The Five Sisters with a little add on!

[The Rodmiester]

The Saturday of the Argyll Mountaineering Club June's Meet which was based at the Ardelve Camping site near Dornie had arrived and all members and guests had discussed their preferred options the night before over a few drinks. Last year I had done the Brothers and others at this Meet so it was time to tackle The Five Sisters this year. Weather forecast was good so with the use of two vehicles being a bonus the two of us headed on up Glen Shiel to the starting point the Bealach an Lapain car park at 009136. We were booted up and ready to climb by 0830hrs. The first section being probably the wettest and steepest underfoot conditions encountered for the rest of the day. Within the hour we had reached the cairn marking the top of the Bealach.

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Arriving at the Bealach looking West

The Rodmiester at the Bealach looking East with The South Shiel Ridge in the background

Heading on to the Munro Top Sgurr nan Spainteach. There is a well worn path along this very popular high ridge walk. In fact it's so well documented already I will just post a few photographs along the ridge.

First sighting of any snow on the ridge

What awaits us

Further along the ridge

Wonderful views all around, fabulous day out!

A short down climb section after Sgurr nan Spainteach

The large cairn on top of Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe the first Munro and second Sister

Me on the summit cairn

Sgurr na Carnach and Sgurr Fhuaran the highest of the Sisters standing at 1067m

Looking over Glen Shiel towards The Saddle, Forcan Ridge and the Graham Biod an Fhithich

First sighting of Loch Duich

Climbing up the rocky slopes of Sgurr na Carnach

Arriving at the summit of Sgurr na Carnach the third Sister. This was promoted to Munro status in 1997

Coming off Sgurr na Carnach towards the Bealach, another down climb with no difficulties, just care required

On the summit of the fourth Sister Sgurr Fhuaran.

View towards Loch Duich from the summit of SF

The final Sister Sgurr nan Saighead a Munro Top. To get to this you head off the previous summit West but as said earlier a well worn path is in existance

East Cliffs of Sgurr nan Saighead

After heading towards Beinn Bhuidhe instead of going down the West shoulder I crossed over towards Sgurr na Moraich. On the South slopes of Sgurr nan Saighead there appears to be lots of small drystane dykes similar to the one shown with a view over to The Forcan Ridge andThe Saddle

There is no path between Beinn Bhuidhe and you just have to find your own way to the summit cairn which consisdts of a pile of stones on a rock. This might be quite difficult to find in bad visibility so something to keep in mind if you intend to do this little add on ( a Hump I believe but quite a big one at 876m) From the summit I came off heading towards the low point on the other side of the Goire na Criche (South) and although quite steep and rocky made it without much difficulty, although would not have liked it had the underfoot conditions been wet! There is a good path on the North side of the Allt a' Chruinn which takes you all the way back to the unclassified road to Morvich near the causeway (Main Road A87)

[malky_c]

Nice day out. Must do some of these again in good weather some day .

Got to tell you that Sgurr na Moraich is the 5th sister (or first one, depending which way you count), but since the Munros have become more popular, it tends to get missed. Sgurr nan Spainteach doesn't count as it can't be seen in the classic view from the Bealach Ratagain.

[The Rodmiester]

Nice day out. Must do some of these again in good weather some day .

Got to tell you that Sgurr na Moraich is the 5th sister (or first one, depending which way you count), but since the Munros have become more popular, it tends to get missed.

Hey Malky-c , that is the best news yet, I had it down as the fifth sister and marked it down as such on the OS map I was using. Just read the WH report and that says it's the fifth as well, the last time I did it I missed it as I counted the Munro Top Sgurr nan Spainteach as the fifth. All the other members thought that Sgurr na Moraich was a nothing hill. That's made my day, I'm even happier now I did it as would have been very easy to pass it by

[Alteknacker]

Nice pix. You had a lovely day for it. And no mention of dreaded beasties......

[The Rodmiester]

Nice pix. You had a lovely day for it. And no mention of dreaded beasties......

Thanks Alteknacker, fantastic day on the hill, with a breeze on top, no beasties! Some at the campsite at Ardelve but because it's on the loch side not nearly as bad as at the campsite at Shielbridge But I did forget to mention that we saw a ptarmigan with three very young chicks on the ridge, they were so close we nearly stood on them, that's a first, Wonderful

[BlackPanther]

This one is a classic Thanks for reminding me how fantastic this ridge is... We did it in similar conditions, hot and summery plus lots and lots of people, at some point we were standing in a queue on the path, waiting for the folks in front of us to go over something scramble-ish We never got to the last sister though... One more walk I'd love to repeat sometime.

