The Ben Lawers 7
- robsthomson
- Aug 11, 2018
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 8, 2019
7 of the Best - an epic one day walk across 7 summits
A very busy summer with work and a family holiday to Corfu put a huge dent in the Munro activity so I decided to make up for lost time with another multi-Munro attempt. Liam once again joining me along with his friend, regular walking buddy and fellow 'Climbing Clowns' fundraiser, Michael.
It was decided we would wild camp the night before to ensure the early start needed to conquer this route, choosing to pitch up at Ben Lawers Dam, a mile shy of our intended start point. Michael parking up his car at the intended finish route around 7 miles farther along.
Forming a 12 mile route, The Ben Lawers 7, as the name suggests, incorporates 7 Munro summits including a scramble on An Stuc and a now familiar mountain to me, Ben Lawers
Meall a'Choire Leith
From the Cairn at the Car Park we set off for Meall a'Choire Leith.......the wrong way. Not the greatest start although on this occasion the mistake was noticed less than 10 minutes in and we bog trotted back across the Moorland to 'approximately' the correct route. The initial going was wet and heavy and we could see several other walking parties all choosing their own path. Two chaps in particular looking very keen and confident setting off up the hillside before us.
Using Michael's ViewRanger app and my still rudimentary map skills we decided to carry on the way we thought and circumnavigate the base of this particular hill rather than go headlong up it. This decision paid off as we found the base of the intended summit and the clear route up. Perhaps we were cracking this Munro malarkey after all? I did make a quiet promise to myself that I would never let complacency set in, even in the wake of any successes (these promises were racking up with every trip).
Around 90 minutes after setting off a short but steep slog saw us summit number one of the day. A fairly broad, flat and unspectacular top but with broad and expansive views in all directions including a spectacular view of the range almost in it's entirety - it looked fairly easy from this view point (that promise was made again in quick succession)!
Meall Corannaich
Almost immediately after setting off the top of the first summit we encountered the two chaps we saw earlier who had somehow contrived to miss the first summit altogether and were now doubling back towards it.
The walk to Meall Corannaich was a long sweeping curved 'whale back' and deceptively tough going. As is often the case, being able to see one summit form the next gives the optimistic illusion of closeness and betrays nothing of the terrain, actual distance and steepness of certain sections.
Beinn Ghlas
Following the fence line off Meall Coranaich we descended steeply into the Bealach (Narrow Mountain Pass) where a path branched off back to the Lawers Car park in the distance. From the bottom of the pass it was straight up and onto Beinn Ghlas. This would be a lofty summit in it's own right but is overshadowed by the peak of Ben Lawers. A well trodden path at this point the pedestrian traffic became far more pronounced with walkers looking to take on the Bein Ghlas/Ben Lawers route which I now knew so well.
Ben Lawers
I was now on broadly familiar territory having tackled this summit twice. It was third time lucky as the weather was perfect and the views which had hitherto eluded me now presented themselves in all their glory. I would have climbed this mountain every day for a year to glimpse what now lay before me. The final pull to the top was busy with at least 3 dozen other walkers heading up or down and despite the spectacular scenery this was a slog. I was clearly fitter than I was a few months ago but still carrying too much timber!
Although we had a long way to go we took a longer than usual pit stop at this summit - the highest in Perthshire, the highest south of Ben Nevis and the 10th highest in the country.
An Stuc
The image above shows the path from Ben Lawers to An Stuc and Meall Garbh. Highlighting once again how certain viewpoints between summits give the impression that they can be attained in quick succession and revealing very little of the true terrain and angle of ascent and descent. Where the path seems to end in this image (where the dark green foliage meets lighter), the path drops away sharply before climbing steeply enough to provide some scrambling in places. Despite the physical effort now being exuded by all three of us there was unilateral agreement that this was a fine section of the ridge. Despite not being the highest peak along the walk the views continued to be very fine indeed, in especial looking back along the route to the summit of Ben Lawers.
Meall Garbh
Descending off the summit of An Stuc we had 3 choices of route and opted to take on the Scramble. The Route was well worn and obvious but in this shaded area the rock was wet and loose. Picking our way down, a faint path appeared as the ground leveled out. Following this we soon picked up the main route again at the Col (NB: In geographical terms, a Col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks).
The familiar aches and pains were now really beginning to kick in as we took the long and laborious grassy slope up towards Meall Garbh and my mind was wrestling between trying to figure out how long our walk would be from here to trying to avoid thinking about it altogether!
Meall Greigh
The descent off Meall Garbh was a welcome respite offering a steady rate of descent across a rocky but well trodden path. Following the fence line, the terrain became far heavier, boggy and hard going further down with the extra care needed taking it's toll on very heavy legs. Crossing flat marshland the ascent to the summit of Meall Greigh was endured rather than enjoyed.
Despite my now exhausted state. reaching the final summit was a fantastic moment and I allowed myself to dissolve the usual questions of fitness and the aches and pains long enough to enjoy the final Munro photo's and high-fives! At this point a couple caught up with us having also completed the 7 summits (in around 4 hours less time than us I must add) and together we descended off towards The Lawers Hotel.
Descents are often something I feel I need to endure rather than enjoy, taking a huge toll on my knees and shins in particular, and this one was brutal. Liam and Michael were quite comfortable keeping pace with our new found companions and I fell quite a bit behind. The whole descent took around 45 minutes but it felt like 2 hours.
Reaching the roadside we walked around 1k back to the car at The Lawers Hotel before driving back to our start point and my car 11 hours after we started. The walk is cited as around 8 or 9 hours so given our (or more accurately) my fitness it wasn't a bad effort.
Oh, and at the 3rd time of asking Ben Lawers had finally revealed it's famous views which were worth every ache and pain alone.
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