Sgurr a' Mhaim, Am Bodach, An Gearanach and Stob Coire a' Chairn Route Information

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Sgurr a' Mhaim, Am Bodach, An Gearanach & Stob Coire a' Chairn

Quick Facts

This is the summed total of all the climbing within a route and is a good indicator of the strenuousness of a route.

Total Ascent

1748 m

An estimate of the time taken based on a derivation of Naismiths rules. Our calculation is based on the horizontal and ascent components of a climb, we do not make a reduction for descent.

Registered users can customise these walking times by specifying their own walking and ascending speeds. They can also add a fixed time period for stoppages.

Route Time

6.5 hrs

The horizontal distance of the route.

Route Distance

16.85 km

The UK is covered by 204 Ordnance Survey Landranger 1:50,000 scale maps. Maps numbered 1 to 86 cover Scotland but for the highest mountains (Munros) only 23 maps are required. The name given roughly describes the area covered by the map.

You can click on the map name to purchase the map for £6.29 including postage which is one of the cheapest prices we have found.

OS Landranger Maps Required

41	Ben Nevis, Fort William & Glen Coe

Only £6.29 (£13.49 Laminated) from

A brief summary of this route.

Our summary will always contain one of easy, moderate or hard to indicate the severity of the route.

Notes

This is "The Ring of Steall" strenuous due to steep slopes (ascent and descent) and excellent ridge walks with moderate exposure.

Here we provide the nearest town to the start of the route where you will find basic services.

We then give directions from that location to the route start. Your approach route may differ.

Travel Information

Head to: Fort William

From Fort William (A82), at the Nevis Bridge roundabout, follow signs to Glen Nevis. Follow the Glen Nevis road to its termination at a large car park.

Route Waypoint Map

The total ascent is 1,748 metres. Allow 6.5 hours to complete this 16.85 km route.

In winter months please check the local snow conditions at sais.gov.uk.

The hillphones service can inform you of stalking activities in the area.

Usually the shortest way to climb the mountain, making best use of tracks and paths to gain altitude. Route navigation requires map reading skills and an ability to navigate with a compass.

The information given here will enable you to annotate your map and plan your route. We do not give anecdotal descriptions on where to find the paths, worn by the feet of previous mountaineers.

Where the access routes are few or the ridge is narrow, paths are generally obvious. On open ground, following paths without using your compass may get you lost in poor visibility.

Route Information

Waypoint Detail

	Start from carpark at the end of the road through Glen Nevis
		NN16776914	Distance	Altitude 145 m

1	Follow path W through gorge to wire bridge (3 wires 1 to walk on 2 to hold)
		NN17766847	Distance 1.64 km	Altitude 215 m

2	Cross bridge and ascend on path past Steall Waterfall to An Gearanach summit
		NN18776698	Distance 3.36 km	Altitude 982 m

3	Continue SSW over An Garbanach to Stob Coire a' Chairn
		NN18566606	Distance 1.07 km	Altitude 981 m

4	Follow ridge SW to Am Bodach
		NN17656509	Distance 1.50 km	Altitude 1032 m

5	Return to path and head WNW to Sgurr an Iubhair (no longer a Munro!)
		NN16526551	Distance 1.34 km	Altitude 1001 m

6	Head NW to the start of the Devils Ridge
		NN16306595	Distance 0.53 km	Altitude 895 m

7	Head N over the Devils Ridge to Sgurr a' Mhaim
		NN16486673	Distance 0.83 km	Altitude 1099 m

8	Descend WSW to path
		NN15416636	Distance 1.25 km	Altitude 510 m

9	Continue NNW on path to reach carpark by road (leave car 2 here!)
		NN14566837	Distance 2.60 km	Altitude 58 m

10	Return along road to start
		NN16776914	Distance 2.72 km	Altitude 145 m

A selection of weather forecasts local to this route.

Weather

West Highlands
by MWIS (PDF format)

West Highlands
by Met Office

Ben Nevis
by Metcheck

Images of Sgurr a' Mhaim, Am Bodach, An Gearanach & Stob Coire a' Chairn

Sgurr an Iubhair from the southern end of the Devil's Ridge; 7th June 2008.

Image by Roger Vander Steen

Sgurr an Iubhair, the Devil's Ridge and Sgurr a' Mhaim from Am Bodach; 7th May 2008.

Image by Roger Vander Steen

Looking E along the ridge to Am Bodach (r) and Na Gruagaichean from Sgorr an Iubhair.

Image by Peter Burgess

Sgurr a'Mhaim, with the mamore ridge from Am Bodach to Stob Ban behind, as seen from the edge of the summit plateau of Ben Nevis on a blustery day in August 1969.

Image by David S Brown

Route Area Map

Legend

Munro

Corbett

Graham

English/Welsh Top

Accommodation

A selection of local accommodation options who advertise with Munromagic.com.

Where to Stay

We currently have no
sponsored accommodation listings for this area.

Rating & Reviews

Rating & Reviews

Rated:

from 11 votes

Click Stars to Vote
Your Rating

Written by Sc Joss on 28 Jun 2010:

This is a fantastic ropute. We did it anticlockwise, preferring a steep ascent and slightly shallower ascent. no difficulty crossing the river despite the closure of the wire bridge, didn't even get wet feet! the Steall falls were very low. could be tricky after rain though.

Written by David Harbottle on 20 Nov 2007:

Here's a video diary of my traverse of The Ring of Steal (June 2007), with my son Mark: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h0vz_glencoe-jun07-day-1-ring-of-steall_family

Written by David Harbottle on 03 Jul 2007:

Excellent walk! The scrambling on the Devil's Ridge is very straight forward and minimal (two small steps). A sheep in wolf's clothing. I'd love to do this in winter conditions sometime, where it would be a little more difficult.

Written by Mike Watson on 07 Jan 2007:

Had to ford the burn that the waterfall feeds as we could see no easy route as it was in spate. No-one seems to mention this! We went up the 1st three (missed out Sgurr a' Mhaim & travered to the south of Sgurr an Iubhair as we'd been up it before and the weather wasnt too good). Also OS map is incorrect, stalkers path to the south of Sgurr an Iubhair has a big dogleg in it not shown on either the 1:50000 or 1:25000 but correct on Harveys map. Caused a bit of a Nav issue...

Written by Rob Jeffries on 02 Sep 2005:

The wire bridge is far more perilous than either of the ridges. As regards the descent from a'Mhaim, there is a well defined path leading roughly NW from the summit that rejoins the Mhusgain path about 0.5km from the car park. Initially it is fairly easily sloped, then onto some quartzite scree for 100m down, then really steeply angled zigzags straight down the NW ridge. Possibly better than the posted route, but better as an ascent? However, going anti-clockwise around the R-o-S not recommended because the drop NE from Am Bodach is very steep and loose and better ascended.

Disclaimer. The details provided above are an aid to planning an expedition, but all distances, altitudes and bearings must be considered approximate. You must navigate with the appropriate map, a compass, your navigation skills and common sense, MunroMagic.com accept no responsibility for your interpretation of our route information.

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