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An Stuc(1118m) & Meall Garbh(1123m)

Sunday 28th May 2017

17kms

8hrs 15mins

As the central Munro of the group of five Munros making up the Lawers ridgeline, an ascent of An Stuc usually involves the traverse of at least one other Munro; unless of course you choose to tackle it head on and accept the challenges of Cat Gully; we did five years ago and distinctly remember us saying, "Never again". Funny how the memory fades!

There is plenty of time to contemplate the steep climb ahead as you leave the Lawers Hotel behind and take to the path leading through the scattered woodlands alongside the Lawers Burn and head towards the open hillside. It is a pleasant walk, as the route follow and crosses the course of the burn (Note: The FB footbridge shown on the OS map is no longer there, necessitating a river crossing, easily achieved today, but a point to think about should the water levels be a little higher) towards its source at Lochan nan Cat, passing as you go the lower slopes of the two eastern most Munros of Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh, before gaining the first views of the east face of An Stuc, and the steep ascent awaiting you in Cat Gully.

As was the case five years ago, we left the lochan behind and keeping to the left side of the gully and hugging the side of the crags we ascended the rough ground, sometimes on grass, sometimes over rocks, and sometimes using a few helping handholds to see us over the steeper sections. As we crossed the 950m height, I broke off from the main group and diverted to the 991m bealach while the others continued on our previous route and scrambled their way to the summit cairn, leaving me to a peaceful respite perched on a boulder taking in the sun until I was rejoined by the main group on their descent from the summit of An Stuc before we then made the steep, but relatively easy and quick ascent to the summit of Meall Garbh, the second Munro of the day.

The climbing over for the day, and with the skies brightening, it was a pleasant and very steady descent from Meall Garbh taking a sweeping curve northeast through south east to the 834m bealach Lairig Innein and then south, over easy slopes to the dam at the head of Lawers Burn for out return to the hotel.

Thanks everyone for another fine day in the hills.

An Stuc & Meall Garbh - Photo Gallery

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