110-111. Stob Coire Easain (39) (P600 21), Stob a'Choire Mheadhoin (46). 14/12/09

The weather on the walk out from the Lairig Leacach bothy wasn't quite as perfect as the previous day, but we couldn't really complain - even at its worst, it was only drizzle, light winds and mist. We left the relative warmth of the bothy at about 9.45 and were soon plodding up the grassy slopes on the east side of the glen. The lower slopes of Stob Coire Easain were fairly undulatory and it was a while before we felt like we were making progress upwards. When we did begin to climb, however, it quickly became quite steep and due to the mist our navigation was less than perfect. All this meant that the final snow slope that we climbed was a good deal steeper than it had to be and we would probably have been grateful for crampons. Having said that, we made it to the top in one piece and it all became easier thenceforth. We didn't waste too much time at the top, since the views were unremarkable, but began the descent of a straighforward snow slope to the saddle, followed by a short re-ascent to Stob a'Choire Mheadhoin. On the descent I came reasonably close to taking a photo of a ptarmigan, but was thwarted at the last moment. The descent wasn't too difficult and only included one interesting bit off the obvious shoulder of the hill. It was made tedious at the end however by a four mile stretch of road to get around from Fersit to Tulloch station (I think it would almost be worth risking wet feet and fording the river), by the end of which I was so fed up of my stiff winter boots that I decided to wear my bothy booties for the rest of the day. These are an excellent invention and were especially popular for the looks they got when walking through Glasgow at 11pm.

A view of Stob a'Choire Mheadhoin from across Loch Treig on a sunnier day.

The small but cosy Lairig Leacach bothy.

Returning below the cloud in the afternoon and a view across the northern end of Loch Treig.