Report on Stob a Choire Odhair & Stob Ghabhar
Sunday 22nd May 2005

After a number of call offs four club members turned up at the appointed hour in the Victoria Bridge car park. The weather was set to be mediocre with the chance of showers.

Steve, Craig, Michael and myself set off for the long walk in to the foot of the hills. The walk to the base of the hill was pleasant and the weather fair.

We arrived at the foot of Stob a Choire Odhair and the path started steeply upwards. Craig decided it was warm enough for shorts. As the path zigzagged upwards the day warmed nicely and the first summit was reached. The views north-eastwards to the Rannoch Moor were spectacular. Lunch was taken on the summit but no sooner had we lunched than a cold snap came by. In five minutes Craig was regretting his short trousers and these were soon replaced with long trousers, gloves and a woolly hat!

The descent from the summit to the bealach was uneventful except for the gentleman in a T-shirt who was taking a fleece to his partner? I felt a bit overdressed in all my warm weather gear!

The ascent to the Aonach Eagach was very strenuous up a scree slope and great relief was enjoyed when the crest of the ridge was reached. The walk along the ridge was pretty exposed for a short spell with steep drops on either side. The ascent to the summit was soon complete. Again spectacular views to the north were a good reward for the hard effort in gaining the summit.

Fortunately we'd managed to miss almost all the showers but this couldn't last. By the time the difficult descent down the south east ridge was complete the rain started falling and the long walk back to the car park was fairly dismal.

This was a truly strenuous but highly enjoyable walk with wonderful views and well worth the effort to get to the tops.

Robin Menzies