Stob a' Choire Odhair, 2nd March 2024

 It has been a busy Winter with not a lot of time for the hills, so I was really ready to be getting my Mantas back on and getting up a proper hill!

I left Glasgow at 0840 after a bit of a lie in and headed up a fairly busy Lomondside, through some light showers and spells of sunshine. The weather was just not ready to make up it's mind, reflecting the confusing situation I'd seen on the synoptic charts the night before.

After a recent chat with a sports nutritionist, I had a very specific plan for the day, but did stop into Brodie's at Tyndrum to pick up some isotonic drinks to make sure I was well over if needed.

I drove round to Inveroran where it was raining and the car reckoned 2 degrees. I got out the car and ready and was walking to Victoria Bridge at 1015.

It was pretty miserable weather-wise but the rain cleared up after about 20mins as I headed along the familiar track up the Abhainn Shirra.

My plan for the day was to climb Stob a' Choire Odhair, Stob Ghabhar and the two minor tops to the west.

I was going at a reasonable pace up the straight track and was cursing the decision to wear so many layers, so made a stop to drop some - it looked like the rain was off for the day anyway.

The straight path

I pressed on, meeting someone on his way down who had bailed a week before and came back for this one. I explained my plan about the subsidiary tops - "doesn't count if it's not a Munro" came the reply. I am quite happy nowadays to climb anything and just getting out is hard enough, especially when I'm staring down a 4 hour drive to get to some hills I've not done.

I stopped for a bit to take on a hot cross bun and jam and some coffee from my flask, then headed up into the snow. The views to the Aonach Eagach (a different one) were pretty nice:

View over to Stob Ghabhar and it's Aonach Eagach

It was a bit of a slog up through the snow, and the visibility was down to about 50m, but I soon reached the summit, about 1235 where I chatted to a couple who were better prepared than the first chap. They were planning Stob Ghabhar too.

They left, and I had some more food and as I sat, the cloud cleared from above and I managed to get a picture from the summit.

Stob a' Choire Odhair summit

Summit Selfie

It wasn't windy which was unusual but it was pretty cold, so it was layers on again and gloves too.

I headed for the bealach and felt that the snow was really soft underfoot, but not enough of it to need crampons. Occasional downward slips and not much ice underneath and I was starting to think about the next section.

View down the bealach

When I made it down to the bealach, I took a look at the map and could see the NE aspect and tight contours suggested a steep slope in the direction of the slightly riskier avalanche direction from the SAIS forecast the night before. I didn't know what I'd be getting into, so I decided to head back down the glen to Inveroran.

I had other plans anyway!

Clashgour

View back from Inveroran

The walk down was nice, I delayered again and then eventually was down to my base layer and just enjoying the sunshine as I walked back to the car at Inveroran, where I arrived at 1505.

I got changed into shorts and my race vest, ate yet more food and then ran from Inveroran round to Bridge of Orchy, where I picked up the WHW and ran back to Inveroran over the Mam Carraigh. This was an extra 10k and I was a bit tired but the change from Mantas to trail shoes was nice and I really loved running through the old scots pine woods, spotting Jays, Stonechat and an out-of-place bat.

Hike Distance: 15.32km

Hike Time: 4h 47m

Hike Ascent: 918m

Munros Completed: 205 (Still! No new Munros on this trip)

Run Distance: 10.10km

Run Time: 1h 06m

Run Ascent: 224m