Start of the path to Stob Ban.
| Stob Ban clock-wise
from Glen Nevis Stob Ban Mullach nan Coirean |
| Estimated net time | 5-6 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but some very easy scrambling in one place, with a touch of exposure. | ||
| Drinking water | Several sources of running water into the valley at the start of the hike, but nothing further up. | ||
| GSM coverage | Unknown. | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park. This is a pay-and-display car park. | ||
| Start height | 58 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1195 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 13.5 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Fort William town centre drive towards Glen Nevis Visitor Centre, signed from road A82. Continue 6.0 km (3.6 mi) from the visitor centre and park on the large car park on the right hand side of the road. This is a pay-and-display car park.
Start your hike by following the road another 50 metres into the valley, across the bridge, and turn right onto a wide path behind two sets of gates. From here follow the path into the valley and all the way up to the pass at 770 metres. Turn right (west) and stay on the obvious path up to the pile of stones marking the summit of Stob Ban.
From Stob Ban walk a little north, and then mainly west along several nice ridges, in total 3.4 km until you reach the large summit cairn at Mullach nan Coirean.
Descend by continuing north from Mullach nan Coirean, across the flat section, and then make sure you turn right and follow the north-east ridge back down towards Glen Nevis. This path takes you all the way down to 180 metres, where the path hits a forest road. Follow this forest road a little more than 700 metres and turn right onto a path going downhill, immediately after a left curve on the forest road. This path runs down to the main road going into Glen Nevis, from where you should turn right and walk the last 300 metres back to the car park.
Except for our first afternoon we had had pretty miserable weather during our days in Scotland this spring. And this Sunday was no different, with rain, wind and mist, but we still wanted to go for a proper hike, as opposed to the low hills we had been visiting the other days. Both Håvard and me were very keen on a first visit to the Mamores, and after breakfast we decided to have a go despite the conditions. Erling also wanted to join, but he turned around at approximately 400 metres and walked all the way back to Fort William.
When we got above 800 metres we entered thick mist and the little visibility we had had was all gone, and with some rain and a firm wind it was good to have proper clothes in the rucksack. The miserable weather made us stop at Stob Ban for only a few seconds; just enough for a drink and a couple of photos. We then proceeded to Mullach nan Coirean without seeing much, which was a shame since I have a suspicion this is a very nice ridge walk.
At Mullach nan Coirean we were surprised to meet two other hikers approaching the summit from the other side, and I was even more surprised when they confirmed my suspicion that they were the hikers I had seen above us when we still had some visibility down in the valley. They had walked the same route as us, but had lost the directions when they stated descending Mullach nan Coirean and had had to come back up, with the intention to return all the way through their ascent route. When I told them I had plotted several waypoints on my GPS and that I was quite confident I would find the correct route down to the valley they were more than happy to stay on our heels. This worked well and we made it back to the car park without any navigational issues.
Back in Fort William we picked up Erling before shopping for dinner at our self catering cabin-like place. With Erling in inspired cooking mode we then enjoyed a superb multi-course meal, together with some nice wine.