Garbh Bheinn, Loch Leven

Black Mount over Rannoch Moor

Stob Coire Sgoilte

Pap of Glencoe and Loch Leven from Torran nan Crann

Aonach Eagach to the south

Looking down on Stob Coire Sgoilte from the summit

The Mamores and Ben Nevis from the summit

Pap of Glencoe and Loch Leven from the summit

Aonach Eagach from Garbh Bheinn summit

Thursday, 23 March 2017

Ascent:      861 metres
Distance:   6 kilometres
Time:        4 hours 52 minutes

Garbh Bheinn      867m     2hrs 58mins

The winter has been mainly wet, and windy and the mountains are clothed in clouds; conditions that are not conducive to hillwalking. But neither has a lingering hamstring tear that has restricted my activities for the past 6 weeks. For the first time, I was subjected to kinesiology tape and ultrasound. I was told to give running a break with the result that my fitness deteriorated steadily.

At last, there was the promise of a clear day and there had been a big fall of snow at the start of the week. A day in the hills called. Garbh  Bheinn and Mam nan Gualainn at the opposite side of Loch Leven were the two nearest unclimbed corbetts and I had intended to climb them together in a day. Given my lack of activity this year and the dump of snow, I had doubts about whether they would be both doable.

It was cloudy as I left home at 7:30am and the A84 up to Crianlarich was infested with trunk road works with waits of over 10 minutes before trundling along behind a lead vehicle. I missed the 8:35am bus from Crianlarich so had to drive to Loch Leven. It was worth it for the views and the chance to take photos on Rannoch Moor and in Glencoe. I found the parking spot by the bridge on the B863 by Caolasnacon. I had camped here on a family holiday in 1965 and had ambitions to climb Garbh Bheinn, which looked magnificent from Torr a' Phloda, the small hill at the lochside. Unfortunately, family camping holidays were mainly spent setting up camp, breaking camp and travelling as far as we could between breakdowns in the 15-year-old Bedford van. There was no time for walks.

The skies were blue and the overnight frost was evaporating, there was a cool breeze but it felt warmer than I had expected. The path from the bridge climbs quite steeply and soon becomes a boggy track with the overnight ice breaking under my footfall. This was going to be a hard slog. After 500 metres of walking, I came to a path that climbed steeply to the ridge of Torran nan Crann above. From here the path follows the ridgeline, there were sections of solid ice that were beginning to melt and therefore doubly slippy. Eventually, the ridge drops slightly to a gap before the massive peak ahead.

It is Stob Coire Sgoilte, a symmetrical conical peak that hides the summit of Garbh Bheinn. It ascends from 375 metres to 800 metres, an unrelenting climb. There were footsteps from the day before and I followed them to the bottom of the climb. The walker had veered to the right, making a rising traverse, the footprints gave a clear trail in the soft snow that was 18 inches deep. I foolishly followed until at about 600 metres the trail finished, and the footsteps went down again. Whoever had attempted the route must have felt as I did and decided to give the hill a miss. I was resting every 20 metres or so of height gain, not something I normally entertain but exhaustion dictated frequent halts. I decided to continue on the rising traverse until reaching the rock and scree slopes that the snow had not settled on. The scree was loose and the rock was fractured. There was nothing for it but to persevere, the steepness requiring me to use my hands to balance on the scree and to pull up the shattered metamorphosed Eilde quartzite.

I had never ascended a hill so slowly and, by the time I reached 750 metres just below the bealach leading to the final slope to Garbh Bheinn, a rest break was required to take some food and drink to replenish my energy levels. The blue skies had given way to high white clouds but it was not cold and the breeze had remained just that despite the forecast for stronger winds. The final push to the summit was easier apart from a 2-metre drop down a vertical rock face onto a tricky icy gulley that I avoided by climbing upwards over more loose quartzite. The flattish summit was a bit disappointing and the weather had become colder with the views less spectacular than earlier in the day. It was almost 1pm and I had expected to be on my way down by noon. There was time for a few photos and more food before departing.

The route down was so much easier I simply followed a good path down the apex of the ridge from Stob Coire Sgoilte. It zigzagged through the occasional rock outcrops and the heather. Why had I not followed my instincts and ascended by this route instead of following the aborted route up the snow-covered scree slopes? The sky was brightening so I stopped for 10 minutes to soak in the views across to the Mamores and down to Loch Leven with the Pap of Glencoe looking splendid in its white raiment. I was down just before 3pm too tired to contemplate climbing Mam nan Gualainn so I drove home for an early bath as Eddie Waring used to say.