Bla Bheinn

Sunday 4th September 2016

While planning this holiday I decided that I would spend a night on the Isle of Skye for no other reason than because I love this island. I was going to have a rest from hillwalking on this day which I would spend sightseeing on Skye, but the weather forecast for the following day was so poor I decided to switch things and the walk that I had planned for Monday now got moved to Sunday. It hadn’t taken me long to decide which mountain I was going to go up on the Isle of Skye as Bla Bheinn (Blaven) is sometimes described as the best mountain on Skye, which is praise indeed as this island also boasts the awesome Cuillin Range. Bla Bheinn has much in common with its famous gabbro-encrusted neighbours but is more accessible than the fearsome Cuillin Mountains and by standing a distance apart from them it offers a magical viewpoint towards those razor-toothed mountains that are so loved by rock climbers. I climbed Bla Bheinn by the south ridge eight years ago, which is probably the best route, but by far the most popular route starts from the shore of Loch Slapin up the eastern slopes, and that was the route that I now took.

After driving across to the Isle of Skye I parked up in rather drizzly conditions that did not bode well for the day. There was hardly a breath of wind which encouraged the midges to come out and attack me soon after I opened the door of my car. The John Muir Trust owns the land below Bla Bheinn, and they have done an excellent job in preserving the land for wildlife and improving the footpath that leads up to Bla Bheinn which had previously been famously boggy. It was a pleasure to walk on that path across the moor with the heather gorgeously decked out in its purple flowers and the Allt na Dunaiche stream in a gorge on my left. However, the clouds were low on all the mountains around me, which spoilt my view ahead towards the jagged line of the northern ridge of Bla Bheinn. After passing a spectacular waterfall I climbed into a wide circle of rock that had an eerie closed in feeling due to the cloud that came half way down the slope of the corrie. This was Choire a’Caise, which lies to the east of Bla Bheinn.

A clear, well-made path crosses the stream before climbing into the narrowing Coire Uaigneich with enormous, dark cliffs looming over me on both sides as I slowly made the climb. The terrain eased as I came into the spookily tranquil Fionna-choire where the well-made path vanished and I was left to find my own way on a maze of faint, contradictory paths up the rest of the mountain. My surroundings looked amazing with rock dominating in every direction and many stone shoots falling steeply down into the corrie. A guidebook had warned me against trying to climb the Great Scree Gully directly ahead of me that looked like the obvious route, but instead recommended that I take an emerging path that climbs the southern slopes of the east ridge. This path took me to the foot of a steep stone chimney, a narrow channel up the side of the mountain that provided me with an entertaining scramble to the foot of a great lump of rock that may have been part of the Great Prow, whatever that is.

By now I was enveloped in clouds with still a long way to go up a fabulously rock-covered terrain as I tried to find the best route up this complex mountain. Since I had no view, the climb was not particularly enthralling as I was largely just making my way up loose stones with only one scrambling moment around a chock stone to enliven the proceedings. As I neared the summit the sun started to come out and blue sky appeared overhead. Eagerly I took my waterproofs off, but by now my top was soaked with sweat so I soon became so cold I had to put my cagoule back on, and as I looked back over the past few days I realised that this had often happened. Ideally a hillwalking top should allow sweat to pass through (known as wicking), but the top that I had been wearing was not doing this. A cotton top does not wick, it just soaks up the sweat, so should not be worn when hillwalking. The top that I was wearing was actually a cheap polyester top that also seemed to be absorbing my sweat and leaving me cold and clammy. I’ll not be wearing this top again.

When I reached the summit of Bla Bheinn I had no views west towards the Cuillin ridge despite the weak sun, so instead of admiring the view I made my way south towards the col that separates the summit from the south top. Eight years ago I had came to the summit from the south top crossing the gap on a tricky, exposed scramble, but this time when I attempted the crossing I chickened out as it just seemed too exposed. I do remember that eight years ago it was trickier going in this direction and it was only the knowledge that I had just crossed the gap not long before that had enabled me to cross it then. Whatever the reason, what I could do eight years ago I couldn’t do now, so I returned to the summit of Bla Bheinn where I had my lunch. The clouds were breaking to the west and offering me with tantalising, but ultimately frustrating, views of the jagged Black Cuillin while the best views were north towards the smooth-sloped Red Cuillin. Soon the clouds closed in around me again and I decided that I would have to start making my way back down the mountain.

