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We had a mid-week stay in a croft in Annat near Torridon to blow the cobwebs away after Christmas. Unfortunately gale force winds kept me off the mountains most of the time, but I managed to sneak in Maol Chean Dearg on the Wednesday between the storms. I decided on a frontal assault from the north, which was probably unwise carrying all the Christmas fat, but then took the 'normal' route down the SE ridge in descent, adding about 4 km, so it was probably about evens in terms of exertion, given the conditions of soft snow, with deeper drifts on the southern side.
- On the stalkers path out of Annat, a late-ish 9am start after missing my alarm. Beinn Alligin and Loch Torridon in the background.
- The stalkers path up into the corrie is excellent.
- I met the snowline as I came up into the corrie, but the going on the stalkers path was still very good.
- First good view of the mountain.
- Did I say how good the stalkers path is? Looking back down the valley with the mighty Liathach in the background,
- The first set of stepping stones, between the two smaller lochans, was a teetering, nervy affair with the capping of fresh snow.
- The second set on Loch an Eoin were shorter and without the snow, so more straightforward.
- View across Loch an Eoin. I decided to make a direct assault up the scree slope on the right and then what looked like a short scramble up onto the shoulder - which turned out to be about right - not too challenging, but about as brutal climbing as expected.
- The scramble up from the top of the scree was straightforward and although steep and hard-going because of loose boulders and occasional snow drifts, the western flank was not technically difficult. View across to Beinn Damh.
- View back towards Torridon and Beinn na h-Eaglaise. My rising traverse up the western flank was blocked by the summit crags (I'm sure there are easy scrambles up there in the dry), but I arrived at a ramp after a short steep boulder slope and traversed easily along it and around to gentler sloping ground on the south slope up to the summit.
- Summit Cairn.
- From the summit looking SW to Loch Kishorn. The ominous looking clouds calling for a no-nonsense descent.
- Unfortunately there was deeper snow on the southern slopes so it was quite slow going. An Ruadh-Stac in the background. I looked for a short-cut down to the west, but none of it looked very appealing in the conditions and I ended up doing almost all of the southeast ridge descent before picking up the stalkers path again near the Loch Coire An Ruadh-Stac.
- The stalkers path was still easily visible and going not too bad given the deeper snow on this side.
- Still, it was a long tramp back to my starting spot and the sun was setting over Loch Kishorn and Skye by the time I got back to the Loch an Eoin. From my tracks I could see that I was the only one to have come up from Annat that way today.
- Loch an Eoin looking beautiful in the evening light.
- The lights were on in Torridon as I came out of the corrie and it was full dark by the time I got down to Annat. A pretty majestic day out in the Torridon hills,