Maol Chean-dearg from Torridon

[crisaitken]

One of my colleagues invited us to the Shieldaig Fete this year, which sounded like a fun night out. But I wasn't going to drive all that way without getting some walking in as well!

Having read various route descriptions for Maol Chean-dearg that described a dull walk-in and horrible path I decided that there probably wasn't anything to be lost by trying it from the North. The map looked fine, although the lack of any other route descriptions from this side did make a little nervous that I must have been missing something glaringly obvious, or more people would have tried it!

So after a leisurely drive up we set off at lunchtime, parking at the Torridon Inn.
A quick saunter back along the road to Annat and I remembered that I'd left the map on the passenger seat.
A quick run back to the car and I realised I'd left my keys in my pack at the side of the road.
An increasingly slower run back to Annat to get the keys, then back to the car again for the map, then back to Annat and we could finally get started properly!

The hill path to Coulags was easily identifiable thanks to a nice sign from the main road, and another further up to stop you straying into someones garden

Easy navigational aid

So far so good and we as rounded Beinn na h-Eaglaise the view of the glen opened up with Maol Chean Dearg ahead

The route ahead opens up

The path was wonderful underfoot, and the gradient never too taxing, whilst the views of Maol Chean Deargs northern cliffs were lovely as the low clouds moved in and out.

Loch an Eion

Maol Chean-dearg's more impressive side (when the cloud moves out the way!)

We had half considered trying to just head up the eastern side of Maol Chean Dearg once we'd passed the cliffs, but from Loch an Eion the gradient looked a little steep and we had plenty of daylight to play with so we carried on to the bealach and onto the conventional route. This was definately a good move as we'd have missed the classic view of An Ruadh Stac had we taken the shortcut.

Beinn Damh

Loch Coire an Ruadh-staic

An Ruadh Stac

The clouds were still blowing in and out so we stuck around at the summit for a while to make sure we got all the views possible, unfortunately my photography skills with a camera phone do not do them justice.

Sgorr Ruadh & Beinn Liath Mhor

With visibility good and not looking like changing for a while we decided to take a more direct route off the East side, and it appeared others had taken a similar route with a small cairn roughly at the point we set off from. The going was steep and rocky in places, but not much worse than some of the skree sections on the ascent, and only a couple of bigger boulders to scramble down. By the time we connected back with the path though, I doubted it had saved us much time over just retracing our steps. But I try and avoid purely linear routes whenever possible.

North face cliffs, and our route down

The Big 3 of Torridon

During the walk-in I had been imagining how much longer it would feel when we came to walk-out, but with breathtaking views over to Liathach and the sun still in the sky it didn't seem too long at all. Helping of course, was the knowledge that we'd parked at a pub, and we'd were soon be supping some local ale!
(the Ben Damph from the An Teallach brewery was my favourite)

So in summary, if you prefer
1) nicer scenery,
2) less skree path,
3) more gradual ascent, and
4) finishing in the pub,
I'd urge you to consider Maol Chean-Dearg from Annat rather than Coulags.
Just to be sure we weren't doing Coulags a dis-service we took the scenic route home and drove past Coulags. It looked like all the walk reports we'd read were accurate and we were happy we'd made the right choice.