Sgurr nan Conbhairean

[imacd]

Munro 1 and 2 for the other half, 2 and 3 for me (did Ben Nevis many years ago) completed today (17/10/2009) and boy what a day! Weather could not have been better.
We arrived at Cluanie in thick fog just before 10am and set off with the intention of 'going as far as we could' and soon emerged from the mist into glorious sunshine and fantastic views either way down the glen.

Above the mist looking west

Ben Nevis stands out on the impressive skyline to the south

The stalker's path on the ascent is great with only a couple of muddy stretches and takes you all the way to the plateau top before petering out amongst the rocks.

From near the top of Carn Ghluasaid looking back to the path

The summit cairn is situated very close to steep cliffs on the north side but the views are stunning.

Munro No. 1 in the bag and No. 2 clearly visible middle distance

It is quite a long haul to Sgurr nan Conbhairean and the wind got up so t-shirts were soon joined by a couple more layers. A quick break for lunch and then off along the path that is initially clear close to the edge of the ridge but we couldn't follow across the rocky steep slope to the summit - it didn't matter as it is very obvious where to head for.
It felt like we were ontop of the world with superb views in all directions, but it had taken its toll, I didn't have the stamina for the third Munro of this walk so we decided to head for the path down to the west

Great views North East from the ridge - looks like Meall Fuar-mhonaidh in the distance?

The one we missed - Sail Chaorainn

Again this is a good path as it descends and crosses a ridge and then it passes at the back of the corrie with a very steep slope all the way down to the lochan - it was at this point I realised I hadn't totally grown out of my fear of heights!

Looking back to Sgurr nan Conbhairean and the route at the back of the corrie - no chance of a photo from directly above!

More great views on the rest of the descent before what seemed like miles of steep boggy slopes that twice caught me out soaking my butt to make the rest of the journey less than enjoyable.

The Glen Shiel ridge, the end of Loch Cluanie and the Cluanie Inn just visible

Finally we crossed the river and made it to the road for the long trudge back to the car

The waterfall above the river crossing, below which is a pool that could be tempting on a really hot day!

Apart from a soggy a&*e it was a memorable and enjoyable introduction to the Munro Baggers world and thank you to walkhighlands.com for providing the route (maybe a bog factor of 4 might be more appropriate?)

[Bruno]

Great report - glad you enjoyed those hills. Did them last year and had a great day out. The last Munro on the ridge is further out and has more up and down than the map suggests.
Keep going!!
Regs
Bruno

[Paul Webster]

Great report - love the inversion photos - and well done on the first munros for years . The bog factor thing is quite subjective - and seasonal! We only usually give a 4 if we found that _most_ of the route is boggy There are very very few places we give a 5 - which is a special indication that you may have to go submarine - and you have found one of them

[imacd]

I was looking more closely at the photos and spotted the detail below. It looks like the the cloud is pouring over the dam - very strange. Apologies for the quality as this is digitally zoomed/cropped very tight from a much wider image, but there seem to be some fans of inversions around and I thought it might be appreciated.
Iain

Cluanie Dam with cloud inversion

[Paul Webster]

That's amazing - never seen mist quite like that