Meall Mor, Glencoe

19 September 2015

Participants: Just me
Where: Meall Mor (Glencoe), 676m/2,218', Graham, Map 41, NN 106559

"The weather will be gorgeous, be careful of the strong sun" gushed the BBC weather forecaster. That, together with an MWIS forecast of 90% cloud free summits, had me heading for Glencoe to climb the Graham, Meall Mor. There was a fair amount of low level mist when I left the car in the NTS visitor centre car park, but that dissipated as I got higher and it looked as though the forecast was going to be correct. The cloud breaking up over Bidean.....

 

 

and over Sgorr nam Fiannaidh of the Aonach Eagach on the opposite side of the glen.....

 

 

The track that I was following is relatively new and is not marked on the map. It has a great surface, and winds up in giant zig-zags to the 1,000' contour at a gentle angle. A good way to climb this hill, which otherwise is one of the steeper variety. Soon, the hill came into sight.....

 

 

I left the track at its highest point. The forest up here had been cut down, but there was a nice grassy path through what remained taking me on to the hillside. By this time, I was starting to wonder about the weather. The cloud was getting thicker. Looking west, it was obviously raining. The slope was steep, but grassy. I reached a new deer fence but there was a gate (unlocked). The cloud on the neighbouring hills lifted and dropped. Of the gorgeous sunny day, there was no trace. The summit area was a bit of a plateau, which was a surprise. The summit was on a narrow rocky outcrop which wasn't all that far away.

 

Another walker appeared, having come up the other side of the hill, which was shorter but much steeper. He provided some scale to the photo of the summit area.....

 

 

 The cairn itself was in a great position, with high hills all around. Here it is with the Aonach Eagach in the background.....

 

 

The cloud relented a bit after the drizzle passed through, although it never cleared completely. Still, it meant that I got some atmospheric photos on the way down.

 

Bidean nam Bian......

 

 

The neighbouring Graham, Sgorr a'Choise.....

 

 

Beinn a' Bheithir.....

 

 

Loch Leven and Ballachulish.....

 

 

The Pap of Glencoe.....

 

 

and, from just above the forest, a view down the length of Glencoe. It shows clearly what a shut in glen it is and today, it was certainly looking dark and gloomy.....

 

 

 

 

The sun came out 10 minutes from home. So the forecasters were right after all!