[The Rodmiester]

This one is a classic Thanks for reminding me how fantastic this ridge is... We did it in similar conditions, hot and summery plus lots and lots of people, at some point we were standing in a queue on the path, waiting for the folks in front of us to go over something scramble-ish We never got to the last sister though... One more walk I'd love to repeat sometime.

Hi BP, I agree this one is worth doing time and time again maybe not as many folk on it as when you did it, but still a fair number, so lots of stops and chats, which was nice, so if any of you were the people we spoke to Hi again and look forward to seeing your reports, and did you do the last Sister? I don't think many do, probably too tired at that stage, maybe the well worn path is just too tempting to head on down

[David-Main]

Good report Rod, great pics and nice weather, myself and Jim wilson were on the forcan ridge just across the road from you. We had binoculars with us and could see people on the sisters, probably your good-self.
We are going to try them this weekend weather permiting.

[The Rodmiester]

Good report Rod, great pics and nice weather, myself and Jim wilson were on the forcan ridge just across the road from you. We had binoculars with us and could see people on the sisters, probably your good-self.
We are going to try them this weekend weather permiting.

Hi there David you would have seen the helicopter then? Circling the Saddle, we did. Hope you get the same weather as us, remember that it's the most Westerly tops which are the Sisters, I nearly was caught out again, it was very tempting just to head on down to the burn instead of ANOTHER climb to the last which stands at 876m I think, take care coming off if it's wet, pretty steep, but once you get down to the path by the burn, good progress, Enjoy!

[AnnieMacD]

Really enjoyed that with all the ups and downs. I'll tuck it away in the memory bank as I don't think I'll be ready for this one until next year. Good to see the scrambles aren't too bad!

[The Rodmiester]

Really enjoyed that with all the ups and downs. I'll tuck it away in the memory bank as I don't think I'll be ready for this one until next year. Good to see the scrambles aren't too bad!

AnnieMacD, you have done the Black Carls so you will find this a piece of cake, no exposure to contend with. If you follow me on this route I'm going to have to follow you on The Black Carls

[Johnny Corbett]

A cracker Rod

[dogplodder]

Did these on a similar day to you but skipped the fifth sister as we had a bus to catch..... and then we missed it by a couple of minutes (saw it pass) so we might as well have done it!

[simon-b]

Nice day out. Must do some of these again in good weather some day .

Got to tell you that Sgurr na Moraich is the 5th sister (or first one, depending which way you count), but since the Munros have become more popular, it tends to get missed.

Hey Malky-c , that is the best news yet, I had it down as the fifth sister and marked it down as such on the OS map I was using. Just read the WH report and that says it's the fifth as well, the last time I did it I missed it as I counted the Munro Top Sgurr nan Spainteach as the fifth. All the other members thought that Sgurr na Moraich was a nothing hill. That's made my day, I'm even happier now I did it as would have been very easy to pass it by

I'm glad at least some of us give the real 5th sister the recognition it deserves. Right now I'm in my b and b at Innis a' Chro, at the foot of Sgurr na Moraich.

Nice one, Rod.

[The Rodmiester]

Nice day out. Must do some of these again in good weather some day .

Got to tell you that Sgurr na Moraich is the 5th sister (or first one, depending which way you count), but since the Munros have become more popular, it tends to get missed.

Hey Malky-c , that is the best news yet, I had it down as the fifth sister and marked it down as such on the OS map I was using. Just read the WH report and that says it's the fifth as well, the last time I did it I missed it as I counted the Munro Top Sgurr nan Spainteach as the fifth. All the other members thought that Sgurr na Moraich was a nothing hill. That's made my day, I'm even happier now I did it as would have been very easy to pass it by

I'm glad at least some of us give the real 5th sister the recognition it deserves. Right now I'm in my b and b at Innis a' Chro, at the foot of Sgurr na Moraich.

Nice one, Rod.

Ta Simon-b, lucky you being right there just now, a wonderful area. After what has gone on before it's just so easy to say naw I won't bother, but the day was just to good and there was plenty of time, so go for it. I must admit There were times climbing up to Sgurr na Moraich I thought, this canny be, no signs of paths on the ascent, summit plateau and definitely none on the down climb from the summit, not that I could see anyway. But it was nice to reach the path at the Allt a' Chruinn