Over The Hill

Glas Bheinn Mhor is most likely to be climbed as part of a "round of 3" Munros, taking in Ben Starav, Beinn nan Aighenan and finally Glas Bheinn Mhor, a long day, even in summer conditions. Today, we were looking to climb Glas Bheinn Mhor as a single top by taking a fairly direct route up the long ridge of Glas Bheinn Chaol to the subsidiary top of Meall nan Tri Tighearnan and thence onwards to Glas Bheinn Mhor.

Glen Etive was bathed in a low early morning mist, or could that have been cloud, as we made our way along the road to our starting point at Coileitir, from where we made our way along the boggy track towards the footbridge spanning the Allt Mheuran. Initially following the track towards the Ben Starav ridge path, we then broke off, heading south on a faint, and very muddy path which contoured the hillside just above the river, before eventually dropping down to cross the Allt nam Meirleach just above its confluence with the Allt Mheuran.

The ridge of Glas Bheinn Chaol forms an almost perfect elongated triangle, its northern tip, at a height of 150 metres, is formed by the meeting of the two rivers which then define its long sides with steep slopes fanning out and rising high above the rivers to define its southern baseline, sitting high on the skyline at 892 metres, at the centre of which is the minor top of Meall nan Tri Tighearnan.

The ridge rises gently, over grassy slopes and soon you are spoilt for choice of views. Left and right of you the steep sides give great views over the lower riverbeds, whilst ahead and to the right the steep crags and ridgelines of Ben Starav and Glas Bheinn Mhor dominate the skyline. At around 650 metres the ridge broadens slightly, and a small lochan provides a perfect stopping point from which to take a short breather before tackling the hardest part of the day - the final 200m of steep, rocky ascent towards the summit of Meall nan Tri Tighearnan.

It was with some relief therefore that I finally reached the cairn marking the 892m summit. That last climb was a bit of a struggle, but well worth the effort, for now the hard work was done. I knew from our previous walk along the main Starav ridge that the one remaining climb onto the summit of Glas Bheinn Mhor, while steep, was at least over even ground and on a well defined path. We settled ourselves down on the grassy slopes below the cairn for a spot of lunch and just to take in the view from such a great vantage point before we made the short descent on leaving Meall nan Tri Tighearnan and the final climb to our main objective, the 997m summit of Glas Bheinn Mhor.

Leaving the summit of Glas Bheinn Mhor we descended the long east ridge, with its final, steep and rocky drop towards the bealach at 738m and thence onwards alongside the Allt Mheuran. As we descended, we decided to divert slightly from the standard route back to Coileitir, which usually entails a wet boggy trudge along the lower reaches of the Allt Mheuran. Therefore, we re-crossed the Allt Mheuran, back onto the nose of the Glas Bheinn Chaol and once again crossed the Allt Meirleach to pick up our outward track for our return to the footbridge leading to Coileitir. The advantage of this detour is that you can get reasonably close to the usually unseen Robbers Waterfall, and arrive at Coileitir slightly drier than if you take the boggy route.

This is a wonderful walk, the Glas Bheinn Chaol is a lovely ridge to climb with great views all around.

Great day, Thank Lindsay - look forward to repeating this as a programmed walk in a few weeks time.