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Amazing Applecross

Amazing Applecross


Postby foggieclimber » Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:05 pm

Corbetts included on this walk: Beinn Bhan, Sgùrr a' Chaorachain

Date walked: 29/05/2009

Time taken: 5 hours

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I really enjoyed the TV programme Monty Hall’s Great Escape, earlier this year. Applecross sounded like a good plan given the good weather forecast. I wasn’t to be disappointed :).


Hill: Beinn Bhan
Date: Friday 29th May, 2009
Company: Foggieclimber and Beinn
Time: 5 Hours
Dog friendly: Yes


I set off from home at 4:30am on Friday, arriving at the Tornapress starting point by 08:00am. The temperature gauge in the car was already reading 19C. There is parking for three or four cars beside the bridge over the River Kishorn.

We set off along a good path that runs parallel to the River Kishorn.

Path alongside River Kishorn:
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After about a mile of walking, we began to see the amazing topography of Beinn Bhan.

Beinn Bhan:
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Beinn Bhan is such a long and complex mountain that I couldn’t fit the whole mountain into one photo. (I therefore decided to take a few pictures and stitch them together when I got home.)

Beinn Bhan stitched panorama:
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We continued to follow the path with a view to cutting-off towards Lochan Coire na Poite. However, I was enjoying the scenery so much that I must have missed the turn-off. I only realised this when Loch Gaineamhach appeared in front of us.

Loch Gaineamhach:
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From Loch Gaineamhach, we ascended slopes of heather. After nearly 100m of ascent we reached a flat area and took a line towards Coire an Fhamair. I recalled some discussion about the ascent of A’Chioch being a hard scramble / easy rock climb. Not sure where the easy ascent is as it all looked quite hard.

A’Chioch:
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Looking towards Coire na Poite:
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Lochan Coire na Poite:
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Anyway, Beinn can’t scramble or climb so we made for Coire an Fhamair, where there is an easy (but steep) ascent up grass onto the ridge.

Coire an Fhamair:
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About two-thirds of the way up the coire there are some weathered sandstone towers.

Sandstone towers in Coire an Fhamair:
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The next two photos provide some idea of how steep the ascent is.

Looking down from Coire an Fhamair (A’Chioch on right):
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Looking down on A’Chioch from steep slopes of Coire an Fhamair:
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Impressive rockface:
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On reaching the ridge, I was really surprised at how wide it was. Plenty of width to keep well-away from the sheer vertical drops into Beinn Bhan’s various coires.

Reaching the wide ridge above Coire an Fhamair:
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Looking back towards Loch na Beinne Baine:
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After just over a kilometre of easy walking we arrived at the summit.

Approaching summit shelter of Beinn Bhan:
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Summit of Beinn Bhan (Sgurr a’Chaorachain in background):
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We stopped at the summit for around fifteen minutes to admire the views and re-hydrate. Stupidly, I hadn’t bothered with sun-screen and was beginning to feel my nose and head burning. So it was also on with the sunhat. Beinn was really feeling the heat too.

We decided to return to the car via the South-East ridge. Not long after leaving the summit we started to get fine views across to Sgurr a’Chaorachain and the Classic Rock climb Cioch Nose. I have always fancied doing this climb. Now I have seen it, I’m not so sure. It looks much harder than VDiff.

Sgurr a’Chaorachain [and Cioch nose and ridge] (zoomed):
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Looking down on Loch Coire nan Arr:
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Descending to 763m top:
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After passing the 763m top it was pretty-much just a walk down grassy slopes, trying to avoid as many of the sandstone boulders as possible.

Foggie and Beinn:
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Loch Kishorn:
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Beinn Bhan is a seriously good hill.



After finishing Beinn Bhan, I drove round to Applecross via the incredible road over the Bealach na Ba. It is worth heading for Applecross just to experience this road.

On arriving in Applecross, I pitched up the tent and then went for a look around Applecross.

The Applecross campsite is clean, very reasonably priced (only £6.50 pppn) and they sell superb, but not so reasonably-priced, pizzas. However, by evening the campsite was seriously over-crowded.

Accommodation (Applecross campsite):
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I was almost drooling looking across at the Cuillin, reminiscing of the week we spent there at this time last year.

The Cuillin from Applecross Bay:
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Applecross from across the bay: Image

The Cuillin:
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I have to give the Applecross Inn five stars for food, service and good-value. Beinn was welcome in the Inn and was given a bowl of water. I was a bit disappointed that the scallops were finished but had the haddock instead. It was SUPERB!

Applecross Inn:
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After dinner, I headed along the coast in search of Beachcomber Cottage, where the TV series Monty Hall’s Great Escape was based. (According to a letter from Monty Hall, on the wall of the Applecross Inn, there is likely going to be a second series based in the Hebrides)

Beachcomber Cottage (Monty Hall’s bothy):
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How good would it be to stay here?

Beachcomber Cottage and Beach:
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Hill: Sgurr a’Chaorachain
Date: Saturday 30th May, 2009
Company: Foggieclimber and Beinn
Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Dog friendly: Yes


After packing up the tent this morning and waiting for the campsite gate to be unlocked at 07:00, we headed back up to the Bealach na Ba viewpoint for an ascent of Sgurr a’Chaorachain.

