The Mullardoch round of 12 in a day

[KingAliba]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

The Mullardoch round in a day

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In 2020, I got back into hiking after 15 or 20 years off the hills. I quickly became obsessed with them, redeveloping that love for the freedom, challenge and satisfaction they so often provide. Ever since, I've been eyeing up the Mullardoch round. I reckon I've read every single report on here numerous times. ronofcam's description "Scotland’s biggest 24-hour challenge for the ordinary hillwalker" stuck with me. When the time came, I was going for it. The 10th of July was that day. It had been wet for several days before, water sources could be available, and sunshine was forecast with a bit of a breeze which would help keep the midges and clegs at bay. They got it bang on . Clouds poured through every valley around me all day - except Mullardoch.

I've had many a big day on the hills. Most of which tend to include a tent or bivi. This round is perfectly ideal for a night or two under the stars. I started overthinking, was I sacrificing that adventure experience for a race against the clock? Perhaps I was. But as long as I could get round in under 24 hours, I'd be happy. Confident I could do that and absorb everything in, rather than zooming past it all - which I simply couldn't do anyway! Pack lighter, walk faster, climb higher and go far further than I have ever done in a day. That was all that was required

After a 5 hour drive, I reached the long winding road towards the dam. Only at this point did the feeling of being out in the wilderness really kick in. Was that road ever going to end?! I reached the dam far later than I had intended too. I was kidding myself thinking I'd get 5 or 6 hours sleep, whereas in reality it was closer to an hour - at the very most! The alarm went. It was pitch black. It was time.

20 minutes along the track, just as I started to turn away from the loch, I encounter my first challenge of the day...

The climb up towards the bealach of Mullach na Maoile and Carn nan Gobhar passed fairly easily. I'm sure there was a track but I certainly veered off it before arriving at the southern shoulder of Carn nan Gobhar. About 50 metres from the top the cloud lifted. It opened up the entire north and south side of Loch Mullardoch. We've all experienced one of those wow moments. This was it. The weather gods were playing ball. Today was going to be a good day.

Carn nan Gobhar looking east

The traverse over to Sgurr na Lapaich was straight forward. In fact, it was quickly becoming spectacular seeing the light work its way across the rocks.

Looking over to Sgurr na Lapaich from Carn nan Gobhar

Looking east from Sgurr na Lapaich

Looking back to Carn nan Gobhar

Onwards to An Riabhachan, via a 300m drop and reclimb, which was straight forward. It was early, and the climb would be in the shade.

Looking west to An Riabhachan

The drop from Sgurr na Lapaich

The final ascent to An Riabhachan

Looking east from An Riabhachan to Sgurr na Lapaich

An Riabhachan

Clouds continued engulfing every glen around me. An Socach next. A bit of up and down and along a ridge, but when you have views like this, every step was worth the effort.

Looking across to An Socach

An Socach

Northern 4 complete. Now the ~800m drop down to the loch and the daunting ascent towards Mullach na Dheiragain.
The sun was now getting up. The breeze continued and the previous days rain ensured the descent to the dam was a tad slippy.

Loch Mullardoch

The long slog up which lay ahead

I had plenty of time to choose my way across the water and plan my attack on the ascent.
At first I looked for a way across keeping dry, without too much of a detour, finally giving up and taking off my boots. This turned out to be utter bliss. I sat on a rock with my feet soothing in the running water whilst scoffing lunch. It had taken me 8 hours to here, which was almost bang on plan. I was going to enjoy this break as I knew what lay ahead.

It would take me 2 hours to reach Mullach na Dheiragain . I followed an old quad track so far up before veering off to refill my water supplies. I never regained such a path for quite a while later. In hindsight, maybe it would have been easier refilling slightly further down and following that feint path. Ah well. 2 hours later and I reached the summit.

Mullach na Dheiragain, with An Socach in the background

Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan looked a long way away. And so it should, as it is! It took me 2 hours to reach the summit.

Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan in the far distance!

The views from the summit were exceptional. I could see Ciste Dhubh, the brothers and sisters ridges in Kintail which I had tackled previously. The picture below looks back to Mullach na Dheiragain (left) and onto the run of An Socach, Mam Sodhail, Carn Eige which were still to come.

Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan.

90 minutes later I would reach the second An Socach of the day. Mam Sodhail, Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Carn Eige still looked a long way away!

An Socach

1hr and 50 mins later I'd eventually reach the summit of Mam Sodhail, picking up water from a stream cutting across the path. It was badly needed. I gulped down as much as I could then refilled and plodded on.

Mam Sodhail

My next plan was to skirt around the west side of Stob Coire Lochan and ditch the bag as high as possible, given I'd be coming back this way. It would take me an hour to get over to Beinn Fhionnlaidh and back to my bag. I was flying.

Looking over to Beinn Fhionnlaidh

Beinn Fhionnlaidh looking east across Loch Mullardoch.

Beinn Fhionnlaidh

18 an a half hours in, i'd reach Carn Eige, and mentally convince myself I was on the home straight - although I knew too well that i still had a long way to go!

Carn Eige

It's easy to underestimate this penultimate stretch towards Tom a' Chòinich.

The traverse to Tom a' Choinich

1hr 45mins later i'd reach its summit:

Tom a' Choinich

11 down, 1 to go. After a relatively sharp descent from Tom a' Chòinich, I cruised over to Toll Creagach as the sun started to give way.

Tom a' Chòinich to Toll Creagach

Toll Creagach

All 12 now complete in 21 hours, but I still had to get back to the car - and at this point I was racing both the clock and the sun. There was precious minutes of daylight left... and I still hadn't quite decided how to get off and back to the dam.
I full expected the direct route down alongside Allt Fraoch-choire to be wet. Coupling that with the sun setting, I was going to be tackling that in the dark. Instead, I shot further east towards the high road, taking the north western shoulder off Doire Tana. The ground was wet. I could hear running water. I dread to imagine how bad it was further down. Darkness fell just as I reached the drop off the northern shoulder directly below the dam. Route finding started to become challenging. Big boulders, big drops, big swamps. Just an absolute pain in the arse I didn't need. I eventually decided to cross further east and follow the Allt na Cruimadh down to the dam. I found an 8 foot tall fence which would take me all the way down. No official path by any means. It was wet (I was by caring at this point). It was swampy. Thick heather and ferns that towered well above me, but somehow I made it down under headlight. I look back now laughing, but it was absolutely torture.

I crossed the bridge and walked along the road towards the car, checking back just shy of 24 hours. Timed to perfection!

It was an adventure of a lifetime. It lived up to and beyond all expectations. But I'll tell you one thing, I won't be doing it again

[Verylatestarter]

Surely you're going back to do the tops. Congratulations on a great achievement.

John

[J888ohn]

Very well done. Huge effort and your pictures are stunning. I tried to do the round a few years ago but started with the south ones and had to give up after 8, and had a horrendous walk out along the north of the loch. Now I have the conundrum of just going back for the northern 4 or trying once again to do the 12, but follow your route round the north first.

Cheers,

John