Day 4
Bealach north west of Stob Coire an Albannaich to camp near Kings house Hotel
Daily Distance 28.2k, Time Naismith 10.55, Daily Ascent 2250m, Daily Average Altitude 822m
The map shows our actual route in Blue, and the intended route where it was different in red. The blue numbers on our route are highlighted in the text. The red squares are Munros.
We were up early and climbing Meall Tarsuinn on our way to Meall nan Eun before the sun rose over the summit. From the summit of Meall nan Eun there was a tricky scramble down to a bealach 1 before a scramble up Meall Odhar, both luckily nearly snow free. Looking back we were pleased with the line we had taken, there did not seem to be anything easier. Now we had a long high ridge walk all the way to Stob Ghabhar, the sun was out, there was a covering of dry snow , this was what we came for.
Just short of Stob Ghabhar 2 we left our rucksacks, spread our sleeping bag over snow free rocks, weighted it with rocks and climbed to the summit without packs. Here we finally got a phone signal to challenge control. We returned and had lunch with more smoked salmon. The bag was now dry again, we had rearranged packing to free plastic bags that stopped the sleeping bag getting wet again. Now our route took us along another beautiful ridge Aonach Mor 3 you can see our route on the map it was all great but the last bit, getting down to the Kings House hotel through all the ski damage 4 reminded us how tired we were. We did not see any other walkers until near Kingshouse, although there were footprints in the snow.
We had a good meal and some beer at the Kings House and camped on the other side of the river. Next day was a short day but we were already back on schedule.
