Mike's Natural Musings: Munro Bashing in the Mamores: Day 2 Mullach nan Coirean and Stob Ban.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Munro Bashing in the Mamores: Day 2 Mullach nan Coirean and Stob Ban.

Once on my feet early on Wednesday morning it became apparent that my quads were suffering from the previous days exertions. Undaunted and a hot shower, breakfast and 600mg Ibuprofen tablet later we were again driving up Glen Nevis, this time to park at Achriabhach where we would descend at the end of the day. No road walk at the end of today's trek!!! Once parked up we followed a small path through the forest along the Allt a' Choire Dheirg until we reached the forest fence and then the path turned at right angles and went directly uphill to the ridge coming down from Mullach nan Coirean from 300m to 650m in 600m horizontal distance. No zigzags, just up!!! I thought yesterday's descent was something else; this was just inhuman!! Fortunately though, this was the worst over and the remainder of the day was a total delight; coninuous high level ridge walking with fabulous views until a pleasant valley descent down the Allt Coire a' Mhusgain, directly to the car!! The day was made even more perfect by the fact that the cloud base remained above the summits (apart from the Ben, whose head remained resolutely in the cloud), and the sun cam out.
The ridge up to our first Munro of Mullach nan Coirean was mountain perfection: an excellent ridge giving good views on all sides leading to the rounded, plateau-like summit. Unlike most of the Mamores which are capped with gleaming quartzite, Mullach is composed of red granite and the juxtaposition of red against the gleaming white is fascinating. In fact the quartzite reappears right at the end of an excellent unnamed ridge just before Stob Ban.

Panorama looking south west from Mullach nan Coirean. Ballachuilish hills, Loch Linnhe and the Ardnamurchan Peninsula.

The red granite of Mullach from the quartzite of Stob Ban

Quartzite reappears at the end of the ridge.

The quartzite tip to the red granite ridge; 'The Ben' in the background.

Quartzite capped Stob Ban and Sgurr a' Mhaim from the red granite of Mullach.

Looking towards Stob Ban.

From Mullach it was a delightful high level walk around the corries to the start of the climb up Stob Ban. We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the final ascent expecting it to be a severe pull but as it happened it was much easier than anticipated. The views from the summit were unrivalled. We could look along the whole length of the Mamores ridge, south to Loch Leven and Glen Coe, north to Glen Nevis and 'The Ben' and south west over Loch Linnhe to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. The descent down the knife-edge ridge from the top looked formidable but, although exciting, turned out to be much easier than it appeared, only requiring 'hands on' at a couple of points.

Descent ridge from Stob Ban.

The descent from Stob Ban.

Once down the ridge we wandered over to Lochan Coire nam Miseach tucked below the Devil's Ridge to Sgurr a'Mhaim. This would make an excellent wild camp.

Stob Ban from the Lochan.

Glen Nevis from the outfall stream.

All that now remained was the descent down the easy angled path back to the car; unusual in an area where all ascents and descents would seem to be ferocious.

Birch tree on the descent path.

As we had plenty of time in hand and the sun had put in an appearance we elected to drive further up the glen where we could cross the river, explore the gorge and photograph the beautiful ancient Caledonian pine trees in the afternoon light.

Dead Scots Pine, Glen Nevis.

Scots Pine, remnant of the forest of Caledon, Glen Nevis.

Wildlife highlights of the day include again the many wonderful examples of the local flora: wild thyme and wood cranesbill in the forest, tormentil, thrift, alpine lady's mantle and dwarf cornel higher up. I love alpine lady's mantle; with its delicate leaves and tiny yellow/green flowers, it is a more compact form of the bullying garden variety, Alchemilla mollis, which spreads rampantly through our garden, insinuating itself into every nook and cranny, including the brickwork of the house. Nonetheless Alchemilla mollis is a very attractive plant, especially whebn drops of water nestle in its leaves; I would rather be with it that without it. We were really pleased to find the dwarf cornel high on Stob Ban; a shy miniature member of the dogwood family that lives high on heaths and mountains. Birds of note included tree pipit, ravens wheeling and craking high above us, a single female ring ouzel and down in the valley, grey wagtail on the river. Peter also came across a lovely golden ringed dragonfly when we were exploring the gorge; an excellent find.