M76 | 1054 m. | 3458 ft.
Translation: Peak of the pot of the high corrie
Pronuncation: stop potya kor aardar

Two years ago I had walked up the path in Coire Ardair in late winter. This time in May 2003 Frank and I did not see any snow on the corrie ground. We set off from Aberarder Farm, walked up the the path in the beautiful setting of Coire Ardair and reached the section of the path below the Coire Ardair cliffs of Creag Meagaidh at the lochan after an hour or so.

We had a snack and pressed ahead to the pass at the head of the corrie. Once we had reached the Window we climbed up steep pathless grass slopes in a northerly direction and then followed the path east on the stony ridge to the summit of Stob Poite Coire Ardrair. The first Munro of the day. The first Munro I ever did twice. We returned to the Window and followed the path in a south/south easterly direction up the broad shoulder of Creag Meagaidh until we reached the corrie rim above the Coire Ardair cliffs still topped by cornices. From there we continued in a south-westerly then west-south-westerly direction over the flat plateau until we reached the huge cairn preceeding the summit.

At the real summit we had a break and admired the views: Fog and clouds interrupted by short glimpses of the corries below. With the arrival of other walkers at the summit we packed our rucksacks again and headed back across the vast plateau in an easterly direction guided by occasional compass readings. We crossed the rather featureless terrain, reached Puist Coire Ardair and headed further on to Sron a’Ghoire. On this part of the ridge we were lucky enough to get some very fine views of the northern bounding ridge of Coire Ardair.

Below Sron a’Ghoire we followed a developing path along the Allt Bealach a’Ghoire to the bridge over the Allt Coire Ardair and back to the car park below Aberarder farm. A nice but – on the hill top – foggy day in the Aberarder Forrest. Beautiful hill. Good, long satisfying walk.

2001 Clouds, spells of sunshine and strong westerly winds were forecast for this day. The weather was as predicted when I left the car park at Aberarder and vigorously walked along the path into Coire Ardair. I met several other hill walkers on my way into this very beautiful corrie. The cliffs of Creag Meagaidh are truely awesome. At the foot of the steep ascent to the col between Creag Meagaidh and Stob Poite Corrie Ardair I put on my crampons and the rest of my winter gear and headed up the great snow slope leading to The Window.

On Creag Meagaidh’s cliffs climbers were trying to make headway on the rock covered with ice. I fought my way up to The Window where strong winds and darker clouds coming from the west made the decision easy to leave Creag Meagaidh for an even better day and to walk the northern bounding ridge of Corrie Ardair from west to east over Stob Poite Corrie Ardair and Carn Liath – with the strong westerly wind pushing me forward. So I climbed the steep final snowy and grassy slope to the top of this ridge, walked over to Stob Poite Corrie Ardair (again majestic views of the corrie and Creag Meagaidh) and continued for three miles over some bumps on the ridge to the grey summit of Carn Liath where I rested in full sunshine (!!), had some tea and biscuits.

I descended due south from Carn Liath and after some very easy down-hill walking through snow and heather I rejoined the Corrie Ardair path in the birch woods at the foot of the corrie. Great corrie, marvellous cliffs, entertaining snow-climb, good ridge-walking and plenty of sunshine. What more can you ask for?


Description Creag Meagaidh is one of the great mountains of the central highlands between Lochaber and the Cairngorms. It is a complex massif, whose high summit plateau is surrounded by several corries. The finest of these is Coire Ardair on the east face of the mountain, its headwall above Lochan a' Choire being split by three great gullies called the Posts.The finest route to Creag Meagaidh, though not the shortest, starts from Aberarder and goes up the path all the way to Coire Ardair and from there up steep boulder slopes to the prominent col called The Window. At the col turn south-east to reach the plateau and continue across it for 1½ kilometres to the summit. Return east across the plateau and along the ridge on the south side of Coire Ardair to Sron a' Choire and descend its eastern slopes to Aberarder. Another route, shorter and less impressive scenically, starts from the A86 road in Glen Spean at the foot of the Moy Burn and goes up the long ridge on the west side of the burn.