Ben Lawers (W)

26.4.05 - 10km, 750m - 208 mins

Area 2: The River Tay to Rannoch Moor

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Meall Corranaich1069m3507ftM68#115
Meall a' Choire Leith926m3038ftM261#116
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At the starting point, with Creag an Lochain behind

Less than a year after we’d done the eastern horseshoe of the Lawers Ridge, I was back with my sister Ruth to finish off the Lawers Group by climbing these two Munros on the north-western end of the ridge. I had arranged to meet Alasdair and Howard in Perth at 4.30pm, from where we were intending to drive on to Skye for a few days tackling the Cuillin Ridge, so this meant an early start from Edinburgh. We arrived at the starting point, the cairn above Lochan na Lairige, by 9.00am and were soon off up the hill in dull cloudy weather.

Meall Corranaich, seen from the car park

The forecast was nothing like the sunshine I’d had the previous day on Ben Vorlich, but at least the hills were reasonably clear.

The Tarmachan Hills, seen from the ridge of Meall Corranaich

The Tarmachan Hills, seen from the ridge of Meall Corranaich

The route up the ridge to Meall Corranaich - oh look, rusty fence posts!

We found an excellent path and were soon climbing steadily up the south-western ridge of Meall Corranaich, glad to have had a 550m high start from the car park!

Ruth arrives at a false summit - but we

We made good time to this first summit, although it was very cold and windy and we didn’t hang about. In fact we both had jackets, hats and gloves on pretty much all day, even when climbing. By the time we were up on the ridge the mist was coming and going, and Ben Lawers itself, and Beinn Ghlas, were both in thick cloud.

Ruth at the summit of Meall Corranaich

Like Carn na Caim in Drumochter, the summit cairn of Meall Corranaich contains a hefty helping of rusty fence posts. Good to see these traditions being kept alive!

Me at the summit - and a summit cairn to rival Carn na Caim

Me at the summit - and a summit cairn to rival Carn na Caim

Snow on the north ridge of Meall Corranaich

We pressed on down the north ridge of Meall Corranaich, losing the path just at the crucial point where we needed it to keep us from wandering down the wrong part of the ridge, but then we came out of the mist and found it again. There was quite a bit of snow on the eastern side of the ridge.

Meall a’ Choire Leith from Meall Corranaich

It was quite a nice tramp down and up again to the second summit, Meall a’ Choire Leith.

Ruth, with Meall Corranaich behind

Ruth, with Meall Corranaich behind

Looking back along the ridge

Looking back along the ridge

The summit photo, and Ruth reaching for her goggles

At the summit it was just beginning to snow a little. Eager for any excuse, Ruth whipped out her new goggles at this point, and was able to see much better, she said, as well as having a warmer face!

Yet another view of Meall Corranaich - and is that Chris Bonnington? Oh, it

Again we pressed on, planning to have a lunch stop somewhere a bit less windy. We headed down on a bearing but were soon out of the mist again and could see the bump of Meall nan Eun which we knew was just above where the car was. At this point we also spotted another solitary walker ahead of us, whom we seemed to be catching up with.

A last view of Meall Corranaich

There was some intermittent drizzle by this time, but we decided to stop for lunch near the dam on the Allt Gleann Da-Eig during a dry spell, rather than waiting till we got back to the car. The solitary walker turned out to be a decrepit looking old veteran who was also extremely deaf. He was also having lunch by the burn and set off ahead of us, though painfully slowly. We soon passed him and reached the car first. He arrived soon after and we bawled out a conversation with him. Our main hope was that we’d still be able to climb Munros too when we got to his age!

Ruth with Meall a

Ruth with Meall a

Howard at the Commando Memorial

We had in fact made very good time and we reached Perth Station, our rendez-vous point, by 3.30pm. There Ruth had the brilliant idea of parking in the (free) Queen’s Hotel Car Park across the road and going in to the hotel for a cup of tea (with shortbread biscuits thrown in!). Howard arrived at the station about 4.10, but without Alasdair, who had broken down near Wakefield and was now heading north in a hired van. The new plan was to meet him at the Commando Memorial near Spean Bridge “whenever he got there”. Ruth caught the 5.00pm bus back to Edinburgh, while Howard and I went off to Asda to stock up for our four day expedition to Skye.

We reached the Commando Memorial at around 7.30, but alas there was no sign of Alasdair. We calculated that we’d need to leave by 8.30 at the latest in order to reach Glen Brittle Youth Hostel before it closed for the night, and were just contemplating the possibility of stopping at Kyle of Lochalsh instead when Alasdair arrived - dead on 8.30! So the race was on. I drove as far as Kyle of Lochalsh, where Howard took over to drive over to Skye and round to Glen Brittle. In fact we’d probably overestimated the time it would take, and had no major delays, so we arrived at 10.40pm, 20 minutes before the hostel closed. Phew! Thankfully, the hostel was relatively quiet and seemed very nice. Only the weather forecast threatened to spoil our stay...