BLÀ BHEINN: THE HAT-TRICK, A MERE FOUR DECADES LATER!

[Bonxie1]

Blà Bheinn from Loch Cill Chriosd by the B8083

Blà Bheinn across Loch Slapin

Another year had passed, and it was great to be back on Skye in early April, and though the post-Easter weekend weather could hardly be described as settled, at least the tops were snow-free and inviting. Down from Orkney, I turned left at Broadford and headed through Torrin for Loch Slapin and the John Muir Trust car park beneath Blà Bheinn. I always think that the first view of this majestic mountain from the B8083 across the reed beds of Loch Cill Chriosd is to die for. The shores of Loch Slapin were very busy with tents and campervans, and so I was a little surprised to see my chosen overnight spot relatively quiet, with just another three fellow residents sharing the protection of the car park birches. I had contacted my climbing pal, Bob Metcalfe, to see if he could enlighten me on when we were last there. He informed me that our first ascent by way of Clach Glas was in 1983, followed by another a couple of years later as we took other members of our group along this fine sporting route. But to cut this introduction short, I was solo this time, had never been up by the so-called ‘trade route’, and so I settled for this as the obvious route for my hat-trick. It also ticked the important criterion for the ‘rules’ of my second Munro round in that I hadn’t been up that way before!

Using the Shelter of the Birches in the JMT Car Park

The JMT Information Hut

I was a little mystified why none of the descriptions of the trade route seemed to go into too much detail. All summaries though seemed pretty straightforward: cross the burn twice, head up Coire Uaigneich, turn right at the big boulder and follow the ridge to the summit! There seemed to be some permutations or choices once on the ridge itself, but I shrugged these off, thinking that all would become obvious once up aloft.

The Drama Ahead!

Behind were the Red Cuillin duo of Beinns Dearg Mhor and Bheag

Whilst up Ahead the Challenge was Rising

And so it transpired. I set off at nine in the morning down a short link path from the car park to the shore of Loch Slapin, with the view out east dominated by the rounded red granites of Beinns Dearg Mhor and Bheag. It was a dreich sort of a day as I started up the Allt na Dunaiche, but I never really got wet once, although it threatened heavier rain several times during the route and even snowed on the summit! I negotiated a deer gate, and then followed a line of path-side birches high up over the burnside. Raasay’s distinctive flat top of Dùn Caan was clear to the north beyond Strath Mòr. I was overtaken by a young couple, one of whom was climbing her first Munro – I suggested to her that she’d be smitten for life after choosing this one! The birch fringe petered out and I passed through another deer gate, before a first burn crossing (from right bank to left), followed shortly by another (from left bank to right) and up onto the path leading into Coire Uaigneich. I was alongside the second burn crossing after an hour, all was good, and the path and going were easy.

Pathside Birches

Bonnie Waterfalls

The path up Coire Uaigneich rose steadily. I was looking for a ‘large boulder’ at which point a right ‘switchback’ turn was required, otherwise I’d end up at the col and get involved in the south ridge traverse, which was perhaps more of a scramble than I’d planned for. In the event, I headed naturally northwards away from the burn by means of a braided path and missed the large boulder completely! But I was following a route of sorts, heading by various bits of scree or else a mixture of grass and scree leading up to the obvious ridge below the summit massif. That was good enough for me, and so I floundered on. I passed the tiniest of burns, and so I took a draught from a small pool and wondered about the history of a pair of discarded black knickers alongside it. I covered them with a couple of rocks and was careful to drink upstream of these!

The 1st Burn Crossing

Into Coire Uaigneich

An Stac and Loch Fionna-choire below

Earlier the summit had remained clear, but now the mists and dark clouds began to threaten, and the summit disappeared, leaving just various towers visible through the mirk. This I regarded as extremely irritating, simply because I knew that the view from Blà Bheinn was one of the finest in Scotland, and it seemed most unfair to deprive me of it! My attention was required, however, for route-finding. There was a great rock wall on my left (west) as I gained height. I focused on the ridge on my right and made height often using the protection and holds of mini buttresses, also to my right. I climbed an obvious gully, and though easy climbing, it was loose and horrible. Eigg and Rùm hove into view at the top of this first gully, though I got the impression that they wouldn’t be visible for long! This turned out to be correct as I headed upwards and into the mist. A prominent pillar and a fleeting raven were barely visible in the sky ahead. A great chasm suddenly appeared on my right, out of the mist, and then a little higher, another with an attendant cairn. I noted the time as 11:30, so I must have been making reasonable progress. I passed a prominent pillar, again on the right, everything was happening on my right (east), including yet a third chasm, this one with an enormous chockstone boulder at its top. Further up, another shorter gully required tackling, this one much more difficult, requiring proper scrambling with a tricky heave-up move. Before committing myself, I’d noticed that there was an alternative route to the left, which I used on the descent! After this short but more taxing gully, the next notable point was the junction with the south ridge which comes up from the coast at Camusunary. Just a short stroll later I was at the summit trig point. But disaster, no view!

Even when closer, mist made the ridge route difficult to work out...

One of 3 impressive gullies breaking into the ridge

Summit Selfie, Blà Bheinn - before the snow!

I was so irked by the non-existent viz that I stayed waiting on the summit for it to clear for 30 minutes. When it started to snow and I began to get cold, I decided reluctantly to leave. A guy from Newtonmore came through the snow shower from the direction of Clach Glas and said that he’d enjoyed its chimney climb, but we both agreed that descent was the immediate order of the day. Half an hour or so later, somewhere on the ridge down, it began to clear. I honestly thought about going back up, as I knew that view, and I desperately wanted to see it again. It was, however, a false alarm, with only moments of clarity. I could see the flanks of Gillean across Glen Slichagan in the distance around the ridge where we’d stopped, and its summit was firmly stuck in cloud. Much nearer at hand Belig was relinquishing cloud from its conical peak, catching some ethereal light which of course the camera couldn’t really capture – the best pictures are always those taken by your mind.

Rhuadh Stac and Marsco with Sgurr nan Gillean in mist across Glen Sligachan

It does what it says on the tin - water for the dram later!

Descent was an exact reversal of my route up, with one notable observation – I clocked the ‘large boulder’, yes, the one always quoted in the route descriptions! “Turn right at the large boulder!” I’d completely missed it on the ascent as I’d taken a short cut up a braided path, headed over a lip of rock, and focused instead on my route ahead and how best to pick my way through the screes. In the end my day totaled six hours exactly, but with 30 minutes spent on top, playing mind-games with the elements, which of course I lost! Next time…

The Large Boulder!

Blà Bheinn, one of my favourite mountains...