Ben Nevis and Glen Coe. Ronald Turnbull
Stob an Cul Choire, approaching Aonach Mor
A rocky but not difficult ridge leads down west to a col. The slope ahead looks intimidating but is OK. Fairly steep grass heads straight up towards a tower of reddish granite. Either head up this grass, or find some easy, scrappy scrambling (Grade 1) immediately to the right.
Once at the base of the reddish tower, head round to its right, then slant back up left to reach its top. Now a small zigzag path heads up the spurline, reaching the plateau about 50 metres east of the summit cairn on Aonach Mor.
SAFETY NOTE OF DESCENDING THIS ROUTE
The spur top is only visible from the plateau edge, so in mist take a bearing from Aonach Mor’s cairn or use the GPS reading: NN 1944 7295.
From the summit of Aonach Mor, a path runs south down the grassy plateau. Ignore a much smaller path soon forking off right (descent towards Bealach Giubhsachan, Route 13). The main path descends gently south to the narrow neck joining Aonach Mor to Aonach Beag. It heads on up through rocks, then becomes a scree path with drops on the left. At the slope top the drops are also ahead. Turn right alongside them, over stony ground without path, for 150 metres to the smallish cairn of Aonach Beag. There’s a very fine view across Carn Mor Dearg and its arête to Ben Nevis, which looks like a pointy crag mountain from here.
Return to Aonach Mor. Continue ahead with steep drops on your left, north to a very slight rise and then downhill roughly northwest. Pass the top of a ski tow and then of a chairlift. At a levelling at 650m, you reach a well-built path leading to Meall Beag just ahead. Meall Beag means, simply, Small Hump.
After visiting the viewpoint, you could head back along this path to the gondola top station. However, if the gondola has closed or you just fancy a stroll, from Meall Beag head on northwest down pathless ridge, zigzagging carefully down a steep descent, then heading down left to join a rough path alongside Allt Daim. It runs down to an intake, with a footway across a dam and a track beginning beyond.
The track recrosses the stream at another dam and enters forest. Immediately bear right and follow a track down northeast for 1km to another junction. Here turn left, curving downhill. The third turning left, a mountain-bike path, short-cuts a bend in the track. At its foot continue to a horizontal track below, where you turn right to the car park at the gondola foot. The mountain bike path under the gondola is closed to walkers during biking hours, and unattractive at any time.
3 GREY CORRIES AND SPEAN BRIDGE
East along the Grey Corries ridge to Stob Coire Claurigh
Quartzite is quite different. It’s not the usual rocky grey, but a pale yellowish-white that under sunlight shows an evil gleam. It’s not lumpy but flat and smooth, and when it breaks it breaks in sharp edges and cubes. The three grey corries are flat-bottomed and green, but rise to bleak fields of blocks and boulders. The tops of the corries are fringed with crags, and the hill range that takes its name from them is a long wiggly ridge. The rock underfoot is sometimes smooth as a pavement, but the sharp edges will slash your gaiters.
Rising between a wide, dreary spruce wood in the north and the remote top end of Glen Nevis to the south, the Grey Corries are slightly awkward to get at. This adds a certain solitude to their other excellent qualities. To make things even more strenuous, you really want all of this ridge, from Sgurr Choinnich Beag in the west right along to Stob Coire na Ceannain. So make an expedition of them, using handy bothies to the east and south. Make it more than an expedition by adding Ben Nevis, Carn Mor Dearg, and both of the Aonachs – a big hill day that even so is just the first half of the ultimate in such things: Tranter’s Walk around the Nevis Watershed.
Summit summary: Grey Corries
Though overshadowed by its big neighbours to the west, the ridge’s main mountain, Stob Coire Claurigh, is actually Scotland’s 15th-highest mountain (1177m/3862ft). Route 15 follows the entire main ridge westwards; Routes 16–18 join that ridgeline from the north. The routes are described, and measured, to the summit of Stob Coire Claurigh and timings are up only.
GREY CORRIES ROUTES
Route 15 Grey Corries Ridge
Route 16 Coire an Eoin
Route 17 Stob Coire Easain North Ridge
Route 18 Stob Coire Claurigh North Ridge
Route 19 Cul Coirean
Route 20 Lairig Leacach and Lochan Rath
Route 21 Lairig Leacach to Stob Ban
Route 22 Meanach Bothy to Stob Ban
Quartzite walking on the north ridge of Stob Coire Easain in the Grey Corries (Route 15)
ROUTE 15
Grey Corries Ridge
| Start | Aonach Beag summit (NN 197 715) |
| Distance | 8.5km/5½ miles |
| Total ascent | 900m/3000ft |
| Time | 4½hr up |
| Terrain | Mostly paths but with scrambling, boulderfields, and very steep descent off Aonach Beag |
If you like your ridges rocky but not scrambly, this is the place to be. For the seriously ambitious, the description begins at Aonach Beag, with various side-routes joining in as we go along the ridge to Stob Coire Claurigh.
See Grey Corries summit summary map. From Aonach Beag descend following big crag drops on the left, first south, then east over a minor hump. After another 500 metres the ridge turns sharply right, southeast, steepening down to the ridge corner at NN 207 708.
A steep zigzag path leads down to a narrow rib, then down a grassy gully on the right; then keep down to right of broken quartzite outcrops to the wide col at the head of Coire Bhealaich. However, if the steep spur is snow-covered, an easier descent can be made from the col north of Sgurr a’ Bhuic, turning down a gully then contouring left to the wide col.
A small path leads up grass to the top of Sgurr Choinnich Beag. Route 16 joins here. The path continues on pleasant grass through a col and up Sgurr Choinnich Mor.
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