Having just about completed the Mamores 10 the day before, I was planning to just do Buachaille Etive Mor and Buachaille Etive Beag today, but all the while I had the notion of then also going onto Bidean nam Bian from Buachaille Etive Beag... checking the map it seemed as though coming down off Buachaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh in a SW direction and then picking up a ridge to take me up to Stob Coire Sgreamhach was a distinct possibility... but I guess I would see what the scree slope was like and also see how my legs were holding up! I did like the idea of being atop of Bidean nam Bian and seeing the sunset though...

There was the added incentive of making it six Munros this day, as reaching Stob Coire Sgreamhach would be my 100th Munro

Also, if I were to park at the Buachaille Etive Mor parking (56°39'52.2"N 4°54'16.4"W), I'd have a 3 mile/5km walk back from coming down through the Lost Valley, along the A82 and various farm tracks, so if I were doing this section in the dark - that'd be the easiest bit to do.

Anyway, I did park at the Buachaille Etive Mor parking... so it was game on!

The first thing that hit me compared with the day before, was the temperature. It was still freezing in the wind, but only -5C, maybe -8C or -9C on the peaks, so a good 10 degrees warmer ( ) !! The clocks had also gone back, so it meant starting at 7am was a lot lighter and right from the off it promised to be another spectacular day:







I went for the route to go up the waterfall onto the Buachaille Etive Mor ridge just SW of the Stob Dearg peak. This was icy in parts but any bits of scree were well frozen, so it probably made the climb easier. The views back kept getting better right up to the ridge, at which point a wonderful view of Blackwater Reservoir and the Mamores in the distance appeared:







Once up on the ridge (a cairn shows the path down), it's about 160m climb up to the Stob Dearg summit:







And then back down the same way to then head along the ridge onto the Stob Na Doire summit, not before trying to be Dr Dolittle with a crow that landed right at my feet:





Once at the top of Stob Na Doire, the views back to Stob Dearg from this angle made it appear far more imposing:





And the views along the ridge ahead to Stob Coire Aitruim and Stob na Broige were splendid:



With the dusting of snow, you could easily see the path all the way along the ridge and with the ground frozen but not ice along the remainder of the ridge, the going was very good. It meant Stob Coire Aitruim and then Stob na Broige were reached relatively quickly - and the views from the Stob na Broige summit back along the whole ridge were superb (even time to try a selfie ):







As well as the views across to Stob Dubh and also Bidean nam Bian:



The route I took from here was a common one, which was to descend the 480m just SE from the Stob Coire Altruim top down to the River Coupall, where you have a small stepping stone crossing. The initial descent was perhaps the trickiest part of the entire walk as it was very icy in parts - and I probably came a cropper and landed on my backside half a dozen times! There was a family with their wee dog who were trying to come up and they had to abandon their attempt as the dog and the youngest girl couldn't actually climb and kept slipping over... I didn't think it was quite that bad, but it only takes one slip... Once at the bottom, the view back up to Buachaille Etive Mor was imposing:





The climb up onto the Buachaille Etive Beag ridge has a well defined path and is about 340m and takes you just SW of the Stob Coire Raineach peak:





From here the 180m route up Stob Coire Raineach is straightforward and the summit offers great views across to Bidean nam Bian:







The route from here is to come back the same way and then to head up Stob Dubh. There's a cairn midway on the ridge but the route is otherwise very straightforward:







The views back along the ridge and then from the Stob Dubh summit down to Loch Etive and across to Bidean nam Bian are great:









From here I wasn't sure if I'd be able to easily get down from Stob Dubh, so I took a wonder SW from the summit to see what the slope was like and it turned out to be a very good scree slope. There was no sign of anybody below so a quick slide down the 470m descent was possible and the a path of some sorts was picked up to the base of Stob Coire Sgreamhach:





The path faded and seemingly disappeared on the walk up, but soon re-appeared at about 850m up Stob Coire Sgreamhach and from this height and angle Stob Dubh looked impressive:



The Stob Coire Sgreamhach summit was quickly reached and this was my 100th Munro!





From here the ridge along to Bidean nam Bian looked superb just as the sun was starting to set, everything was getting a pinkish hue - and the route up to the summit gave some interesting walking with, at some points, some very steep drops either side, but generally very well defined:







I arrived just in time to enjoy the sunset from the top of Bidean nam Bian and spent a good 15 minutes up the top enjoying the views:







From here I took the route back to the path down to the Lost Valley which was generally well defined. I lost the path a few times in the dark while going through the Lost Valley, but this was only a short section and eventually the path was picked up right the way back to the A82. From here there was a 3 mile or so walk back along the side of the A82 and I was very pleased to reach the car!

I was only staying in Glencoe, so just a short drive back to the hostel and a few beers in The Clachaig Inn