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In July 2013, on the hottest day of the year, I was sitting on the summit of An Socach - the Mullardoch one, looking south and trying to name all peaks visible on the horizon. Just across Loch Mullardoch, the big, bulky shape of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan dominated the view. Kevin pointed in the same direction:
"Look, that's the last group of Munros for us to do in this area. And the most remote. Another looong summer day."
"Funny" I said "We're on An Socach and there is another An Socach on the other side. Twin Socachs, just like twin Lapaichs. And both just as remote."
"Don't worry, we'll get there. One day you'll meow on the summits on the other side."
Well, he was right in one point: Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan group was indeed the last trio of M's to climb in the area from North side of Glen Shiel to Mullardoch hills. I had a good look at them from A'Ghlas-bheinn and the idea of climbing them from Morvich via Bealach na Sgairne seems doable in summertime. I also investigated if there were any possibilities to take these hills "in chunks". SMC guide suggest climbing An Socach as a single Munro in a long trip from Loch Affric. Kevin warmed up to this idea and since we were lucky enough to get a sunny March day off, there was no way to stop him
I still wasn't sure how my virus-battered body would cope with a 30km walk, but I woke up feeling much better and full of energy. The walk-in may be long, but most of it is done on a good track, and I'm no stranger to 20km+ routes.
The logical way to tackle this route would be cycling all the way down to Atnamulloch, but we decided to walk it - and didn't regret it in the end. The morning hours along Loch Affric gave us as much pleasure as the hill itself.
Our route:
So the route follows the southern side of Loch Affric on an excellent forest track to Atnamulloch and past to the bridge over Allt Coire Ghaidheil, then up Coire Ghaidheil to the col between An Socach and one of the lower tops of Mam Sodhail, finally up to the summit. Sounds easy
We arrived at Affric Car Park (still no charge at the moment) early in the morning, there was nobody in sight... No wonder, it was Wednesday and though weather was splendid, most folks were probably at work or still asleep in their warm beds. Just the crazies like us preferred more extreme type of entertainment
Getting ready for the big walk:
The Affric car park is famous for local chaffinches. They are very friendly and often come close to people, obviously waiting for some grub. I never saw any eating straight from hand, but they are brave enough to hop between people's legs
Today, a few curious individuals came out again, hoping for a few breadcrumbs. Sadly, I didn't have anything at hand.
Share your breakfast, please...
It has only been 10 days since we last came to Glen Affric, to climb one of the southern Corbetts, Carn a'Choire Ghairbh. What a difference a few days can make... A lot of snow has melted since our previous visit - and as the day was much brighter, we enjoyed a lovely, sunny morning:
Sgurr na Lapaich, the one that is not a Munro though it should be in my opinion:
The walk-in was a delight. No need to describe it in detail, as it's obvious, just follow the track
Views across the loch, as soon as we walked past the forested area, simply stunning. Enjoy them with us...
An Tudair Beag, Sgurr na Lapaich and Creag a Chaorain:
Distant Beinn Fhada, still very white;
I was feeling much better, the virus definitely lost the battle, and I was ready for another adventure!
It was surprisingly warm and still - felt more like late April than March... The northern Affric hills reflected in the motionless waters of the loch... It was worth getting out of bed early just to see this view.
Almost at Atnamulloch. It didn't take us long to march up to this point. Mullach Fraoch-choire dominated the view at the moment:
One more reflection caught in the river...
The bridge over River Affric and Strawberry cottage. It is still 2.5km from here to the start of the ascent:
Posing in the familiar place... how many times did we do the Affric circuit?... Lost the count
A'Chralaig - Mullach Fraoch-choire ridge from Affric side. A fine pair of M's, usually climbed from Glen Shiel:
Past Atnamulloch, the track becomes a wee bit more bumpy as it continues just below the flanks of Creag a Chaorain, with more views to die for... I don't want to make this TR too long so I was forced to cut down the number of photos posted here, but believe me, we took almost 400 pictures that day!
