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Cul Mor - largely in clag, sadly

Cul Mor - largely in clag, sadly


Postby Alteknacker » Sat Aug 07, 2021 3:33 pm

Corbetts included on this walk: Cùl Mòr

Date walked: 16/07/2021

Time taken: 5.5 hours

Distance: 14 km

Ascent: 1011m

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Poking my head out of the tent the morning after a late visit to Stac Pollaidh the previous evening....

Image20210716-074723.

....I see my worst fears confirmed: all the hills around are shrouded in cloud above about 650m :-(. My plan had been next to do Suilven – but it’s looking like it won’t be worth it (I’m not enthused by any summits viewed in clag!).

No midges this morning, for there's a light breeze. But this lady lands on my thigh, where I manage to send her to the place where all bad clegs go .... Image20210716-081241.

Where I am, on the shores of Loch Lurgainn, I’ve no phone reception so I’m unable to check the forecast; and since I’ve planned to start the Suilven walk-in near Lochinver, I decide to drive there via the coast road, assuming that I’ll get some reception there, and that the clag may have started to lift later in the morning.

Sadly no amount of optimism dispels the cloud: the forecast is for low cloud for the whole of the North West and North Central Scotland :-(. So a change of plan is called for, and I decide to head east to the Cairngorms, where cloudless summits are forecast.

But I never learn: yet again optimism trumps realism. As I drive down the A837 I notice that a) Cul Beag is just clear of cloud; and b) a number of the other peaks, including Cul Mor in particular, look as if the cloud is slowly but surely clearing. Snap decision: I’m going to go for Cul Mor! Oh dear... Bad decision!

I start from the standard parking spot...

Image20210716-130333-3. ...with Cul Mor summit still in cloud.

It's a very clear path for the first few kilometres, as can be seen on this pic(looking back the way I've come).
Image20210716-135304.
After about half an hour I cross paths with a couple on their descent. They tell me that they've had views from the summit, albeit only from the lower summit, Creag nan Calman. I forget to ask whether they visited the higher summit.

Image20210716-135846. Though before I enter the low-vis domain of the clouds, there are fantastic views in all directions....

Image20210716-144354. Ahead the col between the lower summit - Creag nan Calman - and the higher summit - Cul Mor itself.

Image20210716-144419. Same in semi-pano.

Image20210716-144514. Looking roughly west south west, the impressive cliffs of An Laogh, with Cul Beag in the background.

Image20210716-144526. Ahead, the mist descends on the col.

Image20210716-150948. And looking back east, Meallan Diomhain.

Image20210716-160251. A long steady slog later sees me top the south summit - with the very limited visibility in the mist, nothing to get very excited about :( .

Image20210716-162648-RA. Glimpses of dramatic cliffs on the west side on the way to the north end of Cul Mor. It would indubitably be a bad idea to wander about the upper edge of these :roll: .

Image20210716-163342. It's quite breezy up here, and the base level of the cloud varies pretty well from second to second, occasionally revealing below the innumerable lochains of Assynt.

Image20210716-164047. Directly ahead from the col is the ascent of Cul Mor proper; but I want to ascend it from the other side after walking to the end of the summit plateau. So I contour off to the left....

Image20210716-164221. Every few minutes the lower cloud is blasted away, and I get superb views of the Assynt lowland; but by the time I've extricated my phone and got it ready to take a pic, the cloud is there again. And again. And again :( .

Image20210716-164418. Wild, or what...????

Image20210716-164621. Looking back at Creag nan Calman as I start to contour around Cul Mor.

Image20210716-164633. The cloud clears briefly...

Image20210716-164650. ....revealing roughly to the south, Cul Beag. I would undoubtedly have been better advised to go for the lower Cul... :roll:

Image20210716-164702. Looking to the west as I contour around...

Image20210716-165351. Ahead the western end of the summit plateau....

Image20210716-165931. View south in one of the many brief breaks in the cloud.

Image20210716-170042. Looking back east towards Cul Mor from the western end.

Image20210716-170347. And to the west, Stac Pollaidh.

Image20210716-170353. In this short cloud break I get probably the best view of Cul Beag from on high.

Image20210716-171328. Finally the far west end of the summit plateau....

Image20210716-172047. ...where I spend 15 minutes or so wandering around the edge of the cliffs attempting to get decent views. The attempt fails, falling victim to the inexorable workings of Murphy's Law!

Then it's back more or less the same way I came, but bearing more northerly when I get to the point I'd contoured round to, so putting me on the ascent to the Cul Mor summit proper.

Image20210716-175907. The ascent is a bit of a slog, unmitigated by reasonable views (unless one is fond of viewing clouds.)

Nothing to hang around for.

In order to avoid a complete out and back by the same route I've decided to descend from the summit via the shoulder running north east from the summit. It looks a bit daunting on the map, especially at Cadha nan Each, but I noticed on the ascent to the col that it certainly looked steep, but still doable, though perhaps with a bit of careful route finding in order to avoid tricky downclimbs. And this is exactly how it turned out: there were indeed some short downclimbs, but they weren't too problematic, and before all too long I was down on to flatter ground and below the cloud.

Image20210716-183035. Ahead Meallan Diomhain, around the north side (LHS on the pic) of which I contour from the lowest part of the ground ahead to rejoin the main path a kilometre or so to the east of Meallan Diomhain.

Then it's just a simple descent back to the car park the way I came. And definitely on to Aviemore - I've had enough of clag-bound summits. Aviemore turns out to be more like Torremolinos than the Highlands (it's my first time there) - hard even to find a spot to wild camp, though eventually I do.

Not the very best of days, but by no means wasted.

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Alteknacker
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