Mam na Gualainn

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I've long had my eye on climbing this Corbett near Kinlochleven. In June 2019 on yet another wet day I decided to climb it.

The walk starts from the centre of the village and initially uses the West Highland Way path....

....which climbs quickly above Kinlochleven.

Part of the W.H.W is now the access road for yet another HEP scheme using the water from Allt Nathrach.

This is still under construction but for walkers to Mam na Gualainn it means a brand new path down from the W.H.W...

,,,to a very substantial bridge of the stream. The girders underneath support a water pipe so it's unlikely that this bridge will ever be washed away.

Looking west up the glen with construction work for the dams underway.

The path up to the first summit of the day at Beinn na Caillieh is a beautifully constructed one although on this day it was a rapidly flowing stream for most of the way.

The end of Beinn na Caillieh comes into view as the path zig zags uphill.

across the glen the summits of Stob Ban and Sgurr an lubhair are still shrouded in mist.

The gradient eases slightly .....

.....but then turns into a series of switchbacks as it gains height rapidly.

Over to the south is the Corbett Garbh Beinn on the left and the Munros on the Aonach Eagach ridge.

Looking back over Kinlochleven is the rather bizarre sight of the Backwater Reservoir 300m above the village. The pipelines to the HEP plant can be seen on the hillside,

looking back done the ridge.

There's a small lochan just before the final climb .....

...up to the cairn at the end of Beinn na Caillieh.

This isn't the actual summit though and lies on a short length of path looking over the end of the hill. Sadly there were no views as the cloud had rolled in .

The path now becomes a bit fainter as it climbs to the actual summit at 764 m.

Beyond there is a fantastic ridge walk...

...which undulates and eventually drops about 110m before the final climb up to Mam na Gualainn.

The clouds kept rolling back and forth giving views down to Loch Leven.

The clouds cleared to give a view of Mam na Gualainn although the summit isn't visible yet.

The sun comes out giving a view of Glen Coe village and Ballachulish.

Looking back up to Beinn na Caillieh showing the steep drop down to Loch Leven.

 

Down at the unnamed bealach the track can be seen climbing beyond....

...and it's and easy walk on a faint path.

The Mamores are now clear of clouds with Stob Ban on the left, then Sgurr a Mhaim, Stob Choire a' Mhail and Sgurr an lubhair.

looking back at Beinn na Caillieh showing it's almost symmetrical cross profile.

Climbing up to the summit it's obvious that there are some peat hags to cross...

...but they aren't too bad.....

....and then it's just up the final brassy slopes to...

....reach the triangulation column (796m) with a memorial plaque to a member of the Royal Marine Reserves.

It had taken me just over 4 hours from Kinlockleven to get here, about half an hour longer than expected.

Given the  weather conditions and the near certainty that the stream at the ford across the Allt na Lairige Moire would be in spate I decided against doing the normal circular walk for this hill. This meant reascending Beinn na Caillieh . There is a considerable amount of descent and ascent in both direction so the total ascent on outward walk is 1020m and on return 250m. That's a lot more than many Munros.

Another 105m to climb to get back up to the summit of Beinn na Caillieh and then it's almost all downhill except for theclimb up from the footbridge to the West highland Way. The whole walk had taken seven and a half hours.