Beinn Liath Mhor & Sgorr Ruadh in a fresh layer of snow!!!

I think I'm on a roll now...for the 3rd week in a row I found myself Munroing, having found it nigh on impossible to get away previously! For the 3rd week in a row I also found myself heading up to Inverness as my halfway point (two weeks ago it was to Kintail, last week it was to Coulags, this week it was to Achnashellach). For the 2nd time in a month I also found myself accepting the hospitality of Gordon and Jacqui in Muir of Ord the night previous to my Munro. As with the previous occasion this involved a late night and the consumption of spicy food washed down with copious amounts of wine (though AGAIN I dispute the amount that I personally consumed!!). 

The targets on this occasion were two that had been planned for over a month ago, but were put paid to by the weather being too bad to travel. On this occasion there would be no such bad fortune. Jelly McBaby appears to have made a new friend also in Eva...though she did try to eat him at one stage (by mistake I think). I spent another enjoyable night with the McCauley's, reminiscing about good times gone, and have probably talked Gordon into coming along on one of our future trips. Young Michael picked me up in the morning and we set off for our intended destination and ETA of ten o'clock. We were meeting Justine (one of the CMB troops) there as she was hoping to get back into things after a wee spell on the sidelines, injured. She had taken her dogs along for the trip, in case she was unable to do the entire trek (which is just as well). The forecast had been for good weather today, sandwiched between turgid spells in the previous few days and days to come. I had been in the area last week to bag Maol Chean-dearg and had noticed that there was no snow whatsoever on our targets for today, so had packed accordingly and left behind some items that would only serve to weigh me down unnecessarily...hindsight is a wonderful tool to have packed in your armoury (never mind in your rucksack!!). 

As soon as we left the comfort of the car it started raining, just gently spitting at first, then steadily heavier as we walked across the railway tracks and headed up to the first crossroads in the path. Once I had figured out which branch of the crossroads to take we set off towards Glen Torridon (does every path around here lead there??) but could see nothing of the hills that awaited us through the now constant drizzle. We cut down off the main path to the left and headed towards the river Lair, following it as the path cut alongside it briefly before heading back up track again. Just as we started to head away from the river Lair the rain stopped...within five minutes the sun had come out...the skies cleared and blueness could be seen above.

As we gained a little height it became apparent that there had been a considerable plop of snow at some point in the last week (apparently in the last two days) and our first sight of Beinn Liath Mhor surprised us as we hadn't been expecting to see so much snow from down here. As soon as we cleared the lower slopes of Leth Chreag we could see a considerable amount of snow on Fuar Tholl (Corbett) and Beinn Liath Mhor.

It was at this point that Justine elected to leave us to get on with it. She had started to feel the pace on the way up and I think the sight of the snow confirmed her fears that she was not yet fit enough for this. We bade her farewell and a safe journey home, with the invitation to join us again when she felt happier with her fitness. Michael and I set off on the path as it got rougher and wilder with each passing yard, eventually pulling up to a clearing which showed us the entire day ahead. We could pick out the start of the path up the slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor ahead, and the entire range of the ridge as it stretched out around Loch Coire Lair on the right side, with Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl guarding the Loch on the left. There was a clear path heading up to the bealach between Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh, which was the public right of way to Glen Torridon. Around the slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor the path split again and the right branch headed off towards Achnasheen, the left branch headed straight for the slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor.

We set off for the steep slopes, leaving the wet open moorland beneath us. There was a faint path across the wet moor, getting better as the slope is reached, improving as you follow the zig zag up the mountain side. The path continued through the gorse as it headed into the waiting snow...footprints then confirmed that we were still heading in the right direction as they cut through snowy gorse towards a rockier slope. Michael, as you would expect from someone attempting Maggie's bike and hike next weekend, has a great level of fitness and he uses this to compensate for his lack of hill strength (whereas I have a generally poor level of overall fitness but have great muscle memory when it comes to traversing hills). We made good time getting up the slopes, without much slipping either.

As we pulled onto the first plateau of Beinn Liath Mhor there is a large cairn waiting at 880m. We stopped here for a quick refuel...even athletes have to eat Michael...and took stock of the surrounding views. We could now see the ridge ahead of us, a few dips and rises but nothing too bad (even in the snow) and were both impressed at the depth of snow that had fallen in the ast two days. there was a large built up cornice to our right as we looked across at Torridon and further out to Braemore, which protected us somewhat from the building northerly breeze. Fuar Tholl, with the Mainreachan buttress looking quite impressive it must be said, takes your gaze to the left as it stands high and craggy above Loch Coire Lair. Sgorr Ruadh looks slightly less impressive from this angle, but it's craggy slopes and fine buttresses are still to be fully displayed yet. The ridge swept ahead of us and the far off summit was clearly in view even from here.

