Stob Ban via the Giants Stairway

Great Glen Routes · Routebook · Home

Confusingly there are two Munros called 'Stob Ban' (White Peak) near Fort William. One of them is in the Mamores and the other one, which this page is about, is at the eastern end of the Grey Corries slightly apart from the main ridge. When seen from a distance the Grey Corries are well named - their upper slopes are covered with shattered quartzite. The finer particles gave my boots and gaiters a distinctive sparkle effect!

I drove to Spean Bridge and took the turning to Coirechoille where I parked and started the long walk up the Lairig Leachach. A little after the Col between the Grey Corries and Cruach Innse is a bothy (GR 283737), where I left the main track. Had I continued I would have arrived at Creaguaineach Lodge, at the south end of Loch Trieg. However, I headed up the tussocky grass on the north side of the burn.

The Giants Staircase is composed of three huge steps of quartzite, a nasty slippery rock in the wet. At a distance they look very impressive although they are not marked on the OS map (sheet 41). When I got to grips with them they offered plenty of choice of route and a nice level of scrambling - entertaining rather than scary! I always find gaining height in this way very easy, as my brain is far to busy working out the moves to notice the complaining in my legs. All to soon I arrived at the Col between Stob Ban and the rest of the Grey Corries. From there was a short (100m) ascent to the actual summit, which has a fantastic view across the headwaters of the River Nevis and the Abhainn Rath to the eastern end of the Mamores, with the Glencoe and Argyll hills beyond.

On the way up I had noticed large patches of snow to the south of the burn I had followed. Now I put them to good use, making a rapid descent back to the bothy. As I walked back towards Spean Bridge the RAF were at play. I was sitting on a rock having a sip of water as a fighter flew over me, so low that I wondered if it would clear the summit of the pass. Of course it did - though I was somewhat relieved as it headed away out of site and earshot!