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Corbetts: Beinn Damh
Date walked: 03/05/2008
Time taken: 4 hours
Distance: 12 km
Ascent: 1050 m
Weather: Warm, clear and sunny
Beinn Damh is one of those hills which should've been climbed years earlier, but the lack of a few meters of height brought it down the pecking order
. Having seen the error of my ways, I decided to nip up it one Saturday a few years back before meeting friends at Ledgowan Bunkhouse (a friend's Munro compleation party was due to take place the next day. Luckily I snared the best weather on Beinn Damh
).
Left Inverness late morning and parked up near the Torridon Hotel. Started up normal route into Coire Roill, which passed through delectable pinewoods and alongside a nice waterfall. Above the waterfall, the path towards the northern arm of Beinn Damh splits off to the right.
Glen Torridon and Liathach:
Waterfall in Coire Roill:
Maol Chin-dearg and the Achnashellach hills:
The sun was out and I had a notion to traverse the whole northern ridge, so I broke off northward after a bit and headed towards Sgurr a Bana Mhaorie. Despite being somewhat steep and heathery, this was a good move, as it was a brilliant viewpoint. You could see from Loch Torridon right down the length of Loch Damh to Loch Kishorn, making the Applecross peninsula almost look like an island.
Loch Damh and Loch Shieldaig from Sgurr a Bana Mhaorie:
Loch Damh and Loch Kishorn:
Easy walking took me south downhill to meet the regular path up. I ended up skipping a lot of this as for some reason it tended towards the grassy flanks of the hill, limiting the views. Much better to stick to the crest of the ridge. Views from the 868m spot height across to the main summit were far too good to miss by contouring round the back on the path.
Approaching the summit of Beinn Damh:
Despite the imposing appearence of Beinn Damh from most angles, it is a very straightforward hill to reach the summit of. Being the westernmost of the Coulin hills, the coastal views were superior. Rather annoyingly, my camera batteries ran out at this point, stopping me from getting some of the more spectacular shots.
Achnashellach hills again:
The return could be just as straightforward, but I usually have a preference for circular routes if possible, and Beinn na h-Eaglaise beckoned on the other side of Coire Roill. I started down the southernmost of the steep east ridges from the summit, but the other looked more promising, so traversed a scree ledge beneath summit crag. This was a bit on the loose side, but soon led me onto a more level spur. However, there was another steep drop to the corrie floor, and I wasn't quite sure how to get down it. Surprisingly, a subtle line of cairns led the way down the steep section, which turned out to be very easy in good visibility.
I thought I was on the home stretch, but the strata of the rock meant there was a lot of winding about required to negotiate some awkward crag faces to reach the col. I got there in the end. I was all ready to start on Beinn na h-Eaglaise, but a rare blister had developed over the last half hour, so I descended the nicely graded stalkers path through Coire Roill. Not sure if the blister or the camera packing in was the most frustrating thing of the day, but both give an excuse to go back in good weather sooner rather than later.
