walkhighlands

Ben Lui by the east ridge

Munros: Ben Lui

Date walked: 20/04/2019

Time taken: 6 hours

Though I've still got a big backlog of trips from over the last few years to write up here, I'm going to write up a couple of trips from within the last month as, with bank holiday weekends, I've been able to get into the hills a bit more than usual recently. I took the train up on Good Friday, arriving late in the evening, and the next morning my dad and I set off northwards, undeterred by an ambiguous forecast, to Tyndrum. We were a little late setting off, so we decided to limit ourselves to just Ben Lui and leave the other three Munros in that range for another time. Ben Lui looked truly stupendous from the road, towering above everything else, Coire Gaothaich full of gleaming snow. After parking awkwardly at a very full Dalrigh car park we set off down the dusty track alongside the River Cononish. Having done a lot of my recent hillwalking in the wilder parts of the NW highlands I was struck anew by how scarred the landscape around Tyndrum is by countless mining operations and forestry plantations, and the Cononish gold mine is a sorry sight indeed - but once Ben Lui returned to view, Alpine in scale and grandeur (at least to my eyes, which have yet to behold the Alps), it was impossible to look at anything else.

Image

Image

It's one of those mountains that seems to get bigger and more impressive the closer you get, and I found myself almost daunted by the sheer verticality of the corrie when we left the track and crossed the river.

Image
My dad walking into the jaws of Coire Gaothaich

Image
Christ on a bike it's huge

Image
Some very tiny-looking people ahead

It was nonetheless a fairly quick climb into the heart of the corrie, following an attractive burn on our left, with a few small but beautiful wildflowers. How astonishing this would look if the slopes weren't overgrazed, and the tree line were allowed to reach its natural height! Once we were well into the corrie we forded the burn and climbed up steeply to gain the east ridge (on your left as you enter the corrie). This looks less exciting than the northeast ridge from below, but when you're actually on it it proves to be surprisingly rocky and provides some simple but enjoyable scrambling with great views into the depths of the corrie below. My photos don't do it justice (especially because they were backlit since we were approaching from the north) - it's hard to convey the rockiness and sheer scale of it. Higher up we encountered some people skiing on the large snowfields in the aptly-named east-facing Coire an t-Sneachda, crowned with a spectacular cornice.

Image
The ridge ahead

Image
Wow wow wow!

The scrambling seemed to be over before it began and we emerged on the summit, which was fairly busy, unsurprising given that it was a bank holiday weekend. It was almost windless and we sat and had our sandwiches and some tea, looking towards the ghostly shape of Ben Cruachan whose snows shone brightly through the haze.

Image

Image
Looking over a cornice into Glen Cononish

Image
Oss and Dubhcraig

Image

We had arrived at the summit faster than expected, having not stopped much on the way up, and so we debated whether to add Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhcraig as well, but my dad's knee was playing up and we decided against it, instead returning by the north ridge which looked a gentler descent route than the northeast ridge, our original plan. From there, back to the car park. It's a much easier mountain than it looks from below and provided a shortish but wonderful hillwalk.

Click to mark this as a great report. Register or Login
free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).



3/4 Arran Corbetts, April 2017

Attachment(s) Corbetts: Caisteal Abhail, Cìr Mhòr, Goat Fell
Date walked: 21/04/2017
Comments: 1
Views: 1925


Beinn Alligin, Oct 2016

Date walked: 23/10/2016
Comments: 5
Views: 1465


High camp on Ladhar Bheinn, and a cool down at Cable Bay

Attachment(s) Munros: Ladhar Bheinn
Date walked: 15/08/2016
Views: 1835

garethbagger


Location: Geneva
Activity: Scrambler
Pub: Am Politician, Eriskay
Mountain: An Teallach
Place: Loch Maree
Member: Mountaineering Scotland, Club Alpin Suisse section genèvoise

Munros: 94
Corbetts: 6
Fionas: 6
Hewitts: 19
Sub 2000: 6
Islands: 19



Filter reports


Statistics

2019

Trips: 1
Munros: 1

2017

Trips: 1
Corbetts: 3

2016

Trips: 2
Munros: 1


Joined: Sep 24, 2016
Last visited: Nov 20, 2023
Total posts: 5 | Search posts