Mike's Natural Musings: Munro Bashing in the Mamores: Day 1, The Ring of Steall

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Munro Bashing in the Mamores: Day 1, The Ring of Steall

Up early this morning before the alarm and a quick look outside confirmed that the cloud base was high and our summits were clear; looking good. Rucksacks packed and breakfast over we set out for the car park at the head of the glen. As we drove past the car park for the lower falls the road became single track with passing places. We both remarked on the fact the this must have been where Peter had had his photograph taken with a highland cow when we were children. It didn't take long to get to the road head and park up. The route initially took us up through the impressive gorge of the River Nevis. As this comes to an end the valley suddenly opens up to a wide flat plain with mountains towering on either side and The Water of Nevis meandering through it. It is here that we obtained the first views of the impressive Falls of Steall that plunge down from the hanging valley high above.

First glimpse of the Falls of Steall

Steall Falls

The Falls of Steall plunge down from the hanging valley high above.

Not long after we emerged from the gorge into the open valley we arrived at the infamous wore bridge over the River Nevis. The two of us last stood on this bridge together and were photographed by our parents 52 years ago. The bridge has been replaced over the years and is now a bit of a white knuckle ride. An emotional moment though.

We last stood here together 52 years ago.

The wire bridge.

Peter approaches the wobbly bit!

Once over the wire bridge we had to cross the river again at the base of the falls and then it was all down to the climb up to the first Munro of An Gearanach. The climb was unrelentingly ferocious and I was wrecked when I reached the summit. All of the route descriptions tend to gloss over the ascent and descent of these routes, something which always needs to be kept in the forefront of the mind when planning. Having reached the top, however, we then had the pleasure of wandering along the wonderfully high level, airy horseshoe ridge of the Ring of Steall ticking off four Munros en route. We were fortunate that the cloud base remained above the summits all day and the views from the ridge were stunning, with mountain range on mountain range disappearing into the distance. Close by was Ben Nevis and its near neighbour Carn Mor Dearg, joined by the famous knife edge arrete, whilst to the south, Bidean Nam Bean dominated above Glen Coe with the famous Anoch Eagach Ridge in the middle distance. On either side of us stretched the main spine of the Mamores.
After several miles of delightful ridge walking and negotiating the Devil's Ridge we summitted on the amazing quartzite capped summit of Sgurr a'Mhaim. From this lofty peak we were able to see the car less than a mile away, separated from us by a mere 3000 feet of vertical distance. Anyone who has negotiated steep mountain descents will sympathise here. It was unrelenting and knee wrecking. Soon my legs were reduced to jelly and I was stumbling down in a rather unsafe manner. Eventually, however, we reached the valley and all that remained was the mile and a half walk back along the road to the car. Sounds simple but was tough in the extreme, especially as it was uphill. Am I getting too old for this type of thing? Most definitely not - I just need to be fitter.
Wildlife highlights included, again, heath spotted and fragrant orchids in good numbers. Higher up lousewort, a parasitic plant, was common as was the stunning blue of milkwort. The insectivorous butterwort was seen in good numbers and also starry saxifrage. This plant has similar flowers to the larger, meadow saxifrage common at Messingham but has smaller flowers with a red centre. Bog ashpodel was beginning to come into flower and it was a pleasure to find several clumps of moss campion. Whilst wandering back along the road to the car we were both excited to find a basking slow worm, always a pleasure. Once back at the hostel we enjoyed watching a buzzard being harried by a pair of gulls. We last saw them over the slopes of \Ben Nevis.