The SMC Corbett book indicates 1hr 30mins to reach the summit. We got to the summit and back to the car in 1hr 45mins and it didn’t seem like we were going that fast.

Bealach na Ba Viewpoint indicator:
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776m top of Sgurr a’Chaorachain from Bealach na Ba Viewpoint:
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The ascent to the 776m top is quite dull. However, after passing this top it is a really pleasant walk to the main summit with some incredible views for the amount of effort involved.

Approaching 776m top:
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Ridge from 776m top towards summit:
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Summit of Sgurr a’Chaorachain from 776m top:
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Looking back:
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Coire a’Chaorachain:
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From reading previous reports, I was aware that there was a rocky tower to go over (or around) en-route to the summit. I wasn’t sure if Beinn would be able to do this.

However, thankfully we found that the ascent of the tower is just a walk and the descent down the other side is basically just a walk too.

Sandstone tower (ascent):
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Sandstone tower (descent):
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Looking towards summit of Sgurr a’Chaorachain:
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Cioch Nose and Ridge:
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Looking back along ridge:
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At the summit we stopped for a quick photo and drink before returning to the car.

Beinn bagging the cairn: Image

It would be quite straight-forward to combine an ascent of Beinn Bhan with an ascent of Sgurr a’Chaorachain. For anyone interested in doing this, here is a photo of the ridge between the two.

Ridge linking Beinn Bhan and Sgurr a’Chaorachain: Image


I deliberately did not ascend the one Graham that is in Applecross. Gives me a good excuse to go back. :D :D :D
Last edited by foggieclimber on Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby cjwaugh » Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:23 pm

Great pictures and excelent first report foggie well done :)
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby John Burgess » Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:04 pm

Hi Foggie,

Thanks for the report. My wife and I were on Beinn Bhan the same day and met one man and his dog on their way down from the summit so I suspect that might have been you :-)

Here are a couple more photos from a great day.

Walkhighlands 076.jpg


Walkhighlands 079.jpg


All the best,

John
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby foggieclimber » Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:32 pm

Hi John

Small world :D
It was a great day and great weekend.
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby kevsbald » Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:33 pm

My goodness, impressive number of photos downloaded but what a hill Beinn Bhan is. The Cioch looks fantastic and I'd love to go over that (with somebody else). Great 1st report and it had everything from accomodation, hill and route but you never mentioned which beer you had!

This is why I don't understand folk who just want to repeat the Munros again and again and ignore such fantastic Corbetts.
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Paul Webster » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:04 pm

Yes, great report and pics - and good to see you met John as well :D Beinn Bhan was one of the first Corbetts I climbed, a real cracker - but Applecross is somewhere I will always keep going back to. Haven't been since New Year - must be due a trip back!
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Freewheelin » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:45 pm

Must be about 35 years since I was last at Applecross - long before the 'new' road was built.
I was only a wee laddie then, but I still remember how quiet and beautiful a place it was... and that road!
:shock:
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Alan S » Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:18 am

yes good first report 8)
ive actually opened this about 5 times but gave up as it was taking so long to download,this new computer is a load of pish :problem:
but worth the wait,cracking pictures
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby tnt_Brian » Fri Jan 04, 2013 12:08 am

great walk report Foggie. I did Sgurr a' Chaorachainn on new years day but we decided against crossing the ridge to Beinn Bhan, kind of wishing we did now. I live in that area so i'll be heading up Beinn Bhan on the next good weather day. fantastic photos too :-)
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Highart13 » Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:34 am

Great report - really enjoyed reading it and living vicariously through your amazing set of photograohs and description :D Looks like Beinn had a super time too :clap:
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby gaffr » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:40 am

Missed this report during its 'first appearance'....a bit before I stumbled across the WH site. :) An area that folks involved with the bigger hills don't get around to visiting until longer in the tooth. :lol:
A tale of two Chioch/Ciochs. The one with the two 'h's' is a fine day in the hills with the ascent of the ridge, in dry autumn weather, with the final 'wall-like' section, which looks intimidating but falls into place with a wide choice of shorter crag like sections onto the summit area.....I don't think that Mr. Foggie's dog would want to be in this area. :)
The Coich nose is a fine classic wee climb with several interesting pitches. When I first went there in the late sixties, armed with a sketchy description supplied by GT, I, at first, walked past the starting place on the elevated ledge and fiddled about with a start much further to the right. :) This is a very enjoyable day out and one which I have gone back to on several accasions. :D The Corbetts do take you into some interesting areas of the country.
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Gable Gable End » Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:02 am

Love this part of the world! Stunning.
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby Johnny Corbett » Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:22 am

This was also before i joined the site. Sgurr a'Chaorachain was my 100th Corbett which i did in clag and initially had difficulty getting to the summit but got there, so great to see what it looks like on a cracking day. Good stuff :D
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Re: Amazing Applecross

Postby foggieclimber » Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:19 am

Surprised to see this one resurrected. A good weekend back in 2009.
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