A big day out on Ben Cruachan
Ever since I first read Dan Bailey's inspirational book "Great Mountain Days in Scotland"
(published by Cicerone) a few years ago one challenge I've really
wanted to have a go at is that of walking the 4 munros of Ben Cruachan,
Stob Daimh, Beinn a'Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich in a single day. The
route offers a bit of everything - big mountains, high level ridge
walking, easy scrambling on good rock and spectacular views. (This continues on from A night out on Ben Cruachan).
On paper this might not look like a really big route, it's only 20km with about 2100m of ascent but that really doesn't account for the scale of what is involved. The ups are big, the downs are big and there's plenty of scrambling in between. Applying the traditional Naismith rule gives a walking time of 7hr 30mins but I took 9 hours (although with a 10kg pack), Bailey recommends allowing 11hour for the full loop.
I'm an early riser, especially when camping, but even for me 6:15am was a very early start to beat the expected heat. The sky was clear and the sun already warming the air as I started on the first ascent, with just a few low clouds clustered along Loch Awe.
I had not expected to meet anyone for many hours but before I had even got half way up to the Bealach an Lochain I was aware of a runner quickly catching me. We had a quick chat, amusingly he was quite apologetic about disturbing the peace of my early morning walk, he went on to explain that he is in training for the Glencoe Skyline race in September. I didn't actually say it but couldn't help keep thinking "rather you than me mate" as that involves Curved Ridge and the Aonach Eagach in one day.
I was determined to bag every peak I could on this trip so the day involved various out and back legs. Firstly to Meall Cuanail followed by Stob Dearg and later to Stob Garbh. In all there 5 munro "tops" to be climbed on this route along with the 4 munros. On each out and back leg I took the chance to dump the heavy bag and take a rest by walking with no load. It's amazing how good it feels to be up on a high mountain with the freedom of no baggage.
The trip to Stob Dearg was particularly good fun with some grade 1 scrambling to be had on excellent rock. It's a shame this excellent summit doesn't qualify as a munro, because of that it probably gets ignored by many a bagger, this was definitely my favourite part of the whole route. As the hills westward of Stob Dearg are much smaller the views towards the sea are spectacular on a clear day.
The walk over Ben Cruachan and along the ridge has to be one of the best high-level walks in Scotland. It has superb views and scrambling but it lacks the severe exposure of some mountains such as the Aonach Eagach or Liathach which makes it easier to really relax. Having said that, there were a couple of sections made a bit more interesting by carrying a big pack. A couple of down climbs required some comical shimmying and squeezing to get the bag through. There is also a fun traverse of a slab section which is straightforward once you realise you're on good rock and you get your brain into gear!
The winter climber in me couldn't help but admire many sections of this ridge. I shall definitely be back one day in very different conditions with crampons, axes and a rope. I noted many big gaps in the ridge dropping into the northern corries which will need to be dealt with carefully if the snow is heavily corniced.
Typically this route is done as two separate parts which means a descent from Stob Daimh back through Lairig Torran and then down to the reservoir. Joining up with Beinn a'Chocuill requires a descent and reascent through Lairig Noe. The route finding from Sron an Isean on the descent is fairly tricky, it's steep going with lots of small crags and river gullies to be crossed.
On reaching the Lairig I faced the two biggest challenges of the day. The first is the sheer scale of the climb, being faced with over 400m of ascent in 1km of distance is always tough but even more so after having already done a fair amount of walking. The second challenge was the drought conditions. Although I had prepared for a hot day and started out with 3 litres of water I knew this wouldn't be enough and had planned on finding water at Lairig Noe. The current long dry spell has left all the burns dry and many larger rivers empty. Knowing there would be no water higher up I was faced with a decision as to whether I could cover the next 2 munros with less than 1 litre spare. If I had been leading a group I doubt I would have even considered continuing on and would have instead descended the track beside the Allt-Mhoille. As it was I felt I was hydrated enough to push on, I was also benefiting from a thicker layer of cloud cover having come in which resulted in much cooler conditions for the middle of the day. I felt the best strategy was just to grit my teeth and give it one big effort, 40 minutes later I was on the top of Beinn a'Chocuill.
