Mountain Safety | FAQs | Ring of Steall

Alarms Bells on the Ring of Steall

There have been numerous accidents over the years on the steep ground on either side of Steall Waterfall – some have been fatal. The majority of accidents occur when people are trying to descend the steep ground near to the waterfall. This may be at the end of a long day doing a circuit of the surrounding Munros (Ring of Steall) or quite often when people have cut short their day and are trying to descend to Glen Nevis. The root cause of the problem is that there is no easy and direct route between the coire that lies above the waterfall and the relative safety of Glen Nevis. Steall Hut looks encouragingly close but the way down can be hard to find and involves scrambling. This steep ground (see the accompanying map) is where the accidents occur.

Several route options avoid the necessity of descending this steep ground and two are described here:-

1. Plan your route in a clockwise direction starting with An Gearanach and finishing on the path which runs next to the Allt Coire a' Mhusgain (yellow arrows on the accompanying map). You will reach the road in Glen Nevis about 2½ kilometres from the top car park but the overall distance is little more than one kilometre (15 minutes) longer than the route which returns via Steall.
2. If you are determined to negotiate the steep ground above Steall, plan your route anti-clockwise and do the steep ground first, in ascent. Either finish on An Gearanach and descend by the zig-zag track down the coire to the north or, if you have ended up in Coire a' Mhail, climb up to the shoulder on the north ridge of An Gearanach to join the zig-zag track (blue arrow on the accompanying map and photograph). The route which ascends the steep ground above Steall may not be easy to find and it involves scrambling in a serious position.

Whatever your route choice, and whether you intend to do the whole Ring of Steall or just one or two Munros, have a plan that allows you to descend without negotiating the steep ground above Steall. If you end up in Coire a' Mhail, don't descend any further north than the wide coire floor at GR179673 and from here go north-east and climb up to the shoulder on the north ridge of An Gearanach to join the zig-zag track (blue arrow on the accompanying map and photograph). The height gain is only 160 metres (25-30 minutes) and it avoids the steep ground that has been the scene of so many accidents.

The Ring of Steall is a long day - the distance and height gained is at least 12 kms and 1600 metres. A fit and capable party will take a full day to walk it. There are several exposed scrambling sections along the route.