Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers and Meall Corranaich

17 May, 2010.

Participants - Just me
Where - Beinn Ghlas, 1,103m/3,619', Munro; Ben Lawers, 1,214m/3,984', Munro; Meall Corranaich, 1,069/3,507', Munro; Map 51

I left the house with the intention of doing a new Marilyn in the borders but the weather was better than forecast so at the end of the street I turned left instead of right and headed for the highlands! And so I found myself at the NTS car park on the road from Killin to Glen Lyon contemplating my first Munros of the year. One of the advantages of being retired is that I don't have to climb popular hills at weekends and so can avoid the crowds; so I was a bit miffed to see that about 25 other people were setting off for Beinn Ghlas at around the same time as I was. Hmmmm, on a Monday in the middle of May... Here is a view of Beinn Ghlas, greenish grey hill, from near to the car park.....

On the way up to the ridge, there was a good view of one of the other Lawers group Munros, Meall Corranaich, which I had no intention of climbing today.....

I have always wondered why Beinn Ghlas is classed as a seperate Munro, as it is really only the west top of Ben Lawers and there is a drop of only about 200m between the two. The top is marked by a small cairn situated right on the edge of the northern face; arrival here brought Ben Lawers into view for the first time.....

I didn't linger, the hordes were coming up behind me! It was a very gentle descent to the col with the main objective of the day, Ben Lawers, hill of the loud stream, and Scotland's 10th highest mountain, looming up ahead.....

The summit was marked by a trig on an eroded mound and a view indicator without its information panel. The two hills in the background are the next two Munros to the east, An Stuc and Meall Gharbh with Lochan nan Cat below them.....

I chatted to a guy at the summit who told me that he was attempting a Munro round in 6 months, not a continuous round but a fortnight at a time followed by a week's break. Not the best way to enjoy the hills, in my view!

I did think about carrying on to An Stuc but decided against it as I would have had to have reclimbed Lawers on the way back; instead I just turned round and went back down the way I had come. This is the view of Beinn Ghlas from the way down showing well the little height loss that there is between it and Lawers.....

There is a good by-pass path to the north of Beinn Ghlas that goes to the col between it and Meall Corranaich before dropping down Coire Odhar and this was the way that I went. This is a view of Meall Corranaich, crooked hill, from the Lawers/Ghlas col.....

I stopped for a drink at the col at the top of Coire Odhar. It was only 2pm and I started to wonder if I should do the third Munro as well. The way up was steep but short and there seemed to be a good path weaving in and out between the rocks....hmmmmm. So here I am at the summit....

The west ridge of Meall Corranaich back to the road was long but I found that a good path had developed. From about 2/3rds of the way down there was a good view back towards Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas.....

and a little further on the view ahead was to Lochan na Lairige and Meall nam Tarmachan on the other side of the road.....

Lower down still, I was able to cross a stile over the NTS boundary fence and rejoin the ascent path a few hundred yards from the car park.

Stats for the day were 3 Munros, about 7 miles, 1,100m (3,600 feet) of ascent and it took me 5 hours and 45 minutes. Very enjoyable!