An Stuc - avoiding the NE ridge?

"peter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi all, I'm planning a round of Tarmachan and Ben Lawers group at the weekend, heading W to E.
Whilst doing my research I've come across a lot of comment here and elsewhere about the state of
the NE ridge towards Meall Garbh. As I'll be on my own I think it would be wise to avoid this
route, does anyone have any suggestions? The long ridge heading NNW off An Stuc looks ok, though a
long detour to go down then back up to Meall Garbh. Alternative seems to be to backtrack to Ben
Lawers and descend E and N to the lochan then straight up the S slopes of Meall Garbh. Any
opinions/experience of these options, or other suggestions? Thanks a lot, Peter

Yes, you're right, the NE descent off An Stuc is dodgy, the ground underfoot is quite crumbly, you
require hands and I found the side of the hill came away leaving a lump in my hand. The reason I
know this is that I too decided to descend NNW to approx 1000m contour line, this was pre-GPS days
for me and I didn't descend far enough before contouring back east to the bealach between An Stuc
and Meall Garbh. When I got round I found I was still on the lower reaches of the NE ridge and
encountered the problems above. I was very careful, but in worse conditions you'd be looking for
help from Lady Luck as well. Your suggestion of backtracking to Lawers is probably do-able but more
effort than I could be bothered with, for example I ran the routes suggested through Memory-Map so
the route to the NNW off An Stuc is (approx, I don't know the *exact* way you'd do it), involves
just over 1 km and 140m climb to An Stuc, to backtrack to the bealach between Creag an Fhitich and
Lawers, route via the Lochan and then up to Meall Garbh is
3.5km and 510m climb!! I'd go (again) for the NNW descent.....

KRO

peter wrote

Quoted message said:

Hi all, I'm planning a round of Tarmachan and Ben Lawers group at the weekend, heading W to E.
Whilst doing my research I've come across a lot of comment here and elsewhere about the state of
the NE ridge towards Meall Garbh. As I'll be on my own I think it would be wise to avoid this
route, does anyone have any suggestions? The long ridge heading NNW off An Stuc looks ok, though a
long detour to go down then back up to Meall Garbh.

Yes, the NE side of An Stuc has become very dangerous due to erosion. The safest route is as you
propose, descend about 150m then contour back across the N/NE slope to the bealach below Meall
Garbh. This is also a steep slope but there is a path rather than rubble and awkwardly sloping,
loose, wet bedrock. Under snow it should be crossed with care but it's still much safer than the
'direct' route.

Quoted message said:

Alternative seems to be to backtrack to Ben Lawers and descend E and N to the lochan then
straight up the S slopes of Meall Garbh. Any opinions/experience of these options, or other
suggestions? Thanks a lot, Peter

The slope down to the lochan is big and steep! It also hold snow quite well and can be icy - I had a
smashing day out front-pointing up from the lochan a few years ago.

Worth mentioning, another hill which is developing a similar problem to An Stuc is Sgurr na h-Ulaidh
in Glencoe. If you go round it clockwise you come down westwards from the summit towards Corr na
Beinne. At the flat part of the ridge before CnB an obvious path heads down the north slope, easy
but steep at first then a nasty wee crag blocks further descent and rather than go all the way back
up and come down again further west the temptation is to follow an escape 'path' eastwards. This is
mainly on not very well attached turf with some wet rocks to cross as well - not at all pleasant. At
the moment it is just nasty but more traffic will rapidly make it quite dangerous. The safe option
is to go right out to the top of CnB then descend NW then N on steep but safer slopes. Alternatively
go up this way, traverse the hill west to east but descend the west slopes of Aonach Dubh a'Ghlinne
- do not go fight to the north end and descend the nose, it is also very steep with nasty craggy
bits hidden from above.

HTH Graham

(peter) said:

Hi all, I'm planning a round of Tarmachan and Ben Lawers group at the weekend, heading W to E.
Whilst doing my research I've come across a lot of comment here and elsewhere about the state of
the NE ridge towards Meall Garbh. As I'll be on my own I think it would be wise to avoid this
route, does anyone have any suggestions? The long ridge heading NNW off An Stuc looks ok, though a
long detour to go down then back up to Meall Garbh. Alternative seems to be to backtrack to Ben
Lawers and descend E and N to the lochan then straight up the S slopes of Meall Garbh. Any
opinions/experience of these options, or other suggestions? Thanks a lot, Peter

Its a long time ago, but I remember avoiding An Stuc altogether by traversing round the Glen Lyon
side... This before joint munrodom with Meall Garbh mind. Prior to this I had an epic on that
descent hanging by one axe, while someone else hung from my waist/wedged between me and the hill
after falling on me.

Not a nice place, and now we have had a few years mangling by the baggers.

Richard Webb

In article <[email hidden]>, KRO <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"peter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all, I'm planning a round of Tarmachan and Ben Lawers group at the weekend, heading W to E.
Whilst doing my research I've come across a lot of comment here and elsewhere about the state of
the NE ridge towards Meall Garbh. As I'll be on my own I think it would be wise to avoid this
route, does anyone have any suggestions? The long ridge heading NNW off An Stuc looks ok, though
a long detour to go down then back up to Meall Garbh. Alternative seems to be to backtrack to Ben
Lawers and descend E and N to the lochan then straight up the S slopes of Meall Garbh. Any
opinions/experience of these options, or other suggestions? Thanks a lot, Peter

Yes, you're right, the NE descent off An Stuc is dodgy, the ground underfoot is quite crumbly, you
require hands and I found the side of the hill came away leaving a lump in my hand. The reason I
know this is that I too decided to descend NNW to approx 1000m contour line, this was pre-GPS days
for me and I didn't descend far enough before contouring back east to the bealach between An Stuc
and Meall Garbh. When I got round I found I was still on the lower reaches of the NE ridge and
encountered the problems above. I was very careful, but in worse conditions you'd be looking for
help from Lady Luck as well. Your suggestion of backtracking to Lawers is probably do-able but more
effort than I could be bothered with, for example I ran the routes suggested through Memory-Map so
the route to the NNW off An Stuc is (approx, I don't know the *exact* way you'd do it)

In MM I make a "route" which is a single leg from the peak to a lower point. Then right-click for
profile. Right-click the profile to select True Scale and observe that the steepest bit is about 50-
55 degrees for the NE descent and 40 degrees for NNW

Quoted message said:

, involves just over 1 km and 140m climb to An Stuc, to backtrack to the bealach between Creag an
Fhitich and Lawers, route via the Lochan and then up to Meall Garbh is
3.5km and 510m climb!! I'd go (again) for the NNW descent.....

Bernard Hill Selkirk, Scotland