| Date | 12 July 2025 |
| Route | Link to Route |
| Enjoyable | |
| Difficulty | |
| Conditions | Too warm, occasional light breeze |
| Summits | ✔ (M) Buachaille Etive Beag - Stob Coire Raineach ✔ (M) Buachaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh |
Second outing on our trip to Glencoe, this time heading for the other Buachaille, Buachaille Etive Beag. Originally we hoped for a day off, but our planned outing on Monday is looking iffy due to wind at the top, so decided to head out today in case we are traveling home tomorrow.
Started just before 9am, but already very warm with only an occasional light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. The walk to the base of the bealach was quick, but the climb up tough going due to the relentless heat and the stiff legs after yesterday. We were helped a little by the mozzies that were only an issue if we stopped.
We discussed which Munro to head for first on the way up, the further away one, or the steeper one to the North East; once we made the bealach we opted to get the steeper one out of the way first. Climb was steep with quite a few parts having loose scree, however there seemed to be several paths up, we stuck with the ones to the north side of the hill. Ailidh seemed to find her legs on this ascent and stormed up with myself in tow. Didn't take long to get to the summit of the first Munro of the day, Stob Coire Raineach.
After a short stop to refuel, we headed back down towards the bealach, this time trying to keep to the south side of the hill where the path looked less steep and more solid. The climb from the bealach up to the ridge leading to the last Munro was much easier than it looked, aided with a nice cooling breeze at times. We were going to stop for lunch here, but as there was so many people crowding the cairn at the 902m point, we decided to head across the ridge and found a great spot close to the base of the climb to the last Munro.
The ascent to the Munro, Stob Dubh was straightforward, but there was a couple of exposed sections requiring a little care. A short distance past the summit is another lower cairn with fantastic views along Glen Etive and so clear today we could see out to the Paps of Jura.
Returning back along the ridge and down to the bealach, we then followed the original ascent path, our knees though not liking the steps by the bottom. The heat at the car park was intense, with the car initially saying it was 37 degrees!!
Looking back at my old Munro map, I completed this walk 27 years, but then the weather wasn't good with very poor visibility that day.
