Fisherfield 6 and the Mountains of Terror!

Friday night 15th: 7.35km (4.6 miles) and 384m ascent
Saturday 16th: 25km (15.6 miles) and 2343m ascent.
Sunday 17th: 22km (14 miles) and 1606m of ascent.

Shenavall bothy and Beinn Dearg Mor

FRIDAY: This weekend, I went to explore the Fisherfield Hills with LAC runners Linda and Nancy. We headed up NW after work (stopping for chips at Beauly obviously!) and arrived at Corrie Hallie on the A382 at 8:45pm. Donning our massive packs, we began the walk to Shenavall bothy. Although only a meagre 4.6 miles, the leg became increasingly troublesome as the rain started, darkness set in and we lost the path! After some initial concern, we found the re-entrant north of Meall a' Chlaiginn and followed the river steeply down to the bothy, arriving at 11:15pm. Phew!

Beinn a' Chlaidheimh

SATURDAY: The day began with a cold river crossing, clag, drizzle and a very sharp pull up our first munro Beinn a' Chlaidheimh (916m). How bog manages to hold on to so much water on such a steep slope was a mystery to us all. As we reached about 550m, we found a trod which wove its way up rockey steps and around crags to deposit us on the summit ridge.

A fairly narrow ridge (albeit with no veiws in the clag) brought us finally to our first summit; 2h after starting out.

Sgurr Ban

As we headed south, I was confused by unmapped lochans at grid ref [060771]. I hoped that we had descended super-fast to Am Briseadh and the minor 815m peak ahead was Sgurr Ban! This hope was quashed however, as we reached the lochans marked on the 1:50,000 map at 650m and saw the true Sgurr Ban (989m) looming ahead: a HUGE mountain of boulders rising into cloud.

Climbing the NE flank of this mountain seemed to take forever. The summit was marked by a lone cairn in the middle of a broad plateau. It was only the second munro of the day but the last leg had been a long one and time was passing worryingly quickly.

Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair

Fortunately the drop from Sgurr Ban was short and sharp, as was the steep scree path rising up the north face of our biggest munro of the day; Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair (1019m). Coming up from 817m, this summit was won easily and became our favourite of the day!


After we had descended the bouldery south slope, we were happy to be traversing round Meall Garbh, enroute to a col called Bealach Odhar, at the foot of the next munro:


Beinn Tarsuinn

Beinn Tarsuinn is a brilliant mountain with a huge flat platform (the so-called Tennis Court) at the summit (937m). Suddenly, the weather improved and sunshine dappled the surrounding hills. Situated at the head of the valley (Gleann na Muice), the views were spectacular.


The first 3 summits from Beinn Tasuinn

Now we were ticking summits quickly and my motivation soared as I scrambled off westward along the pinnacled ridge. Caught up in some nice scrambling, it took me a while before I realised that actually we should be dropping off the left of the ridge towards the boggy col at 525m. Being up on the ridge, we had missed the downturn in the path, so we descended a steep grassy gully instead (where we nearly lost Nancy altogether in a sudden and unintentional bum-slide)! Arresting her own tumble, we pressed on to the low point of our day (in height only!!)


View north from A'Mhaighdean

From here began the long slow slog up the grassy slopes of A'Mhaighdean (967m). The summit is too far back to be visible initially and the top just seems to keep getting further away. The angle is acceptable though, so you just have to put your head down and get on with it (good advice, thanks Linda!)

At last the grassy bank levelled off and we were presented with an almighty view. Possibly the best view anywhere in the country! This is the most remote Munro and the view includes An Teallach, Slioch, Beinn Eighe, all the Fisherfield hills, Dubh Loch, Fionn Loch and a plethera of other lochans in every direction, right out to the sea beyond. The north face and surrounding ridges of this mountain are made up of steep sandstone cliffs with very impressive character.

Ruadh Stac Mor

From here we turned east and dropped round to another col, this time at 755m, where we found an emergency shelter made of rocks. From further back, the route up Ruadh Stac Mor (918m) looked improbable and loose. Fortunately though, on approach, its angle seemed to improve and it was quite do-able (albeit with one rock step about a third of the way up). We scrabbled up a jumble of red boulders to the summit. It was a massive relief to have completed the full 6 and to have seen some amazing views (I had promised Nancy!!)


Runnable track back to the bothy

Annoyingly, the descent to Lochan a' Bhraghad involved lots of small boulders and rocks, interpersed with slipppy bog patches. Therefore it took longer than expected. Fortunately though, the rest of the return leg was a pleasure. Now in the sunshine, we jogged along the Gleann na Muice Beag, picking up the track which followed the river. A perfectly angled track for running, it deposited us at Larachantivore.


Bothy nights!!

A short river crossing and some legendary bog later, we were back at the bothy, a mere 10h after leaving it earlier that day.



Bein Dearg Mor and Bheag (right)


SUNDAY: After a few glasses (plastic cups) of wine on Saturday night, I woke feeling anything but enthusiastic about heading up another set of hills. Nonetheless, Linda and I ate breakfast and headed out into a fabulous morning. Our route was a rising traverse up the rocky and scree-covered SE facing slope of Beinn Deag Mor. At 910m, this mountain is a jealous corbett, falling short of munro classification by just 4 metres! The mountain is rather evil looking and towers over Shenevall bothy, omnipresent and intimidating. After much effort, we traversed horizintally into the SE facing hanging corrie at 580m. Here the ground levels off and there is a narrow but deep gorge cleft into the bedrock. It is very beautiful, with a waterfall spraying into its depths.


Looking from Beinn Dearg Mor to Bheag

Happily, the slope up the back of the corrie is much more gentle and we made our way more easily to the summit ridge. Looking from the bothy or from An Teallach, Beinn Dearg Mor has a trident shape with 3 prongs/summits. The actual summit is the middle peak, which is marked by a large cairn on a promontary of rock, with steep drops on either side. Deciding to continue with our plan, we dropped down the inside of the NW ridge (path marked at the top by a small cairn) and clambered down the steep slope above Loch Toll an Lochain. This a truly stunning loch in a hanging corrie. The col between Beinn Dearg Mor and Bheag is at 590m. The slopes of Beinn Dearg Bheag are made up of large boulders but it doesn't take long to make the top.

A Tellach Pinnacles

I had an idea to descend the Bheag's N/NW ridge but this turned out to be impossible, as it is riven into sandstone stacks with steep drops and in places loose rock. For safety, we aborted the ridge and descended a steep heather slope on the western flank, making our way round to the northern slabby ridge of the hanging corrie.

Great views of the back of An Teallach from here!

Next, we simply followed the river down to the shores of Loch na Sealga and jogged back to the bothy.

After a cup of tea and a wee tidy round, we left the bothy to walk the 5 miles back to the car. Carrying an 80L pack after two big hill days was hard work but we pressed on. We had no choice really! Neadless to say, the walk out was much more pleasant than the walk in. We made the car in good time and called in for chips and a celebratory pint in Beauly on the way home.

Another excellent training weekend (and excellent company!!)



LAC ladies!!



A newspaper article on the wall of the bothy,

which made us a bit apprehensive!!