Munros + Corbetts - 2009

22 August 2009 ........ Creag Meagaidh, Stob Poite Coire Ardair, and Carn Liath

My original plan was to follow the path for about a kilometre or so, until it came quite close to the river, cross the river, and then head west up Sron a Ghoire - then follow the cliff tops, and on to the summit of Creag Meagaidh.

However there was no way I could get across the river - there was far too much water in it. You could have canoed down it quite happily. Actually you would need a kayak not a canoe, the bit I saw was a fine grade 4 boulder river, with a good gradient.

There was so much foliage and bracken that I couldn`t even try and walk up the river bank to see if I could find somewhere else to cross a bit higher up. So I had to give up on that route, returned to the path, and set off up it.

It is a good path, and you can certainly cover ground fast, climbing all the way. Maybe after about 3 kilometres or so, you get the first view of what Creag Meagaidh has in store -

photograph of the cliffs of Creag Meagaidh

And the longing started - I didn`t want to be down in the valley on the path, I wanted to be up above the crags, looking down. After following the path for another 2 kilometres or so, the path drops down a bit, and joins the river, and eventually I found somewhere to cross the river - at last !

I climbed up and up, up a sort of edge or ridge - it was quite scrambley for quite a lot of it - not serious rock climbing sort of scrambling, but definitely 4 wheel drive sort of scrambling. So it was good fun.

Suddenly I was on the top, I was there, above the crags. And I could look down into the corrie below -

photograph of the cliffs of Creag Meagaidh and the corrie

Looking back at where I had come from, and across to Carn Liath and the superb ridge -

photograph looking back at Carn Liath

Looking past part of the crags, over to Stob Poite Coire Ardair -

photograph looking across to Stob Poite Coire Ardair

I worked my way along the tops of the crags, including getting right out to the very edge of one of them, by climbing over long sloping slabs of rock. Eventually I ran out of crags, and it is then a surprisingly long trek up to the summit of Creag Meagaidh.

Despite the met office promising excellent visibility, across to the south west it was far from excellent - grey mountains against grey clouds were all that was to be seen. I think we are seeing, from left to right, the two munros Stob a Choire Mheadhoin and Stob Coire Easain, then Stob Ban, the Grey Corries, and eventually Ben Nevis. Away in the background are the Mamores.

photograph looking south west from the summit of Creag Meagaidh

Looking north west towards what I think was the Glen Sheil sort of area was even worse.

Heading back to the coll to go across to Stob Poite Coire Ardair, you come across a rather strange mound of stones - I guess from the shape that it is man-made, but I`ve no idea why. At one side of it there is a bit of a clearly defined wall, you can just see it on the right hand side in this picture.

If it was man made, they would have had to carry the stones for a fair distance.

photograph of the mound of stones

As you head further round before dropping down to the coll, you get a fine view looking right down the valley and past Carn Liath and Loch Laggan - I think that`s the Cairngorms way in the distance - it was obviously much brighter on the east side of Scotland.

photograph looking east

As you climb up from the coll towards the summit of Stob Poite Coire Ardair, you gradually see more and more of the crags of Creag Meagaidh -

photograph of the crags of Creag Meagaidh

As you head along the ridge, the view of the crags opens up some more -

another photograph of the crags

Further along, you start to look back at the crags, and can see deep into the gouges -

another photograph of the crags

One of the gouges has the most amazing rock formations forming its sides -

photograph of the rock formation

Here is the edge or ridge I climbed up to get out of the valley after crossing the river.

photograph of the ridge running up from the valley

It is a fabulous ridge walk from Stob Poite Coire Ardair to Carn Liath - this was taken about half way along the ridge, looking towards Carn Liath. There are so few ups and downs that it is surprising that Carn Liath qualifies as a munro.

photograph looking along the ridge towards Carn Liath

The sad part of the ridge walk is that as you head towards Carn Liath, you leave behind the fabulous crags of Creag Meagaidh, looking back at them they are already loosing their magic -

photograph looking back at the crags

One final view looking back from half way down Carn Liath, before they finally disappear from view - the magic has gone, and sadness takes over as one drops down to the greyness of everyday life.

photograph of the final view of the crags

It`s the most amazing place, with a magic all of its own, hidden away from normal view.

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