Half an hour later, we reached the bridge. The track continues all the way to the Youth Hostel, but we started our ascent here. Before tackling the slopes, 10 min break to charge batteries and refill water bottles (it was really warm!). Then a silly pose, a few photos, and we were ready for the climb
I was eyeing the waterfall and suddenly I noticed two brown-reddish triangles moving above a grey rock. What the hell?... A second later, two black, shiny eyes blinked at me from below the triangles (which turned out to be ears). The fox looked just as surprised as I was
Kevin noticed the animal, too, but by the time he grabbed his camera, the fox showed us its furry tail and disappeared between the rocks and brown vegetation. Shame we didn't manage to take a picture.
The waterfall just above the bridge, to the left, the rocks where the fox was hiding.
The top to the left here is actually the lower shoulder of an Socach, called An Sornach. It could be used as the route of ascent (SMC guide suggest this option) but we preferred to stick to the route up Coire Ghaidheil, as it looked easier on a good stalker's path.
The ascent begins on the path, which follows the river and a fence. A bit boggy in places but generally good going:
Views, already good even from the track level, become much better as soon as one gains height:
The first 200m of ascent were quite steep but then the angle eased off as we entered Coire Ghaidheil. Only now we could see the summit of "our" Munro. No wonder it is called a shy mountain...
Behind us, Mullach Fraoch-choire looked gigantic. To the very right, Ciste Dhubh is peeking out from behind:
How many people actually visit this corrie, especially this time of the year? Good question. Most reports I saw add An Socach to the big round of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan group from Alltbeithe. So I guess we did something original
The stalker's path is obvious all the way to the col (you can see its line in this photo), but as soon as we entered the snow zone, we had to slow down. Snow was still very deep in places and a few times we sunk in it up to our knees.
Digging himself out of one of such "traps", Kevin scared the soul out of a small lizard. The poor little fellow froze on a patch of snow (not literally
):
This looks piece of cake but manoeuvring between snow patches was a bit annoying...
Looking down into the corrie:
The way we came. The sun was merciless now. I didn't expect it to be that bad and didn't pack my +50 factor. Paid for it with red nose later
On the col we dumped our rucksacks for a few minutes to have a drink and take some photos... It is a great viewpoint already, especially north towards the other An Socach and Beinn Fhionnlaidh:
The rest of the climb seemed easy now, though what we were looking at was not the summit itself, but a lower top at 906m (not named on the OS map). The hill-bagging database, which I use to record tops, names this one simply "An Socach North Top" - it is a Corbett top of a Munro:
Whatever it is called and classified as, I'd rather name it "The sweating slope"
We set off from the col with fresh energy, but soon started to "melt" under the merciless sun. The snow was soft to begin with, but soon we decided it was safer to use crampons. We stopped on the grassy patch just left of me in this photo, to get the gear out:
The caution paid out. Higher up, the snow was hard with a good layer of ice on top. Without crampons we would be asking for trouble!
Boiling hot on the top of a snowy mountain... Life is weird sometimes
But looking back from the lower top, when I saw the view behind me... Bl***dy hell, I thought, that's mountain pornography at its best!!!
Zoom to Mam Sodhail and Carn Eighe:
And from the west, a giant leviathan emerged...
Lurg Mhor in the distance:
Red as a freshly picked tomato
but good Lord, I was so happy!
From the North Top it was only a stroll to the main summit, where we planned a longer break:
Looking back at the lower top, with Affric Munros behind it:
Veni vidi vici miaow! Munro No. 119, the first NEW M' mountain this year. And what a trip, what an adventure... Well, I didn't know it back then but the "adventure" was far from over
I know I'm not supposed to give people heart attack (from jealousy
), but the view from the summit was something extraordinary... As most folks do the big trio in summertime, I assume not many visit this particular Munro in winter conditions. So here it is, An Socach and its neighbours in white
Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan was sooo close...
