4. Fort William to Loch Ericht
An area with many of the better known hills, from Ben Nevis, the Mamores to Ben Alder, there are some good days out here.
Slightly oddly Ben Nevis turned out to be my very first Munro. This came after climbing Orion Face Direct, one of the classic winter climbs on the mountain’s north face. The route is meant to be very exposed but with low cloud we never had more than maybe 30m visibility. I’ve done “The Ben” several times since but always after winter climbing on the north face. I have had some clear days though with excellent views.
The Mamores
South of Ben Nevis lie The Mamores. The whole ridge is one of the classic Scottish mountain days but I was here to help with a Ramsay Round. I’d got the train to Corrour and then walked in via the Abhainn Rath to Luibeilt (supposedly haunted) and then waited at the col between Binnein Beag and Binnein Mor for the runners to arrive.
Since I had got there at about 8pm and the runners weren’t due until well after midnight I did a bit of exploring. First up and down Sgurr Eilde Mor, the easternmost Munro of the group, then, well after dark, Binnein Beag. Around 3am lights appeared on Sgurr Eilde Mor and once they had ticked off Binnein Beag we started on the rest of the ridge.
The cloud level was just about at the level of the summit of Binnein Mor and I grabbed a shot of the runners which made it onto the cover of the Harveys Map of the round.
Onward over the summit of Na Gruagaichean before a descending traverse missed out the western top to a resupply at the col. There was a bivy bag which stirred on our approach and a figure emerged. He looked at the group then at me and started:
“We thought you were dead!”
Then, after a slight pause...
“You’re looking well!”
The figure was Keith whom I had worked with on building sites in Kendal back in the 1980s. It turned out that another climber with my name had unfortunately been killed while climbing in Borrowdale and the guys on the site had thought it was me.
The rest of the ridge was uneventful though on this occasion I didn’t do the two outliers that make up The Ring of Steall.
East of Loch Treig
To the east of the Grey Corries and looking over Loch Treig are a couple of Munros that sit pretty much on their own. Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg along with Beinn na Lap are the eastermost tops on the Ramsay Round. They are somewhat isolated from other hills so tend to be done on their own by walkers.
In looking at the map I’d noticed something unusual: the burn descending from the lochan that lies between them split as it descended. In fact it did this not once but three times. Ultimately they all end up in the River Treig but it’s a point of interest.
Parking at the end of the road to Fersit, I made a right hash of finding the path up Stob Coire Sgriodain, it was only later when I descended I realised I was about 200m parallel to the west! I was a long way up the north ridge before I joined the trodden path. The summit of Sgriodain is pretty spectacular as it seems to hang over Loch Treig, the summit itself is perched right on the edge of a line of small cliffs making things seem even more dramatic.
The walk round to Chno Dearg is wide open and mostly grassy but would be easy to get lost in mist so some care is required. The descent path fades away pretty quickly so it’s a matter of heading in the general direction though I was aiming for the area of the bifurcations.
These turned out to be more prominent than I thought they would be. I think they have come about because the burn has met a band of harder rock that’s roughly convex so has spread out. If I’d taken the correct path of ascent then I would have walked past two of them. Following the path back to Fersit was considerably easier than the heather bashing of the ascent.
Ben Alder
The Ben Alder massif is rather distant from any road access, long approaches or the use of a mountain bike are required. I’d done most of the tracks around the area while doing challenges such as the Highland Trail 550 along with some day rides or overnighters.
Cath was doing the HT550 so I entered Munro bagging mode.
A raid on Morrisons in Ft. William led to a rather overloaded bike as I headed upward from Moy Lodge. The first day’s target were the Munros just east. I set up camp in a small copse on the shores of Lochan nan Earba then headed back along the track. First up was Beinn a Chlachair. No idea of the path up this one. I don’t think there is one.
Fortunately the cloud lifted when I was on the summit so heading towards the col between this top and Geal Charn was straightforward but needing to pick my way down a steep rocky drop to reach the col. I’d been here once before on a mountain bike ride when we did a circuit around the Ardverikie estate. Geal Charn and Creag Pitridh were simple summits to attain. The direct descent back to the loch via Coire a Mhaigh was anything but - the path is pretty tricky.
The following day I rode round to Culra. The bothy here was out of bounds at the time due to asbestos but is in the process of being rebuilt. Since I was camping it was just a matter of setting up in the pasture a little way downstream of the bothy. The day’s objective lay ahead: The Short Leacas of Ben Alder. This is the ridge on the right of the sunlit corrie in the image above. It’s a classic Scottish scramble.
A good stalker’s path (the Benalder Estate tend to be pretty good at maintaining them) led towards Loch a Bhealach Bheithe before the desired line cut across to the ridge. The scrambling was very straightforward, hardly hands-on, with just a short loose chimney/groove proving to be the crux. That’s not the top though, that lies about 1.5km further on and 150m or so higher. The summit plateau is pretty rocky but grassy lines can be picked out.
The descent to Bealach Bheithe is awkward, there’s no defined line - I think everyone just gives up and makes their own way down. The Bealach is pretty broad and is crossed by the stalker’s path followed earlier though up here it hasn’t been maintained to the same standard. Up the other side and along to Beinn Bheoil with great views up and down Loch Ericht. Another indeterminate descent back to the stalker’s path and then the tent passing a stag cooling himself off standing in the burn and who wasn’t bothered by my presence. A hard day!
The following day I took as rest, just exploring the area and trying to consume some of the supplies I’d brought. The next day I rode back to Moy Lodge via An Lairig which isn’t too bad apart from a couple of pathless kilometres between tracks. For more info about the various stalker’s tracks and low level routes in this area then Phil Clarke’s blog has a lot of useful notes though mainly from a mountain biking perspective.