I’ve been into the Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve twice before on walking ventures. The first involved a trek up Creag Mhor before descending into Coire Ardair in order to make an ascent of Easy Gully – one of my first grade 1 gullies. The second was intended to be a complete circuit of the Coire Ardair horseshoe but, within 2 hours, we found ourselves beaten back by incredible winds. Consequently, I’d only managed to get to the top of one of the three Munros before. So it was with a degree of determination that I returned today with the intension of having another crack at it.
The climb from the car park at Aberarder to Carn Liath seemed to drag on for ever. It’s never particularly steep, but seems to go on relentlessly with no let up. However, the fantastic views into Coire Ardair were a pleasant encouragement after the last couple of days of low cloud. So it was with some relief that I reached the summit of Cairn Liath, knowing that most of the hard uphill work had been done for the day.
The walk along the northern edge of the coire was straight forward enough, but I was taken aback by how time seemed to be racing on compared to my progress. I came across some pretty large cornice build up on these south facing coire rims (and signs of small scale cornice collapse), so found myself keeping well back from the edge. As I reached the top of Stob Poite Coire Ardair, the cloud suddenly closed right in, making the drop down into ‘The Window’ an interesting proposition, but I just made sure I was well past the crags before dropping down.
Once again, I found myself faced with the dilemma of wether or not to cut the day short. The sun was starting to drop and the 2km extension to take in the summit of Creag Meagaidh itself would most likely mean finishing in the dark. However, reassured by having a descent headtorch to hand, I opted to go for it. The cloud stayed down for this section which proved to be good navigation practice as it’s quite wide and featureless up there. It was a great feeling to have taken in all three Munros, but my attention soon turned to the task of getting down again.
In the end, the descent was no problem. My only concern was the prospect of crossing the river flowing out of Lochan a Choire. However, I stumbled onto a track which wasn’t included on my map and followed it all the way back to Aberarder where some nice person had built a bridge for me – thanks. If you’re thinking of doing a similar route, this bridge is well worth remembering!