Beinn Fhada:
The hills of North Kintail: Ciste Dhubh and the Brothers:
Mullach Fraoch-choire and the Sgurr nan Conbhairean group to the left:
Zoomed:
Back towards Glen Affric, with the long ridge of Carn a'Choire Ghairbh just in the middle:
East to Affric Munros:
Kevin just as happy as me... maybe a little less red though
Panorama west:
Panorama east:
We were reluctant to leave the summit, with THESE views around us, but it was getting late and we still had over 10km walk back to Affric car park, so eventually we set off from the top. Instead of returning the way we came, we decided to descend the southern shoulder:
Big overhang... We didn't dare to get too close to this:
The descent was easy and we soon took our crampons off as the snow was too soft for them to be of any use. Wind picked up a bit but it was still warm - too warm for March! Such a shame this warm spell didn't last longer...
Back to the summit:
Not a cloud in the sky. Last year, I remember, we had a few weekends with similar conditions, but this year so far was far from it. We were so lucky to catch a couple of better days...
Looking down to Glen Affric:
Too much mountain porn should be forbidden
Sgurr nan Conbhairean:
Ciste Dhubh and upper Glen Affric:
The big overhang from lower down the shoulder:
Enjoy yourself... It's deeper than you think!
Me caught in another snow trap on the way down
Last glimpse down to the hidden corie, Coire Ghaidheil. I'm so glad we did this hill on its own - it allowed us to explore the secretive side of An Socach
But as I mentioned above, the adventure was not over just yet. The lower slopes of An Sornach are quite steep and below the snow line we got annoyed with the slippery vegetation. Kevin lost his balance and sat on his bum in a boggy puddle
He swore a few times - wet backside, dirty rucksack...
I took pity of him and instead of going straight down the steep slope we turned back to the stalkers path across the glen. It doesn't really make much difference distance-wise. We jumped over a few peat hags and descended to the river. The path was on the other side, so we found what looked like an ample set of stepping stones. Kevin crossed first - no problem. I followed him, and as I was aiming for the final jump, I lost my balance and slid down the side of the wet rock straight into the cold waters of Allt Coire Ghaidheil... Baaang!
Luckily, the river was not in spate and only just over ankle deep, but it was deep enough to flow into my boots. I jumped out to the opposite bank in a few seconds, but it was too late, my feet were wet.
Kevin laughed:
"It was a bit too deep to dabble through!"
"I didn't do it on purpose! Thank heavens we're on our way down rather than up..."
I was lucky, I had gaiters on, they slowed the water down so I didn't end up with two lakes (or should I say lochs as we are in Scotland
) in my boots. My socks were soaked though, and as we started descending the path, they made strange "glump-glump" noises. Not the first time I descended a hill with wet feet
My dabbling route:
Putting aside the wet incidents, we still enjoyed a cracker of a day...
Back on the path, I quickly forgot about the little slip...
We returned to the bridge and took a short break to drink something hot and have a bit of rest. The rest of the return walk was done without any incidents and after another couple of hours we returned to Affric car park, tired but happy and full of lovely memories. Not even the wet experience could spoil the pleasure!
The sun was just about to set as we crossed the main bridge:
Our GPS said we did 31.8km and about 1000m of ascent, though out of it, the final climb is only 680m, the rest was gained during the long walk in (though one doesn't feel like climbing anything, walking along the loch). It's a lot of work to gain one Munro, but highly recommended. I understand, that most folks would prefer to add An Socach to the rest of Sgurr nan Conbhairean group, but this options allows the hill to be climbed on a shorter day, especially if bikes are used to Atnamulloch.
As for the other two "culprits" from this ridge, we're aiming for the Morvich approach, now having done An Socach we can add the Corbett, Sgurr Gaorsoaic to the traverse instead. It's still a long walk and must wait till long summer days, but I can't wait to return to this beautiful area. Affric is as good as Affrica
Meow!
