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This report is over a month overdue, but I was preoccupied with other things so never had enough time to sit down and write it up. It was our last "proper summer" day up on the hills, before the Scottish autumn arrived and the days became shorter.
Shortly after climbing this duo Kevin fell ill and for some time the docs didn't really know what was wrong with him, only after a couple of weeks they concluded, it was shingles. I have never seen such a weird case of shingles before, with hardly any rash and the main symptom being a nasty headache. Obviously, he wasn't given the right medication at the beginning so all he could do is swallow painkillers and wait for the infection to pass. We missed a few weekends of nice weather, but thankfully he's back on his feet now. Weakened a bit by the virus, but far away from being defeated!
Back to Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine and Sgurr Dubh, we had an unfinished business with these two. Last summer we set off to climb them, but cloud was low when we arrived in Torridon, so we decided to climb Beinn Eighe instead, as we heard that the Coulin duo are notoriously hard to navigate in poor visibility. This year, the pattern seemed to repeat, but we were not to be deterred and the second time turned out lucky! Well, we didn't see the views from the very summits as the cloud never burned off, but we had a pleasant enough day
We had already climbed all Munros and Corbetts in Torridon except from this duo and I was determined to finish off the area (we have one wee Graham left, but saving it for winter conditions as it's an easy one). Our route for Dubh/Uaine followed the classic traverse from the north (Coire Dubh car park) and I should say here, many thanks to Walkhighlands for the GPS waypoints - proved very useful in thick mist
I was hoping for blue sky but it wasn't meant to be. On the other side, if we only climbed mountains on days with 100% clarity, our stats would be about fifty percent lower than they are now. Usually, we just grab a chance and hope that weather will cooperate, when it doesn't - tough.
Sgurr Dubh - a tough mountain!
Coire Dubh car park was very busy, as per usual on Saturday mornings. We expected most folks to head for Beinn Eighe, but a large group of walkers started for the two Corbetts about 10 min ahead of us.
The walk begins by following the path to Ling Hut - with fantastic views across the small Lochan an Iasgair to Liathach, or so I was told as our view was obstructed by cloud:
At the beginning, it's easy going on a good stalkers path - passing by some interesting waterfalls. It had rained the day before and the stream was full to bursting, also the ground was saturated - not a good omen for the later stages, but we are not afraid of bog
The cloud was lifting, but very slowly and we prepared ourselves mentally for hard navigation in the mist. As long as on the path it was straightforward...
...with some interesting cloud shapes over Liathach...
...but as soon as we turned of the path it became obvious, this was going to be a tough climb:
The best route is to follow Allt nan Lochan Uaine from the point where it crosses the path (roughly 952544) but we made the mistake of following the path for a bit longer and later had to double back to the summit of the first Corbett - not much difference, just a bit longer and considering the conditions, it was just as boggy and just as pathless everywhere
We caught up with the larger group and overtook them as they were taking a break, of course I didn't avoid humiliation, just as were walking past them, my food fell into a hidden hole in the ground and I got splatted on the wet grass
My meowing of surprise was probably heard in Kinlochewe...
Thankfully, the hole was dry so I didn't get any water in my boot, I took that as a good omen and quickly gathered up my pride. There was still a mountain to climb today!
It's there somewhere... In the mist...
We kept going, crossed a couple of streams and started the final, steeper push, up the wet, slippery ground. I was relieved when we eventually hit the more rocky underfoot just below the summit. We stopped for a breather and talked to two girls who have just emerged from the clag as well. One of them turned out to be Alice (SavageAlice) and I was instantly recognized
Maybe she heard my meowing earlier when I had fallen over
We chatted for a few minutes, the other group was also close to the summit now. The final meters to the top are very eroded and tumbly, but no real scrambling. Eventually, we found ourselves sitting on a very crowded summit:
Views are supposed to be great from Sgorr an Lochan Uaine, but this is all we got (and it was raining!):
Not the best conditions on our round 130th Corbett, but never mind.
Thankfully, the rain didn't last and as soon as we began to descend north towards Sgurr Dubh... Surprise, surprise, it began to clear!
We admired the "dancing cloud" spectacle in the western sky:
The initial descent is again, very tumbly, but lower down the ground eases off. I admit that in total mist it would be a tricky ridge to navigate and we were glad that we got some visibility!
Back to Sgorr an Lochan Uaine:
The summit of Sgurr Dubh stayed cloudy and we had no hope for views from the second top:
...but I was in such a good mood that no amount of cloud could spoil it
Meowing as always:
Beinn Liath Mhor just visible through a gap in the cloud:
The ridge drops to just below 600m and then the ground rises again, with countless lochs, lochans, lumps and bumps, very confusing in poor visibility:
This is as much as we saw on the way up, looking back south towards Sgorr an Lochain Uaine:
The final climb (about 100m to the summit) is steep and quite unstable underfoot, but there is a vague path:
Still happy and meowing
The summit was cloudy, of course. We decided to stay for a few minutes, have a snack and a cuppa... ah and a summit snap with wee Lucy - her 53rd Corbett
No views for us today... Shame, but these hills are close to home so we cal always revisit on a sunny day.
After a short rest, we set off for the descent. It is possible (supposedly??) to take a direct route down the northern slopes to the road, but as we had null visibility, we decided against taking the risk. It was easier to follow the WH route and retrace our steps back to a larger lochan (975554), from here the route goes west along a stream and an interesting gorge lower down.
Kevin ready to go:
2017-08-20 torridon corbetts 090 by
Ewa Dalziel, on Flickr
Descending west to another lochan:
Out of the cloud, views were still a bit restricted but we could distinguish the familiar shapes of Beinn Damph and Maol Chean-dearg:
Liathach:
Looking back to the formidable cliffs of Sgurr Dubh:
Panorama west from just above the gorge:
The big gorge on Sgurr Dubh deserves a separate TR, I think
It has no name on any maps, but it should really be called something as it's such a grand feature, so I'll name it Gorgeous Gorge for the sake of this story
The Gorgeous Gorge is about 700m long and it has a wee stream at the bottom, also a couple of waterfalls flowing into it:
Looking into the gorge from above:
We spent an awful lot of time photographing the Gorgeous Gorge from all possible angles, just making up for the lack of views on the summits I guess
A sketchy path follows the northern side of the ravine and in many places, one can look right into the abyss:
The stream at the bottom is hardly visible from below, but we spotted a waterfall:
Lower down, the gorge is even deeper:
Kevin's new invention, a "sideways" panoramic picture:
Panther looking into Gorgeous Gorge:
The gorge from below:
The ground lower down very quickly became wet, as we descended through grass and heather:
The lower slopes of Sgurr Dubh on this side are sometimes called "the corrie of a thousand hillocks" and now I understood why:
Finding the way through all these post-glacial hillocks might seem difficult, but one can simply follow a small stream - the same one that flows out of Gorgeous Gorge. There is a path of sorts.
Hillocks, hillocks and even more hillocks:
Sgurr Dubh and the gorge in panoramic view:
I was glad to be back on the stalkers path, after all that bog-plodding...
A good pair of hills, despite being so wet and mostly pathless. Just keep them for a good day - we will definitely re-do them for the views and more gorge exploration. If I can give any advice - GPS waypoints are very useful on the ridge between the two Corbetts. I was pleasantly surprised though, I expected much tougher terrain after all I'd heard about this duo
...........
We hoped to return to the mountains the following weekend to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, but Kevin's case of shingles ruined our plans
Thankfully, he's back to normal again. Last Saturday we climbed Ben Challuim, an easy Munro even for my recovering husband - TR to come soon.
