Grey Corries

Grey Corries from Beinn na Socaich

Monday, 15 October 2012

Ascent:     1735 metres

Distance:  25 kilometres

Time:       7 hours 2 minutes

t    Stob Coire na Gaibhre         958m    1hr  42mins

m  Stob Choire Claurigh          1177m    2hrs 31mins

t    Stob a' Choire Leith           1105m    

t    Stob Coire Cath na Sine     1079m     2hrs 59mins

t    Caisteil                               1106m    3hrs  13mins

m  Stob Coire an Laogh           1116m    3hrs  34mins

m  Sgurr Choinnich Mor          1094m    4hrs  26mins

t    Stob Coire Easain               1080m    5hrs  1min

t   Beinn na Socaich                1007m    5hrs 16 mins

Wee Minister asks Keith the way

Flying Chameleons

Towards Stob Choire Claurigh

Grey Ridges from Stob Choire Claurigh

Looking east towards Easains

Looking west to Aonach Mor from Caisteil

Looking east to Stob Choire Claurigh

Allt Coire Rath

Sgurr Choinnich Mor and Mamores behind

Looking back towards Grey Corrie ridge from Stob Coire Easain

Northern Edge of Grey Corries

View north from Beinn na Socaich

I seem to finally have got into the habit of scanning for the good weather windows and picking good days to go walking. Today was to be sunny periods after an early frost and would be followed by another few days of unsettled weather. Keith came up the night before so we could make an early start, he was keen to climb the Grey Corries as he approaches the end of his fifth round of munros and fourth round of tops. He had introduced me to long days in the hills 22 years ago when we were training to compete in mountain marathons. He is one of the most accomplished experienced walkers in Scotland and still competing in mountain marathons at 60, I gave up at 50. We were off by 7:30am, it was still below freezing and there was little traffic on the A82 but there was quite a bit of cloud cover as we travelled through Glencoe.

After Fort William we were diverted onto a single track road via Camisk and Brackletter to Spean Bridge, it was slow and not helped by another accident on this road. From Spean Bridge, we followed the minor road south of the river Spean to Corriechoille and then up the forest track to where we parked just before the Wee Minister wooden statue.  It was almost 11:00am before we started out, an hour later than we had hoped. The sun was bright as we ascended the track towards Lairig Leathach. We turned west at the end of the forest and ascended the steep boggy grass slopes which eventually lead to the first top of Stob Coire na Gaibhre. We put our heads down and got on with the climb as we had both done on thousands of occasions. There was little to see as low cloud had drifted across the hillside and we were subjected to a snow shower for part of the ascent. Our hopes of a blue sky over the Grey Corries were receding, it might be another of those long plods in the total grey of a Scottish day in the hills.

The first top was a flattish platform with a small cairn and we gave it a cursory pat as we passed by. Beyond this, the climb was less steep and over stony ground which made for quicker progress.  We circled some ptarmigan and I managed to get a few photos of grey birds in a grey sky against grey mountains. Ptarmigans are the monochromatic chameleons of Scottish mountains. Keith went out to climb the ancillary top of Stob Coire na Ceannain whilst I continued the scramble along the ridge to Stob Choire Claurigh. The clouds had begun to clear and suddenly vast impressive vistas opened up. There were still banks of cloud but the shafts of sunlight created an explosion of vivid scenes, which were far more in keeping with these hills than pure blue skies. I arrived at the summit and spent ten minutes admiring the views and taking photos and then had some lunch before Keith arrived. He was similarly enchanted by the change in the weather.

The long walk over the Grey Corries ridge is one of Scotland's finest walks and, for once, I was in no rush. In the northern corries below stags were bellowing and chasing groups of female deer, some ravens flew by, Ben Nevis remained hidden in cloud. Then the Mamores emerged from the cloud and joined the panorama as the light continued to improve. There was a fine sprinkling of snow as well as hoar frost; the ridge had taken on the hue of a ptarmigan. We kept walking across the three tops en route for the next Munro, Stob Coire an Laoigh, from where we looked across to our next objective the splendid Toblerone shaped Sgurr Choinnich Mor.

Keith went over the top of Stob Coire Easain and I dropped down the screes to the bealach and we arrived below the climb to Sgurr Choinnich Mor at the same time. He was going on over to the outlying top of Sgurr Choinnich Beag which I have already completed 4 times. I stopped for a drink and more photos before the climb and then enjoyed a quarter of an hour at the cairn. In the warm afternoon sunshine this gorgeous summit, surrounded by an array of fine peaks, must be as good as anywhere in Scotland. A coffee and rock cake made it seem like the best cafe ever. We knew we had plenty of time to complete the walk in the light and the next hour became a beautiful walk as the angled sun created long sharp shadows that provided a never-ending scene of stunning mountains.

After the rocky climb over mainly quartz blocks to the top of Stob Coire Easain, we rambled down to the final top of the day, Beinn na Socaich, and admired the grey corries from the north. There is an easy descent from here, long but with gentler slopes down the grass and then from 700 metres following vehicle tracks through ground that was skid inducing after recent rain and snow.  We found a gate into a newly planted forest and followed a muddy track down to the forest road. A lone collie was barking at a nearby quarry but was picked up by a farmer in a 4x4 as we approached it.  We just had the final 3 kilometres along the well-made track back to the car. It was after 6pm but we had time to change and have a drink before setting off back to Spean Bridge. The road had been cleared. A Spar lorry had overturned and set on fire and a bus had also crashed. After a stop for diesel at Fort William, it was an easy journey home on the A82 with a vegetarian lasagne awaiting us. It had been a simply stunning day in the Scottish hills.