The Grey Corries offer a scenic landscape of light grey rocks and stones, with plenty of scree, to the east of Nevis Range in Lochaber, Highlands. The last time I walked the four Munros, Stob Ban, Stob Choire Claurigh, Stob Coire an Laoigh and Sgurr Choinnich Mor, was in 2014 and I confess I can’t remember much about it. I have an overview on an earlier blog, but I always enjoy a rerun and especially now that I am much more aware of route finding and navigating myself. When I started walking Munros, I tended to follow in the footsteps of Hubby G. Then I learned to navigate myself, completed a Munro round and moved on to the more challenging Corbetts.
The Grey Corries from Corriechoille
After a big day completing four Munros, Aonach Mor, Aonach Beag, CMD and Ben Nevis the day before, Rachel, Selina, Cath and I knew we would be run-hiking on tired legs. I had also awoken with an upset stomach, so I requested that we start the day at a brisk walking pace, rather than a run.
We parked at Corriechoille and headed south along a wide track and into the glen. The last time I was here was August 2024 when I completed two Corbetts, the Innses, with David. It was the day after I’d broken a rib doing house renovation work.
Lairig Leacach bothy to Stob Ban
We walked some 5k to reach Lairig Leacach bothy, where we turned uphill on an obvious path that zig-zagged almost directly – and steeply – towards Stob Ban at 977m elevation. From the summit, we could see the other Munro peaks of the day laid out ahead of us.
From here, a steep descent followed by a longer, but still fairly steep up took us fairly swiftly to Munro two, Stob Choire Claurigh (1,177m). Thankfully, by the top of the first Munro I was starting to feel more like my normal self and the upset stomach and nausea had gone.
Several Munro Tops
There are several Munro Tops on this route and the first was Stob a’ Choire Leith (1105m), followed by Stob Coire Cath na Sine (1,082m) and Caisteal (1106m). I am now happily ticking off Munro Tops, although I am fairly sure I bagged all these MTs when I last did the Grey Corries route.
There was an out-lying MT but we had tired legs and it’s one I can return to on another trip.
Munros 3 and 4
The third Munro of the day, Stob Coire an Laoigh (1116m), seemed to come fairly soon afterwards and we all stopped for a bite to eat. Looking at the map, we could see the final Munro was going to take a while to reach and it required an out-and-back detour over some scrambley terrain.
I confess I enjoyed this part of the route the most. There were so good runnable sections as we traversed southwest. heading over another MT, Stob Coire Easain (1080m), before a loveyl scramle dowhill over rocks and then along a superb path climbing upwards again to the fourth Munro, Sgurr Choinnich Mor (1094m).
There is another MT further south-west but I was unaware of it until I looked at the map at a later date. That was poor planning from me, but also I suspect there would have been little appetite for the extra distance at the stage.
Return to the start
We needed to return to Stob Coire Easain before heading north along a ridge and then descending via Coire an Eas Bhain. The going became tougher as the path became vague and we had only a few trods to follow. We checked the map and could see we needed to enter woodland, before picking up a major track that would take us east and back to the start.
During the final 500m, the forecast rain arrived. We had been lucky with the weather for the whole weekend. The views over the wider landscape were stunning as we arrived at the car.
It turned out to be another long day but very rewarding. The views are superb in this area and a run-hike with friends is always great fun.
The Grey Corries: 4 Munros
Date: May 11, 2025
Distance: 26km
Total elevation: 1998m