STREAP an 1100 metre Corbett
Another little-known gem, out west on the Road to the Isles. Streap is tucked away between the famous Curryhully Horseshoe, and Gulvain, its Munro neighbours to either side. This is one of Ralph Storer's "Best 100" and I've had my eye on it some years.
About 45 minutes along a forested track from the road near Glenfinnan, is the good Dubh Lighe bothy. Newly restored after a fire in 2011, it looks a grand place to stay and has a good view of the cirque of mountains at the head of the glen.
Across the river, a lengthy pull took Steve and me up to a high bealach at 650 metres, and from here, there is 3km of knobbly ridge to reach the summit. The first part is steep ground, with twists and turns over boulders and outcrops (being kin to the Rough Bounds of Knoydart) and over subsidiary summits at 844 metres and 873 metres. No paths for the most part.
For the last kilometre, the ridge narrows dramatically, becoming a knife edge about 500mm wide for the last section. The situation calls to mind Striding Edge, except its grassy, but with big drops either side. An easy clamber through a rock band leads to a small summit perch. This is 909 metres above the sea, but the ridge route involves almost 1100 metres uphill to get there.
Another narrow ridge leads off the summit, and a further climb to its neighbour Streap Comhlaidh, after which yet another knife-edge heads south-east to an outlier, and some extremely steep grass weaving occasionally to avoid craglets, down down down to the valley.
An excellent day out in clear conditions...... it took just over 4 hours to the summit and 7.5 hours for the round. Charles Stuart's minders were unaware that Streap is 909 metres rather than 914.6 when they took him over Sgurr Thuilm next door in July 1746 during his flight after Culloden: however Streap's lack of Munro or historical status seems to mean that it is comparatively little visited. We crossed a couple of snowfields which were unavoidably on the line of march, and there were no traces of footprints (until Orrin got there).
Maybe that's a good thing:- the mountain ridge is unmarked by any path, and we had the entire mountain to ourselves on a busy Bank Holiday. With its interesting rough ridge, followed by a succession of narrow edges, Streap would be near the top of the table if it were in the English Lake District. But its not.
ANDREW
