The Western Mamores

Saturday 28th May 2022

With good weather on this day I was looking forward to getting up a mountain, but first I had to contend with midges. The evening before in Glen Nevis there had not been any, but when I got up they had descended into the valley seemingly in abundance and possibly for the first time this year. My mood was not improved after dealing with the midges when I realised that I had lost my gloves. I feel as if I have a habit of losing things and I have left a string of items around the country over many years, so usually I am very paranoid about checking that I have picked up everything. Therefore it is a mystery how I could have managed to lose my gloves. And this was only a day after I’d realised that a pocket on my rucksack had been left unzipped which had let my sun cream fall out. This is not what you want to discover when you are about to go for a walk in sunny weather, but there is nothing better to lift your spirits when you are down than a walk in the mountains and the walk I wanted to do was in the Mamores, which is a range of hills just to the south of Ben Nevis that I absolutely love. I had planned to do the Ring of Steall, which is a classic mountain trail in the Mamores, but I was worried about a river crossing after the recent rain, however the real reason was I wanted to do a walk in the western Mamores instead.

This was the first walk I did in the Mamores, back in 2005, and I tried to do it again in 2012 to correct an error I had made earlier only to go the wrong way again. To start, I walked along forestry tracks through Glen Nevis where the conifers that used to dominate the valley are slowly being replaced with deciduous trees, which was already making the valley look fabulous. Broom lined the track adding its distinctive yellow flowers to the scene as I slowly made my way to the junction of paths where I remembered going wrong on my previous attempts at this walk. Now a clear signpost showed my previous route to be part of the Achriabhach Trail, whereas the route I should be taking was labelled as Mamore Hill Access. This took me towards the Allt a’ Choire Riabhaich, but before I reached the stream I saw a narrow path, though with no signpost, that climbs steeply up the hillside to my left. This well-made path gave me a great climb through the wood and over a fence onto the open hill where all semblance of a path disappeared in the wet boggy ground. Slowly, I made my way up the hill and as the terrain became dominated by heather a path began to materialise beside the fence while the views developed to my left across the Mamores that I have loved for many years.

While a cold wind blew across the ridge I continued my slow ascent as the ground became rockier underfoot and the gradient steeper until eventually I reached the top of Mullach nan Coirean, which is the easternmost Munro in the Mamores. I thoroughly enjoyed the climb up that ridge and loved being back at the top of a mountain in good weather. It wasn’t very windy at the summit, I had great views in all directions, the mountain top was covered in rock and there was no one else there. No place I would rather be. With the beautiful Mamores arrayed before me, I descended the slopes and made my way along the fabulous ridge around the top of Coire Dearg with views to my right down into the valley far, far below of the West Highland Way that I had walked along the day before. The undulating ridge took me over several tops before climbing the steep slopes of Stob Bàn onto the summit that is covered with the white quartzite stones that dominate the views of this mountain all the way down Glen Nevis. I was mesmerised by the views from this picturesque mountain, but I didn’t linger and carefully scrambled down the rocky eastern ridge until I reached safer ground.

When I did this walk in 2012 it was at the beginning of my holiday and it was very hot, so by this point in the walk I was very tired, so I decided to follow Ralph Storer’s directions and take the good path that goes down into Coire a’ Mhusgain. This time I wanted to keep to my route of 2005 so I passed by Lochan Coire nam Miseach and climbed a good zigzagging path up to a grassy saddle that sits below Sgorr an Iubhair. Turning away from that hill I faced the start of the grandiosely named Devil’s Ridge. Initially I kept to a path that shirks the top, a short distance down the western side of the ridge, until eventually I climbed up to the top and along the ridge up to the top of Stob a’ Choire Mhail. So far the ridge had been relatively easy and it had afforded me with fabulous views towards the eastern Mamores across Coire a’ Mhail. I wish I’d had an opportunity on this holiday to climb those mountains, but that will have to wait another year. Beyond the top the ridge narrowed deliciously which left me rather nervously making my way along the ridge that was beginning to justify its name. There is a notch in the ridge that is particularly difficult to cross and although I may have kept on top all the way in 2005, now I scrambled down early on the bypassing path before getting back onto the ridge beyond and continuing towards Sgurr a’ Mhaim.

After I reached the end of the Devil’s Ridge, a tiringly steep climb brought me up to the summit of the highest mountain on this round, Sgurr a’ Mhaim, and from where the views were again stunning with Ben Nevis to the north, across the deep gap of Glen Nevis, dominating the views. My descent took me across the sea of white quartzite stones that decorates this mountain. In 2005 I slid all the way down the stones completely ignoring, or destroying, the path, but now I tried to keep to the path, slowly descending and not sliding down, though this was very difficult especially towards the bottom of the stones where the path had deteriorated. Even after I had come off the stones the steep descent continued on a zigzagging path. At one point I slid over onto my poles and when I got up I discovered that one pole that already had a slight bend in it was now bent in half. Therefore I had to do the remaining descent with just one pole, so I was very relieved when I finally reached the bottom of the path beside the Allt Coire a’ Mhusgain. I really did not enjoy that descent even though in 2005 I had said it was “a most enjoyable descent.” Now I prefer slow and gradual descents and this was just too steep.

Upon reaching the road I walked past the new car park that didn’t appear to have been finished yet, and from the top of the mountain had looked like a scar amongst the otherwise natural scenery with the newly laid tarmac shining in the sunlight. My return to Glen Nevis through the Nevis Forest brought me back to the campsite where I was staying after a rather mixed day. The actual walk on top of the mountains was fantastic in awesome weather, so I thoroughly enjoyed that and I loved doing the Devil’s Ridge again after seventeen years even though it was more nerve-racking than I remembered. The views were extra special and to see mountains in all directions is something I never tire of, but I did not enjoy the descent especially as it led to a broken pole. Even though the day had not started well and did not end well, this was a fantastic mountain walk.