There are few “easy” Corbetts but Meall nam Maigheach in the Ben Lawers range is just 6km in distance and amounts to less than 300m of total ascent. It’s certainly one of the most straightforward Corbetts I have completed and I enjoyed the hike on a cold but bright day in February.
Note that “easy” is a subjective description and it depends on your experience in the mountains and also your fitness. Added to this, poor weather conditions can make a seemingly easy walk very tough.
However, when comparing like-for-like Meall nam Maigheach ius one of the easier summits to reach among all the Corbetts I’ve walked.
Walking Meall nam Maigheach
The route starts at an elevation of more than 500m from a narrow tarmac pass between Glen Lyon and Loch Tay. I parked around a kilometre west and lower down the pass opposite a hut and a ruined stone building. There is space for a couple of vehicles.
There is no obvious path on to the southern slope of Meall nam Maigheach but I could see the top in the distance so I simply stepped off the road and started to walk uphill.
I was grateful for the frosty, snowy and frozen ground because it limited the impact of the usually wet and boggy terrain. You need to tramp across bog, grassy tussocks and heather but, thankfully, my feet remained much drier than I expected they would.
I did come across bits and pieces of trod – and higher up I picked up the snowy footsteps of a previous walker – but mostly I made my own route, steadily climbing upwards.
The higher I ascended the larger the views grew. The surrounding rounded Munro peaks of the Ben Lawers range were blanketed in beautiful looking snow and for much of the walk I enjoyed good visibility and some sunshine. The very calm conditions meant I needed to shed my two outer layers as I became warmer.
A small cairn marks the summit of Meall nam Maigheach at 779m and I made sure I was actually at the top by checking my map. However, a high point further north at Meall Luaidhe made me a little uneasy. It looked to be around the same elevation, or maybe higher, although the map didn’t indicate this.
It was a lovely day and the route was short so I decided to walk on to see how much lower the furthest point was. It turned out that a small cairn marked a point no more than five metres lower.
Satisfied that the first cairn was definitely the highest point, I retraced my steps and then followed almost the same route back downhill to regain the road.
The predominant view to the south was the stunningly calm waters of Lochan na Lairge and Tarmachan Ridge rising up above.
I saw no one else and enjoyed the company on this mountain of a huge herd of red deer.
My route: Strava and OS Maps. (This route includes the extra few hundrd metres to reach Meall Luaidhe.)
Corbetts bagged: 141