We were two and a half hours in at this point and the summit looked at least another hour away, especially as we would require careful steps at some of the narrower sections in this snow. We traversed the snowy ridge, stopping an inordinate amount of times to take pics of our surroundings, posing for various shots on the way. The views into Torridon were as clear and fine as any I had previously seen. I will never tire of seeing Liathach from this angle, her high sided slopes looking impossible to climb and her ridge between Munro summits like a cerated blade. Beinn Eighe (which I have climbed) looks slightly less regal than Liathach but none the less daunting from here. 

Down below us the Drochaid nan lochan Uaine had been frozen over and splintered into small ice flows dotted on the surface. We tried to imagine what the area square of the largest ice flow would have been but needed something we knew was six foot to give us a scale...Michael refused to run down and be that scale so we just gave up!! We approached the summit cairn on Beinn Liath Mhor at 924m after traversing a couple of col's that rose and fell between the first summit we had found and the true summit here.

It was easy to spend time on the summit, despite the increasing cold, as the views were sumptuious in every direction. Sgorr Ruadh was now showing her true character, Robertson and Raeburn's buttresses joined by Academy ridge between them. Torridon, especially the aforementioned Liathach and Beinn Eighe, never cease to take my breath away. The view of Maol Chean-dearg covered in snow this week, when last week there was none, made me recall the sunburn I got on her top. Loch Torridon flowing out to the Atlantic ocean past the inner and outer isles. Strathcarron behind us, with the Glenuig forest full of Munro's I have yet to attempt. Another refuel stop here and then we would have to be on our way down to the bealach below us, carefully descending some craggy slabs of sandstone onroute to the tiny lochan below that leads lower down to more rocky outcrops and then a 2nd lochan which crosses the outward path to Glen Torridon.

All the while we were picking our way down this snowy slope our eyes were fixed on the ascent ahead of us back up to Sgorr Ruadh. We could see the massive buttresses that would prevent our direct scaling of the slopes ahead and kept waiting to pass the sandstone crags to our right that would allow us to see the eventual slope we would use to traverse to the summit. Stuc a' Choire Ghrannda would provide us with a steep pull up to the broader shoulder of Sgorr Ruadh from this trajectory and allow us to ascend to the summit from there.

After much huffing and puffing and thigh burning ascent we eventually arrived on the summit of Sgorr Ruadh at 962m. A tiny cairn on the edge of a steep prominance but still enough shelter to sit McBaby down for a few pics. Cracking views out to Maol Chean-dearg and the Applecross peninsula.

We met and passed a couple on the way up the slopes to Sgorr Ruadh, stopping to speak to them briefly at the top. The woman had just bagged her 200th, yet made no attempt to take a picture or anything else to signify the event. It just reminds me that not everyone is a self-publicist, bragging about their achievements through their own blog, some just go quietly about their business unnoticed. Personally speaking, I am more than happy to share my experiences through this blog with anyone willing to read it, knowing that for some this will be the closest they ever get to knowing anything about a Munro, let alone setting foot on one. If I can bring them closer to the beauty of Scotland, through my pictures and words, then I deserve the self satisfied little glow I get each time I know someone outside Scotland has read this.

We looked across at Fuar Tholl and wondered if we would manage to ascend her icy slopes today...the short answer being an unoquivical NO.

Off we set down the snowy embankment, knee high at times, towards the Allt a' Bhealaich Mhoir, between Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl. Taking care not to slip down the rock strewn slope towards the bealach, we squelched through melted snow and mud, as the many rivlets headed down slope to the waiting lochans of the bealach.

Once we had negotiated our way through the numerous lochans it was a a short trudge across the bealach to find the outward path, passing below the crags of Mainreachan buttress on the way. The path back out was as good quality as the initial path up towards Beinn Liath Mhor all those hours ago...just under seven at this stage...as we cut across Meall Teanga Fiadhaich to reach the crossing of the river Lair. Our last obstacle, impossible to cross without getting wet feet if the river is in spate, was nervously crossed with a hop skip and jump on some wet boulders poking through the surface of the water (after a small amount of searching for the safest route across). Safely across there just remained the easy walk back along the outward path from the crossroads cairn we had passed on the way up earlier.  We made it back to the car park in a respectable 7 hours 40  minutes...leaving just the trip back to Muir of Ord to collect my car (and the offer of a cup of tea before leaving) then the drive back to Aberdeen...arriving back home eventually at around quarter to ten at night. I got a text from Michael the next day thanking me for a wonderful day on the hills, he felt it was the perfect last minute preparation for his Maggie's bike and hike challenge this coming weekend, as he said it was probably his favourite Munro walk yet. You just know the boy is hooked...

 

The next adventure is pencilled in for the 18th of May, when we think Gordon will be next to lose his Munro virginity...

 

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