Bidean nam Bian & Stob Coire Sgreamhach, Map 384; 10th June 2007

Route: 1530m = 5020' ascent; 8.0 miles; 7.25 hrs.

Route: This route is really only for those wishing to conquer the Munro tops. It includes Beinn Fhada (NN16435431) which has very steep sides and a tricky wall between it and Stob Coire Sgreamhach. Because of these problems, I would always do this route in a clockwise direction. For those skipping Beinn Fhada, the "tourist" route for Stob Coire Sgreamhach continues up the lost valley to the col west of the summit at NN15085370 rather than making a diversion left up the slope to Beinn Fhada.
The first point to watch in this route is that the path up to the Lost Valley crosses the river by a large boulder. I missed the crossing once and it led to some difficulties. Next, the steep climb up from the Lost Valley has many very minor rocks and crag bands to weave around. As they can be seen and negotiated more easily on ascent than descent, a clockwise direction works well. Once beyond the two tops of Beinn Fhada there is the aforementioned wall, the "bad step". A photo of it is given by Andy Wallace. To avoid scrambling up this, traverse to the left along the short path seen in the photograph and then ascend a rather exposed gully back to the ridge. According to Alex Roddie, the easiest way up starts with a "ramp of slow slants left" which is probably what I took. Another reference for the route is in www.scottishhills.com. Finally, "Mike216" describes the route past the bad step as follows: "it was a breeze to find the route up, starting on the left (south-west) side a narrow ledge passes under the initial crags before doubling back and onto the crest of the ridge".
The next choice is an optional detour from the summit of Bidean nam Bian to include its northern Munro Top.
Lastly, various descents are possible from Stob Coire nan Lochan, one by each of its three ridges. One can take the north ridge down to the col with Aonach Dubh before turning SE to a set of loachans where a made-up path descends into the Coire nan Lochan valley, as here. Such a choice is very hard on the joints, being 3000 feet of descent almost entirely over rocks or a constructed stone path. A similar descent can be made to the Coire nan Lochan valley via the east ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan. In the table below the easiest choice is to return SW to the col with Bidean and descend SE to the Lost Valley. This is about half a mile longer, but involves marginally less ascent from crossing the River Coe back to the helipad parking.
Weather: Hot dry day, overcast, 18°C at start, cloud at ~1150m, very light wind.