Maol Chean-dearg and An Ruadh-Stac

Thursday 29th May 2014

After spending the night all on my own in the Coire Fionnaraich Bothy I woke up to bright sunshine and the prospect of fabulous weather for a walk over the mountains of the Coulin Forest. The weather had been getting gradually better ever since I’d set foot in the Coulin Forest the previous morning and I had ended the day with clear skies in the captivating surroundings of a bothy half way up the valley beside the Fionn-abhainn. Unfortunately the good weather at the start of the following day didn’t last, though it didn’t get too bad, as it soon became overcast with the sun only managing to break through for short periods in the afternoon. Nevertheless the tops of the mountains were always clear of clouds so I always had great views of the surrounding mountains from the two rock covered tops that I climbed on this walk.

I was following a walk described in Ralph Storer’s ‘100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains’, a book that I have been using for ten years as my inspiration for walks in Scotland. I started by climbing back up the path that I had descended the previous day, heading up the valley past Loch Coire Fionnaraich and up to Bealach na Lice, at which point Ralph Storer suggests three different routes up Maol Chean-dearg, the imposing mountain to my left. The first is up an obvious grassy rake, the second picks a route among outcrops up an open gully and the third follows a complex cairned route that weaves among the crags of the north face. Of these the third sounded the most interesting so I set off in search of this cairned route, but I couldn’t find any trace of it and soon came a cropper on steep ground high above Loch an Eion. After coming back down to safer ground, with a few deer looking on, I realised that since I didn’t fancy the second option I was left with the obvious rake where I could see a path leads up to it, so therefore foolishly I decided to take that route

There was no path actually in the rake, just at the start, and instead it was just a very steep climb that had me clutching at the grass as I tried to haul myself up. The only advantage of this grassy rake was that it put me very close to the wild flowers that grew abundantly in the rake. I have no idea what the plants were, and most were not actually in flower yet, but they gave me an interesting thing to look at as I crawled on my hands and knees up the mountainside. The grassy rake becomes a steep stone shoot near the top and I could see that this was choked with snow that blocked my way, and yet I still took this route. I knew it wouldn’t be easy and I knew that the snow would block my way and yet I kept on climbing. As I approached I decided that my best option would be to climb onto the narrow, exposed ridge to the right of the gully and climb on that to the top. If only I had done that.

Fearful of the exposure I instead stayed in the shoot staying to the left side foolishly trying to squeeze between the block of snow and the treacherously loose surface of the shoot. This was tremendously dangerous and I should never have got into such a situation. With the stones slipping under my feet I luckily and in desperation managed to climb out of the shoot to my left and after getting above the snow I finally managed to get up to the top of the shoot. I was thanking God profusely for sparing me after I had foolishly got myself into such a dangerous situation and soon started to vow that I will never get myself into such a situation again. My lucky escape made me reflect on my mountain walking and the risks that I take in walking on my own up these isolated mountains.

In recent years I have become more interested in long distance walks rather than the single-minded bag-a-hill attitude that I used to have and this incident made me think that it would be a lot safer to just walk along the bottom of the valley. However, I still love being at the top of a mountain even though it’s not worth risking my life over. I like a good path under my feet, and I don’t like it when things get too mountainous, so I could just restrict myself to less strenuous ascents. Actually Munro baggers would not take that route up Maol Chean-dearg, but would take the much easier route that I later took in descent. The summit of the Munro, which has a fabulous cairn, was not far from the top of the shoot I had just clambered up, so I collapsed beside it and had an early lunch. The descent wasn’t easy as I passed over a huge boulder field, but compared with the stone shoot it was a pleasure.

Beyond the boulders was an amazing area of shattered quartzite, a vast expanse of dazzling white stones scattered everywhere and creating a mesmerising scene of rock in startling abundance. Slowly, I walked through this wonderland to the saddle of Bealach a’ Choire Ghairbh where the Corbett, An Ruadh-Stac, dominates the view glistening in a complete covering of white quartzite. Ralph Storer recommends giving it a miss saying that only the most dedicated will make the steep stony ascent, but since it was very early in the afternoon and I felt like I needed a good climb, I decided to ascend this huge lump of rock. Traversing a small rock ridge between Loch a’ Mhadaidh Ruadh and Loch a’ Ruadh Stac brought me to the start of the steep climb up the rocky surface of An Ruadh-Stac while better weather in the afternoon helped me to enjoy every moment of my climb up this awesome mountain. The views of the neighbouring mountains were equally sensational with Beinn Damh dominating the view as I reflected on my climb up that Corbett in poor weather in 2009.

I had a much better afternoon than in the morning when I had got myself literally into a tight situation. The rest of the walk, from Maol Chean-dearg, was a pleasure, especially the descents to Bealach a’ Choire Ghairbh, and from An Ruadh-Stac over tremendous rocky terrain. At the saddle I resumed Ralph Storer’s recommended route by taking the excellent stalker’s path that descends into the valley beside the Allt Mnatha Luadhadair. Despite my problems in the ascent I still think this was a great walk as the landscape around Bealach a’ Choire Ghairbh is so compelling with white quartzite stone in such abundance that it gave the area a magical appearance. This memorable terrain was able to clear my head of the terrors of the stone shoot and convince me once again of the pleasures of climbing mountains, just so long as it’s not too steep!