I haven’t visited Beinn Mhor since October last year whilst on a walk with Cowalfest.
Route and pictures HERE
Instead if carrying onto the ridge this time, once the summit was reached I headed back following the ascent route.
A winter wonderland 👍
mhor
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Starting off from upper Glenmassan,climbing to the summit of Beinn Mhor ( 741mts) continuing to A’Chruach before a final descent to Benmore Gardens.
Four hardy souls signed up this epic 10 mile walk. Gillian, Renata,Russell and myself joined Roy our guide for the day. A special mention to Renata and Russell who were paying their first visit to Scotland from Canada and were wanting to sample some of the Scottish wilderness.
The weather forecast didn’t disappoint and provided us with a dry clear day for this high level walk.
Left to right – Beinn Mhor and the ridge.
Starting off at the end of the public road in Glenmassan, the first section on level forestry road leads to the old sheep fank where the climb starts. The road continues steadily uphill, winding it’s way through the trees. The road terminates and is replaced with an ATV track which again climbs through the trees giving access to the open hill.
Following the well defined ATV track as it turns left followed by a right onto the ridge that leads to the summit, looking back provides great views to Loch Tarsan and beyond.
Beinn Mhor summit conquered
Summit 360 degree video.
After a bite to eat it was time to set off for Benmore Gardens. Taking in Creachan Mor, Creachan Beag and A’Chruach before descending to Benmore Gardens. A fantastic section providing wonderful vistas of the surrounding area. Referring to this section as a ridge may be a bit dramatic at he plateau is quite wide. However, when walking along the edge of Coire an t-Sith to gain views of Loch Eck, there is definitely a sense of exposure. The prominent rocky formation of Clach Bheinn is never out of sight.
The gate marks the exit from the open hillside, an ATV track descends down to the forestry road above Benmore then access to the top of the Gardens. The path through the Gardens is followed back to Benmore Cafe.
An interactive map with pictures ( all 93 of them !) and statistics is available by CLICKING HERE
A standard map of route.
A quick note,on a trip to Beinn Mhor,one of Cowal’s Graham’s.
I decided in my wisdom to start this walk nice and early………….06.20 on Sunday morning. Needless to say the ascent was done in the dark with the aid of a head torch,switching off as I headed out of the trees onto the open hillside.
Starting of from the small car park at the top of Glenmassan,up the forestry road till it branched of to the right just beyond the old sheep fank. From here following another forestry road as it winds its way up the hill and into to trees. Eventually the road is reduced to a quad track,this is well defined and easy to follow. Once out the trees and onto the open hill I followed the track over to the left, contouring round the bottom of the hill then finally onto the ridge. The quad track from here leads you right to the summit,an easy navigation on all accounts.
I’ll do this walk again,maybe in daylight and favourable conditions so I can get some decent pictures.
Below are some pics, mostly on the way down due to darkness on way up !! Gives a rough idea of the type of terrain covered. Even encountered my first snow shower of the season !!!
360 degree video from summit
The snow shower
For some reason the GPS paused when heading to the summit, hence the ‘ as the crow flys ‘ straight line to the summit. The return shows the route better. Following the quad track makes sure you’ll find the exit from open hill to forest.
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