I set off slowly across the mountain with a goal of avoiding the two scrambling moments that I had encountered on the ascent by taking one of the many other faint paths that I had seen during my crawl up the mountain. The chock stone was avoided surprisingly easily to the right while the stone channel was bypassed by zigzagging down to the top of a stone chute that was not the easiest thing to descend, but I made the experience as short as I could make it by keeping out of the chute for as long as possible before emerging once more into the delightful Fionna-choire and below the clouds. At the top of Coire Uaigneich I suddenly had surprising views of the sun shining on Beinn Dearg Mhór and Beinn na Caillich. While Bla Bheinn and the Black Cuillin had held onto their clouds, the Red Cuillin were basking in the sunshine and now that I was finally below the clouds I was enjoying great views of these distinctive mountains. A very pleasant descent in the sunshine down the rocky path brought me into Choire a’Caise and from there down the heather-fringed path through the moor with the glorious Red Cuillin before me and the awesome crags of Bla Bheinn behind me.

I now had good views of the serrated northern ridge of Bla Bheinn over the tops of Clach Glas and Sgurr nan Each that are strictly rock climbers territory. Bla Bheinn may graciously allow mere walkers to climb it, but there are still parts of this mountain that are decidedly Cuillin in their nature. Bla Bheinn is a great, awesome mountain, and I was astonished at the complexity of the paths that lead through the rocky landscape up to the summit and enabled me to take almost a completely different route down into Fionna-choire as I’d taken up. I’m not disappointed that I didn’t manage to cross the col to the south top, but I do wish that the weather had been better so I could have enjoyed the astonishing views across to the Cuillin ridge, but the glorious views that I had on my descent were a welcome consolation. After all the problems that I have had with the weather on this holiday, it was great to enjoy a bit of sunshine before the rain started to fall again the following day.

A’Chràlaig

Saturday 3rd September 2016

Ever since I started coming to Scotland for my walking holidays, I have used Ralph Storer’s “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains” as my inspiration. The day before this walk I completed walk number forty-four in the book, Ciste Dhubh, and now I attempted to do walk number forty-five, up A’Chràlaig, the highest mountain in Kintail, which begins at the point where forty-four ended, at the foot of An Caorann Mór. The path through this valley heads from Loch Cluanie to the top of Glen Affric, but I didn’t take this path and instead I veered off at a small pile of stones near the start to follow a narrow path that climbs steep, grassy and very boggy ground up the slopes of Fuaran Mór Chluanidh. It had rained hard overnight, which added to the already saturated ground and made this a very wet path with even more rain falling as I started to climb. The faint, but clear, path follows a pretty, little stream that cascades down a rock channel and provided me with a pleasant distraction from the drudgery of the relentless climb.

As I neared the top of the path the weather began to improve significantly so that by the time I reached the top of the ridge there was fantastic weather before me with glorious blue skies north towards A’Chràlaig and across Coire a’ Chait eastwards towards the complex mountain chain of Sgùrr nan Conbhairean. I was basking in fabulous sunshine and could clearly see the ridge that leads towards the summit of A’Chràlaig laid out before me and promised a great mountain walk, however behind me Glen Shiel was shadowed by very dark clouds that ominously foretold what was to come. After all the poor weather that I had endured on this holiday it was great to be on a mountain in glorious sunshine, but it wasn’t to last. As I started to walk along the ridge I was hopeful that the dark clouds over Glen Shiel would lift and leave me with a fabulous day, but it wasn’t long before the ominously dark clouds had enveloped everything to the south of me and soon I was surrounded by clouds again with rain following soon after.

