Meall Lighiche

I lived in the UK for more than four years, I know that the weather can be bad. But this winter really is something else. It was already the wettest winter on record before last weekend, and unfortunately for me it couldn't stop there. Torrential rain, storm force winds, really bad snow conditions with high avalanche risk, widespread flooding of rives and footpaths... Like I said, I know it can be like that, but when you're going to the UK for five days, you normally can expect at least one or two days of decent weather. Not this time.

 

I joined my former Leeds University Hiking Club for the yearly three day trip to the Fort William area. Last year's trip was blessed with exceptionally good weather. I managed to tick off six Munros (mountains in Schotland over 3000 feet / 912 meters in altitude) that weekend. All of those routes were completely out of the question on this years trip, as the conditions made them outright dangerous. We had to content ourselves with lots of low level walking, and many pints of real ale at the Clachaig. (The Clachaig is a real mountaineers' pub and also in general one of the best pubs in Schotland, luckily situated within walking distance of our accommodation at the Glencoe Independent Hostel.) On Friday, I walked a section of the West Highland Way, from Lochan Llùn Dà Brà to Fort William, before watching Team GB lose the Olympic men's curling final at the pub. On Sunday, a group of us just went climbing indoors at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven. Only Saturday saw an ascent of an actual mountain: Meall Lighiche.

 

---

 

Eliot had picked the route, looking for a summit that would be relatively save in the conditions and not too exposed to the strong winds. I joined him as a second leader in a group of six in total. The approach follows a farm track through the beautiful valley of Gleann Leac na Muidhe. We were hoping to ascend Meall Lighiche from the north, but the high water level and strong currents keep us on the wrong side of the river. We have to follow the river towards the north face of Sgùrr na h-Ulaidh, a mountain that is often (in better weather) climbed together with Meall Lighiche. Only when we are close to the saddle of Bealach Easan, we find an opportunity to safely ford the river. It means that we are now ascending Meall Lighiche from the south. At about 600m altitude we hit snow fields; time to take the ice axes in hand. I break the trail in front, while giving a few tips on how to walk with the ice axe to one of the group members. The winds have been surprisingly gentle so far. Only when we reach the summit plateau, the winds really hit us. However, at at most 40 mph and without any gusts or buffeting, they are weaker than predicted and well within what you should be prepared to cope with in the Scottish Highlands.

 

Meall Lighiche is 772 meters high and classifies as a Corbett, the second category of Scottish mountains after the Munros. The summit has been in the clouds for most of the day, but as we reach it, we are pleasantly surprised to have a cloud-free summit. Most of the higher summits are hidden in the clouds, so the highlights of the view are lower-down features, in particular the stunning Loch Creran towards the south-west.

 

We descend towards the north, roughly following the posts of an old fence. The snow is fun to run down, certainly in comparison to the slippery wet grass elsewhere. However, we also spot a couple of signs of weakness in the snow. Not problematic here, but it was certainly a good choice not to go onto higher and steeper ground. Upon reaching the valley again, we make sure to cross the river far enough upstream, so we are not stuck on the wrong side of the rushing waters further down. Thus we follow a vague track along the southern slopes of Meall Mór, passing above some waterfalls, and finally joining the bridleway that we were on in the morning at the bridge about 1 km from the A82. The notorious Aonach Eagach ridge on the other side of the Glencoe Valley even appears out of the clouds for a while. I do hope nobody was mad enough to go up there in these conditions. We've been lucky with only a few short showers so far, but now towards the end of the day it is really starting to rain heavily. It makes the kilometer that we have to walk along the busy A82 road extra unpleasant. A well-deserved pint in the Clachaig is waiting at the other end though. Oh, why don't they have pubs like this in the Alps?

 

---

 

Meall Lighiche might be a rather unknown hill in amongst much higher and more spectacular mountains in the Glencoe area. This time however, we were happy enough to just make it up there in weather than was not as apocalyptic as we feared. A modest highlight in an otherwise rather disappointing hiking weekend.