Mystical Day on Mullach Fraoch choire
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:53 amA superb spell of summer weather in the northwest and the forecasts promising still clear summits it seemed an ideal time to try the pinnacles on Mullach Fraoch-Choire. What we hadn't anticipated was the cloud inversion that made the day so magical.
The time given includes about 90 minutes of stopping to brew up and enjoy the situation as well as plenty of time spent dawdling and photo taking.
We left the car in the layby near the felled forestry at 9am and planned to ascend Coire Odhair, making Mullach Fraoch -choire the first Munro, then double back to A'Chralaig and descend its south east ridge.
It was not long before we were following the footpath along An Caorrann Mor and admiring the misty mountains, summits appearing briefly through the swirling cloud.
We stopped for a brew and to fill water bottles at the top of the burn before tackling steep grass and loose rock at the top of the Coire.
All fairly easy scrambling on very dry grippy broken schist, until we reached this.
After a few attempts we managed to get up it via a slippery chimney. Once on top we exited onto steep grass on the right, then down the slabs and the scrambling was over.
The final walk to the summit took us above the clouds.
Who wouldn't want to linger on a summit with views like this.
Half an hour later at 15:10 we thought we ought to move as well.
.
In the mist some careful navigation was required to ensure we went down the right ridge and identfy the correct places to turn to avoid the steeper ground
After a day on the atmospheric ridge the descent on broad grassy pathless slopes couldn't have been more different.
We eventually picked up the Landrover track by the burn and then a final 2km down the road to reach the car at 20:00
The time given includes about 90 minutes of stopping to brew up and enjoy the situation as well as plenty of time spent dawdling and photo taking.
- The route
It was not long before we were following the footpath along An Caorrann Mor and admiring the misty mountains, summits appearing briefly through the swirling cloud.
- Cloud swirling about Ciste Dubhe
- 11:00 heading up Coire Odhair.
- Amazingly complex landscape and terrain
- 13:00 and the ridge is still enshrined in mist
- 13:15 We are on the ridge but where are the pinnacles
- The bird was a surprise. Maybe a dotterel I am not sure.
- Staying on the crest as the path starts its bypass
- A hand traverse for the most exposed section
- Into the daylight
- Back into the gloom
- A final pinnacle or off route outcrop?
- A' Chralaig peeking out
- An atmospheric walk along the ridge
- Along the path looking up at the pinnacles
- In and out of the cloud
- All the way to A' Chralaig
- 17:00 and out into the sunshine
- Making a little mist of our own.
- Broken Spectres follwed us quite a way down
I can't believe how fearsome you have made the pinnacles look 
makes me feel a little better that I was a bit scaredy going over them in the snow 
makes me wonder if there are some hills more liable to inversions than others?
