Meall a'Bhuiridh & Creise

Meall a'Bhuiridh & Creise are the two hills which mark the entrance to the beauty of Glen Coe from the south, and Meall a'Bhuiridh is most well known as the mountain which is host the the Glen Coe ski resort. With a very mixed forecast, which included some rain and high winds, I opted out of attempting the huge scramble up Creise's famous Sron na Creise ridge, and took the less scenic route straight from the ski carpark. It initially follows the ski tows, up the steep section above the car park, but then once the upper corrie is reached, "footpath" signs send walkers to the right (west) of the chair lifts and up the long ridge to the summit. It's in places boggy, in other places rocky - but leads eventually to Meall a'Bhuiridh's lovely summit.

The ironmongery all over the landscape, and the accompanying roads, paths, fences, poles, erosion and visual intrusion are pretty grim - especially in a place like Glen Coe. Nevertheless once these are past, these two hills provide incredible views of hundreds of surrounding peaks. The foreground is of course dominated by Glen Coe itself, as well as The Mamores, The Black Mount, and Bridge of Orchy hills, with countless more behind them on all sides.

The link between the two hills is provided by a high and narrow bealach at 932 metres, at the foot of Meall a'Bhuridh's long south-west ridge. This in turn provides access onto Creise's summit ridge, where a cain at 1070m marks the place the paths plunges down to the bealach. I was delighted to see the cairn there, as the one potentially tricky navigational manoeuvre in cloud was knowing where to dive off the summit ridge- and the cloud was lowering as I walked.

Happily the cloud and rain were short-lived, and although it was very windy and cold, the views from Creise were outstanding. Possibly the best part of the walk was the wander along the ridge to the top Stob a Ghlas Choire from which the views of Buachaille Etive Mor was magnificent.

Retracing my steps over Meall a'Bhuiridh was a slog, made more pleasant by stopping to chat to two other walkers doing the same route as me. They were the only people I saw much beyond the car park all day- apart from them it was deserted up there. The descent on the 'path' around the ski centre was horrible. Steep mud and scree, and water - made for a slow descent back to the car.

It's been a poor summer for hillwalking, mostly due to a bad ankle sprain earlier in the year. This however was a good day out, and the first good old-fashioned Munro-bagging expedition for some time. Last week I had gone back to Mount Keen (a revisit in the rain), but this was a case of choosing two hills I hadn't done, driving to the west and just getting them done. It's a great way to spend a day - I really hope I can get another one in before winter comes!