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This walk was planned earlier this season, but somehow weather was never good enough up north... Beinn Tarsuin is the least prominent of the Fisherfield Munros and is usually done in combination with its higher neighbours, but we fancied it on its own from Kinlochewe. In spring, we walked part of the route on the way to Beinn an Ramh and we were shocked by the changes made by a recent hydro development
The track to Heights of Kinlochewe is now a jet runway. Thankfully, higher up the glen things are still intact and I hope that one of the last true wild areas in Scotland won't be scarred by more hydro schemes in the future.
Early morning in Kinlochewe was rather cloudy, but it was supposed to brighten later in the afternoon and cloud should burn off - at the moment it was still touching the summits of nearby mountains:
Waterfalls en route:
The gate past the Heights was padlocked together with the smaller one for walkers
so we had to use the nearby stile. Now on another track, gaining height, we glanced back to the new hydro road - it's ugly. Hopefully, in time the scar will heal a bit:
The track crosses the river on a bridge:
The small dam on Abhainn Gleann na Muice. Is it really worth all the fuss???
Once we passed the dam, we left all the ugly scars behind and from now on we could enjoy the wild beauty of the surrounding landscape. Our target mountain came into view, cloud still touching the summit but conditions looked promising for the rest of the day:
The path is very good most of the way, a few boggy stretches but generally fast going. We met some people with full camping packs walking out. I had considered wildcamping by Lochan Fada, but because we had already climbed Mullach & Sgurr Ban from the east, and Tarsuinn alone is a only a day's walk, we didn't see the need to overnight. That will come with Armageddon!
Along the route, views are amazing. Slioch especially, seen from this side, looks very pointy:
The path goes all the way to Lochan Fada, where we stopped for five minutes to regroup before tackling the slopes. The easiest line of attack seemed to be along the gully of Alt na Creige Glaise. Soon we discovered that a path exists for most of the way up.
View across Lochan Fada:
Way up: to the right hand side of the gully:
Beinn Eighe seen through the gap of Glen Bianasdail:
Up the steeper section, we picked the path mentioned above, and marched at a decent pace. Kevin stopped complaining about his knee which was a good sign - looks like the injury wasn't serious in the first place.
After about 150m of steeper climbing, the angle eased off, now we could see all the way to the summit, but the deep trench of Alt na Creige Glaise stole the show at the moment:
Looking down the slope:
After another 50m, the ravine divided - a very interesting feature indeed, something that can't be seen closely when one is doing the full Fisherfield round. Like the slabs of Mullach CMF and Sgurr Ban, Beinn Tarsuinn has its own hidden attractions, just waiting to be discovered!
The path became less obvious, following the right branch of the gully, but navigation was easy:
Happy Panther just below Bealach Odhar. To the left - the summit of our target Munro:
The ground higher up became more bouldery but going was easy enough, soon we tackled the final slope, less than 200m of ascent from the bealach to the summit. As we gained height, more views opened up, first the steep, steep slopes of Mullach:
Mullach CMF and Meall Garbh in panoramic mode:
Almost there! I was actually surprised how quickly we managed to reach the ridge. There is still some life left in the old cat
The final climb was accompanied by fantastic views. Cloud has burned off and we were welcomed by the full-blown panorama of Fisherfields including An Teallach and Beinn Dearg Mor:
We slowed down and spent some time snapping photos. Looking north into Gleann na Muice felt like gazing down from a plane! And our last two unclimbed Munros took the center stage:
Sgurr Ban and Mullach CMF (right) also looked great from this perspective:
Zoom to the double Corbett Beinn Dearg Mor & Beag. Kevin described it as "mini Slioch". The shape seems familiar, indeed:
More distant hills to the east: Fionn Bheinn and the two neighbouring Grahams:
Gleann na Muice pano again from near the summit:
Almost there... With such amazing landscape around walking was pure pleasure:
Munro No. 208 (48 for Lucy). The summit of Beinn Tarsuinn is rather small and the cairn is perched right on the edge of vertical drop. Despite being lower than its neighbours and maybe less distinctive in shape, this Munro is a superb viewpoint and well worth a separate trip!
So now, to some pictures from the summit. We spent about 30 minutes on the top, gazing at the wild landscape around us. We knew weather forecast for the following day was utterly rubbish
so we wanted to enjoy the clear day...
Gleann na Muice and An Teallach:
Beinn Lair (distant) and the odd northern ridge of Beinn Tarsuinn:
Armageddon and Ruadh Stac Mor. Teasing us!!!
Slioch and the Torridons behind:
Western pano:
Northern pano:
A girl on the summit:
A few details of the wild landscape:
The distant Fannichs:
Posing with AT
On a rock with the giants in the background
