Over The Hill

With a huge high pressure area sitting right above us it was just too good an opportunity to miss and therefore we planned for an additional walk this weekend; and so, Saturday morning saw us drawing into the Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall car park at Kinlochleven with the distant Sgurr Eilde Mor as our target for the day.

Tackling any of the Mamores from Kinlochleven invariably means a steep climb up through the woodlands above Kinlochmore, and, as seems to be our luck whenever we start a walk from this point, we always seem to end up exiting the woodland at a slightly different point than was our intent; and today was no different, as we found ourselves a hundred metres or so south of our intended track, not a lot, unless off course there is a steep, tree lined gully between where you are and where you want to be! Nevertheless, it was a straightforward climb parallel to the gully up through the heather to the head of the gully, where we were able to make a crossing and merge into our intended track across the open moorland of An Cumhann.

The remainder of the "walk-in" to Coire an Lochain at the base of Sgurr Eilde Mor is a sheer delight, as you follow the well defined stalkers path as it angles uphill and across the mouth of Coire nan Laogh, formed from the great walls of Na Gruagaichean and Sgor Eilde Beag, from where we watched the deer on the high scree slopes as the nearby stags roared their defiance at one another across the width of the coire.

Beyond the coire, height is gained relatively easily as the path curves and rises around the southern ridge of Sgor Eilde Beag before climbing above the large, yet un-named lochan that provides a picture perfect setting below the conical dome of Sgurr Eilde Mor, a quite stunning view, especially with today's backdrop of clear blue skies. The stalkers path may have offered a gently rising traverse to this point; however, all of that was about to change as we crossed south of the lochan and started our ascent of the southern ridge of Sgurr Eilde Mor.

The summit is a mere 270m above the lochan, but the angle is steep and the going is over rough boulder fields and large rocky outcrops, a sharp contrast to the easy route of the stalkers path, however, the views upon reaching the flatter summit plateau are outstanding, with a panorama of mountains, both near and far, in whatever direction you look. What a glorious day on the summit of a great mountain.

To complete the circuit of the lochans, we made our descent from the summit via the west ridge, initially on the narrow crest of the ridge, with airy views to the lochan below, before swinging to a more northerly course to descend the steep boulder and scree lined slopes eventually curving south west to regain the northern shores of the main lochan and the perfect spot for a relaxing break, and to just soak up the atmosphere in this wonderful, remote place.

We have not had many days this year where the weather was so kind to us, and it was a wrench to draw ourselves away from this spot, and climb back towards the stalkers track above the lochan and reverse our route for the return to Kinlochleven, ensuring that we maintained the direct line across the moorland of An Cumhann and into the woodland, emerging, as we should, back at the Grey Mare's Tail car park.

A great mountain in the most wonderful of surroundings, fantastic weather, and off course, the best of company - Thanks All.