more after a scramble down a sizeable cliff.
Just before Beinn Fhada we saw an opportunity to safely descend into the Lost valley, it was less steep than descending into Lost Valley via Bealach Dearg's incredibly steep head wall and so we carefully made the descent. now on the tourist path it was straight forward all the way back to the car. what a day!
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-
Joseph Harper
- Location: Slockavullin Argyll
- Occupation: Student
- Activity: Mountain Walker
- Mountain: Sgurr Mor... so far
- Place: Colonsay
- Ideal day out: Winter climb in the sun.
- Munros: 59
- Corbetts: 1
- Sub 2000: 2
- Filter reports
- Trips: 1
- Distance: 15 km
- Ascent: 1500m
- Munros: 2
- Joined: Jun 25, 2020
- Last visited: Apr 21, 2024
- Total posts: 1 | Search posts