Cul Mor

[callumw93]

Cul Mor appears very differently depending on whether it is seen from the coast, where it appears as a distant, complex and steeply cliffed massif, or when viewed from Elphin where it appears as a double-peaked cone behind huge grassy slopes. It is (as the crow flies) quite close to Suilven, although when walking it has the differences of a) having a considerably shorter approach and b) giving the walker over 200 metres head start of ascent when beginning from the A835. We climbed it on a pleasant day in June, and the layby was reasonably busy, with a few high clouds around. The start of the walk is very obvious, along a well-made path that slowly climbs through moorland. It didn't take very long to lose sight of the car, and the summit, but soon enough Suilven provided a suitable backdrop.

Looking back along the path

The well-made path ends abruptly at a cairn and from here up the Meallan Diomhain is much rougher, although still a path. We were lucky as the ground was so dry, but there were some large muddy sections that may cause trouble after rain. The path is initially obvious, and on the point it reaches hard rock is well marked by cairns. After a couple of bluffs Cul Mor comes back into view. The cairns end at the high point of Meallan Diomhain.

The muddier section of the path as the summit comes back into view

We approached the mountain in an anticlockwise circuit, as described on the Walk Highland route description. This first involves descending to the north and crossing a flat, barren landscape, where a path eventually reappears at the far end, near a tiny lochan. What follows is a pleasant climb up the north face with Suilven dominating the outward view. Within a few hundred metres of the summit the path fizzles out and a boulder field needs to be crossed. Rather helpfully someone descending pointed to us where the path re-emerges and we still missed it! But the rocky section can't have been further than 20 metres in any case.

Almost immediately beyond this point the path swung right and brought us to the summit. 849 metres up, over 100 metres higher than Suilven, and Stac Pollaidh looked very diminutive across the landscape! It was clear enough to see across to the sea, the spires of An Teallach and the Beinn Dearg range, and we couldn't fail to see how much of Assynt's landscape is... well, waterscape.

Stac Pollaidh, and across Inverpolly

Summit trig point with backdrop of Suilven

Second Corbett climbed! And first when I could actually see anything at the top!


We didn't push on too far down the Sròn Gharbh ridge and instead descended in that direction before swinging left towards the bealach beneath Creag nan Calman. Although both peaks look from afar that there should be a significant climb/descent between them, in reality the bealach is quite high. Creag nan Calman was a subsequent steep, short climb that gave excellent views of Cul Beag and south towards Ben More Coigach.

View from the summit down to the bealach and Creag nan Calman, the other hills of Coigach in the background

For the descent from the Bealach we initially headed down the faint path, bared left to follow the small stream. As that began to turn right we headed left to return to the plateau beneath Meallan Diomhain, and spotted the cairns of the line of ascent. From here we followed are outward route back to the car park, getting back to the car a few minutes beyond four hours of when we set out.

Cul Mor isn't quite as famed nor as spectacular as Quinag or Suilven, but it provided an enjoyable short day out with rewarding views in all directions and a generally non-technical but pleasant route.