The ridge between Beinn a'Chocuill and Ben Eunaich is much broader and grassier, a quite different environment from that of its nearest neighbour. At this point I met a group of 5 walkers doing this pair, in total I met only 7 other walkers all day. It's incredible that so few people were around on this amazing mountain on a Saturday with superb weather, I reckon any peak in the Lakes would have been heaving.
By the time I was on the final descent all my water was gone and the sun was out once more but I knew I would be fine with only a few km of easier walking on tracks and road to cover. On reaching Loch Awe I was so happy to find the local post office open and rapidly put away an ice cream and a litre of lovely cold Sprite. The final amusement of the day was to be had in the Ben Cruachan Inn, I stopped by for a bit of dinner before getting the train and got to enjoy the first half of the England-Sweden world cup quarter final match. I was genuinely quite surprised at the level of cheering when England scored their first goal.
The return home by train was great, I got to chill out and enjoy the view with no worries about having to drive long distances whilst tired, I shall definitely be planning more train-based adventures.
(For a complete set of photos from this adventure see my gallery)
I'm an early riser, especially when camping, but even for me 6:15am was a very early start to beat the expected heat. The sky was clear and the sun already warming the air as I started on the first ascent, with just a few low clouds clustered along Loch Awe.
I had not expected to meet anyone for many hours but before I had even got half way up to the Bealach an Lochain I was aware of a runner quickly catching me. We had a quick chat, amusingly he was quite apologetic about disturbing the peace of my early morning walk, he went on to explain that he is in training for the Glencoe Skyline race in September. I didn't actually say it but couldn't help keep thinking "rather you than me mate" as that involves Curved Ridge and the Aonach Eagach in one day.I was determined to bag every peak I could on this trip so the day involved various out and back legs. Firstly to Meall Cuanail followed by Stob Dearg and later to Stob Garbh. In all there 5 munro "tops" to be climbed on this route along with the 4 munros. On each out and back leg I took the chance to dump the heavy bag and take a rest by walking with no load. It's amazing how good it feels to be up on a high mountain with the freedom of no baggage.
The trip to Stob Dearg was particularly good fun with some grade 1 scrambling to be had on excellent rock. It's a shame this excellent summit doesn't qualify as a munro, because of that it probably gets ignored by many a bagger, this was definitely my favourite part of the whole route. As the hills westward of Stob Dearg are much smaller the views towards the sea are spectacular on a clear day.The walk over Ben Cruachan and along the ridge has to be one of the best high-level walks in Scotland. It has superb views and scrambling but it lacks the severe exposure of some mountains such as the Aonach Eagach or Liathach which makes it easier to really relax. Having said that, there were a couple of sections made a bit more interesting by carrying a big pack. A couple of down climbs required some comical shimmying and squeezing to get the bag through. There is also a fun traverse of a slab section which is straightforward once you realise you're on good rock and you get your brain into gear!
On reaching the Lairig I faced the two biggest challenges of the day. The first is the sheer scale of the climb, being faced with over 400m of ascent in 1km of distance is always tough but even more so after having already done a fair amount of walking. The second challenge was the drought conditions. Although I had prepared for a hot day and started out with 3 litres of water I knew this wouldn't be enough and had planned on finding water at Lairig Noe. The current long dry spell has left all the burns dry and many larger rivers empty. Knowing there would be no water higher up I was faced with a decision as to whether I could cover the next 2 munros with less than 1 litre spare. If I had been leading a group I doubt I would have even considered continuing on and would have instead descended the track beside the Allt-Mhoille. As it was I felt I was hydrated enough to push on, I was also benefiting from a thicker layer of cloud cover having come in which resulted in much cooler conditions for the middle of the day. I felt the best strategy was just to grit my teeth and give it one big effort, 40 minutes later I was on the top of Beinn a'Chocuill.
The ridge between Beinn a'Chocuill and Ben Eunaich is much broader and grassier, a quite different environment from that of its nearest neighbour. At this point I met a group of 5 walkers doing this pair, in total I met only 7 other walkers all day. It's incredible that so few people were around on this amazing mountain on a Saturday with superb weather, I reckon any peak in the Lakes would have been heaving.
The return home by train was great, I got to chill out and enjoy the view with no worries about having to drive long distances whilst tired, I shall definitely be planning more train-based adventures.
(For a complete set of photos from this adventure see my gallery)
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