NEW ROUTE CARD: Creag Meagaidh, the classic circuit

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Creag Meagaidh from Stob Poite Coire Ardair, 4 kbMeggy straddles Scotland’s east-west watershed, and has elements of both - cliffs second only to Ben Nevis for the scale and quality (if not reliability) of their winter ice climbs, backed by a sprawling central plateau that gives the Cairngorms a run for their money. This is a superb walker's hill too. Coire Ardair is the best approach, an easy trail through the birch woods of the thriving National Nature Reserve, with the crags of the upper corrie looming steadily larger ahead. Their monumental size is not fully apparent until you’re standing, ant-like, below them. Escape the corrie via the dramatic col of The Window, the only walker-friendly route, then head over the empty plateau to Meggy's domed summit. The return leg via the northern rim of Coire Ardair is an enjoyable ridge walk in its own right, with a couple of bonus Munros and great views of the cliffs.

12.66 miles, 20.38 km, 1,136m ascent, 6 – 8 hours. Newtonmore or Fort William

Read more at http://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=936
 tony 14 Apr 2015
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Or, if you're keen on Munro Tops as well, and want to bag Sron a' Choire and Puist Coire Ardair, you can go all the way into the corrie to Lochan a' Choire and then head sharply up SE to the saddle between the two tops, and then proceed to the top of Creag Meagaidh after a wee detour up Sron a' Choire. This does mean you only get to go through the Window once, but it does make it a slightly more circular walk.
Bloomin' good day out whichever way you do it.
 Jack Frost 14 Apr 2015
In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

I always thought the classic circuit was to follow your route in reverse and then from Creag Meagaidh to return East and over Puist Coire Ardair and Sron a Ghoire before following the Allt Bealach a Ghoire to the footbridge over the Allt Dubh just short of the farm. Makes for a much more satisfying circuit with little if any backtracking.
In reply to Jack Frost:

I've done it, and did briefly consider writing it like that. But then you miss out on by far the best bit of the hill, which is that walk-in close under the cliffs of Coire Ardair. It can't be the classic circuit without that.
In reply to tony:

I guess that'd bag you the full tally if you're counting. But, kind of like I said to Jack, the walk is really all about Coire Ardair for me. And going up from the corrie into The Window is too grand a stretch to miss out in favour of a couple of minor summits.

Here's a compromise:

From The Window you could bounce around up on the plateau, first to Puist Coire Ardair and then back over to Meggy itself. I've actually written it up like that in a book. But not because PCA is a Munro Top (that's not really my thing), but because you can nip out to the top of Pinnacle Buttress if you go that way, which is awesome (in summer I hasten to add: Too awesome for walkers in winter)

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