The Great Outdoors – August 2019

apparently sucking up draughts of warm
air from the Mediterranean. This meant we
had a hot and sticky trudge up the corrie
path. With sweat trickling into our eyes we
weren’t too unhappy about the unexpected
wind that hit us on the ridge, but 20 minutes
later we had to put on hats, gloves and
windproofs as the winds continued to batter
us and sweeping swathes of cloud robbed
us of any views. Once again we could only
guess at Na Gruagaichean’s ‘grace of form
and the complexity of its twin tops.’
It’s a steady pull up to the first of Na
Gruagaichean’s summits, then a steep 60m
descent into the black and rocky defile
between the two tops, the maiden’s (for that’s
what Na Gruagaichean means) cleavage, if
you like. By the time we climbed up to the
main summit the wind had lost its edge and
for that I was thankful. We retraced our
steps over the north-west top and down to
the low point of the ridge. We then followed
the main ridge north-west, then west to
reach the summit of Stob Coire a’ Chairn

WEST HIGHLANDS

where our patience was rewarded. The

clouds parted long enough to get a view of

another set of twin peaks, An Gearanach

and An Garbhanach of the wonderful Ring

of Steall route. Once the cloud returned

we retraced our steps to the low point

of the ridge and dropped back down to

Kinlochleven by the outward route.

As we returned to the village that

evening we were lucky enough to catch

a sunset over one of the best views in the

Highlands, the long fjord-like Loch Leven

stretched out between the twin portals of

the Pap of Glencoe on one side and the

Beinn na Caillich top of Mam na Gualainn

on the other. The only other sea-loch that

so resembles a Norwegian fjord is Loch

Hourn in Knoydart, and here Loch Leven

bites its narrow course into the heart of

this mountain land, narrowing so much at

Caolasnacon that the shores almost touch.

Above the Lairigmor

Mam na Gualainn makes another good

outing from Kinlochleven. On a cold day

last winter I left the village and took to the

West Highland Way, climbing steeply from

the B863 to reach the old military road

through the Lairigmor to Lundavra and

Glen Nevis. I was surprised how little snow

there was here after earlier Arctic blasts –

only the north side of the hill was covered.

Not far beyond the path junction an old

stalkers’ path zig-zags its way up the nose of

Beinn na Caillich (764m), a fine path that

took me high on the hill in remarkably quick

time. It’s actually the east top of the slightly

higher Mam na Gualainn (796m) and the

two are linked by a 2km ridge, a marvellous

high-level traverse that has you feasting on

mountain views – the Aonach Eagach, the

Pap of Glencoe and the Beinn a’ Bheithir

twins on one side, and Mullach nan Coirean

and Stob Ban of the Mamores, with Ben

Nevis beyond, on the other.

While a complete traverse of both Beinn

na Caillich and Mam na Gualainn, from

Kinlochleven to Callert, is probably the

best way of courting these old girls, such

a traverse requires two cars. I only had

one, and no companion, so from Mam na

Gualainn’s trig point I made my way back to

the east top, dropped down slopes of deep,

clagging heather and followed a foaming

burn down into the depths of the Lairigmor.

Another Corbett easily accessed from

the Kinlochleven area is Garbh Bheinn, an

867m summit that forms the high point of a

long ridge that dominates the south side of

Loch Leven, a ridge that in some parts runs

parallel to the Aonach Eagach. The ridge

is accessed via a muddy path beginning

close to the bridge over the Allt Gleann a’

Chaolais on the B863 (GR: NN140608).

Lower down, the ridge is wet and often

boggy but things improve as you climb with

wonderful views down the length of Loch

Leven and across the narrow fjord towards

Beinn na Caillich and Mam na Gualainn.

Unlike its neighbour, the Aonach Eagach,

the ridge of Garbh Bheinn doesn’t require

any hands-on scrambling; although, as if to

justify its name as ‘the rough hill’, there are

several crags and rocky outcrops. As a

viewpoint it is superb, and it makes a

wonderful outing for a summer evening

or a short winter day. In its close proximity

to Kinlochleven it is almost certainly

one of those inscrutable and implacable

mountains that Patrick MacGill described

so evocatively, living proof of the

timelessness of the hills.

[left] Loch Leven from the Sgurr Eilde Mor track [above] The graveyard at Blackwater dam

The Great Outdoors August 2019 41