My glorious day had been ruined and instead I was walking along the ridge with no views, and I was getting wet. After the promise that had been shown by the sunshine, it was very disappointing for me to be again walking in bad weather. As I neared the summit of A’Chràlaig the ridge narrowed to become craggier which would have made for a fun walk in good weather, but despite an easing of the strong winds that had plagued me all week the rain and low cloud meant I still had to take extra care as I made my way along the ridge. On the way I passed many small cairns and any one of them could have been the summit as in the poor visibility I would have no idea, but I kept going past all these false summits until eventually I reached a large, grand cairn that undoubtedly sits at the summit of the Munro, A’Chràlaig, but it was still raining. It can be difficult to know when you’ve reached the top of a mountain in poor weather, especially when there many cairns on the route, but this cairn is so big and impressive there is no mistaking it for anything but the summit of a big mountain.

After a pause at the summit while I regretted not being able to enjoy the views, I continued along the ridge, which now became more rocky and interesting with a few instances where I needed to put my hand to rock. The rain was making the rocks slippery so I had to be very careful as I made my way along the narrow ridge until I eventually reached the grassy dome of Stob Coire na Cràilaig where I had my lunch beside the small cairn at the top of this hill while I pondered my options. There is another Munro further along the ridge, Mullach Fraoch-choire, which is on Ralph Storer’s route that I was following, but a series of rocky pinnacles called Na Geurdain have to be negotiated on the way. I was wary of tackling this jagged ridge in such poor weather and with limited visibility, plus Ralph Storer admits that it’s difficult to get off the ridge once you have reached the Munro with the most pleasant descent route actually being to return all the way back to the top that I was currently sitting on.

Since it was still raining when I had finished my lunch, and considering there was a tricky, rocky ridge to negotiate, I decided it was more prudent for me to come down off the ridge from where I was, on Stob Coire na Cràlaig. The weather on top of the ridge really demanded this decision, and a good walker should always be prepared to change their plans due to the weather. I will be able to come back to Kintail another time to go up Mullach Fraoch-choire in better weather conditions, but if I’d attempted that ridge on this occasion I may have had an accident and never been able to return. I kept repeating these thoughts to myself as I made my way down the steep, grassy slopes of Stob Coire na Cràlaig, however half way down the slope I came out of the clouds and the rain stopped. Soon the sun came out and the clouds began to lift from Ciste Dhubh on the other side of the pass. As I stood there contemplating the view before me of the lifting clouds I glimpsed a small herd of deer grazing on the hillside below me. I reflected that since it is deer-stalking season they were lucky that I had walking poles in my hand and not guns.

As I slowly moved down the hillside the deer moved off and I found the path that goes over the pass, joining it at almost the same point that I had joined it the day before. Although the cloud struggled to clear from the tops of the Munros, it stayed dry for the rest of the afternoon while I descended An Caorann Mór on an exceptionally boggy path that eventually improved. I had been hoping for better weather on this walk and I didn’t get it, and more than that I got the worst weather of the day at the wrong time, when I was on the mountain ridge. This is a great ridge but unfortunately I wasn’t fully able to appreciate it because of the rain, and I was wary of the pinnacles as I am not keen on exposed locations. As a sole walker I do feel that I have to be more cautious than others. I don’t have a safety net if things go wrong, so consequently I take fewer risks when walking than others may take. One of these days I may actually need some sort of a safety net, but so far the thought that if I do get into trouble I’m done for has kept me out of trouble.

I was disappointed that I had abandoned this walk before reaching the second Munro and was consequently back at my car early. I tried to make the most of the mid-afternoon sunshine that had been robbed from me on the mountain by going for a stroll around Loch Cluanie after I had reached my car. I had great views across the valley towards the mountains that I had climbed over the last two days. Ciste Dhubh was hiding behind Am Bàthach and Mullach Fraoch-choire was hiding behind A’Chràlaig, but I still enjoyed getting these grand views towards these grand mountains. The weather had been very changeable with sunshine interspersed with rain on these walks and they had both finished disappointingly early, but there were some good ridges on both walks and great views. When I first came to Glen Shiel I knew that I would need to return many times to do all the walks that Ralph Storer describes in the area, and even though I have now done almost all of those walks I know that Glen Shiel will still draw me back many more times.