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This is my third trip up Beinn a'Chlachain and both previous times I followed instructions from the excellent book by Peter Barton "Walking in Torridon" and the Graham book. However, I've always had my eye on the Coire Glas route - it's steep, very steep and I wasn't even sure if it was doable by someone like me. I couldn't find anyone locally who had been up that Coire either so decided there was no alternative but to try it. The forecast for Saturday was good so off I went.
I started off by parking at Hartfield and took the gentle, good path to the base of the Coire.
Looking back down the glen:
I intended to go up the right-hand spur of the coire (snow-covered here):
The initial climb is fairly easy going. When I was up here in the summer to have a reccie, the bracken was up to my waist and it was hard to see where to put one's feet. Also the clag was down so I turned back. Not today, though!
A herd of hinds just before they ran off. My target ascent is at the top right - the snow had more-or-less melted in the sunshine:
Further up - the left-hand gully looked impossible and on closer inspection consisted of a small burn with deep mini gorges:
View looking east to Beinn Bhan's Coire Attadale side:
So, I took the right side of the Y and followed a deer path up by a little allt. It was fairly steep but easy - just needed one hand for balance a couple of times.
Looking back down:
I then came to another Y branch and took the left branch. I knew this took me directly to the summit. This is when things got interesting. I packed away the walking poles and it was four points of contact pretty much from now on to the rim. I followed the deer tracks - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had the confidence to try this if I hadn't known that they had been before me!
A wee rock on which I had a rest stop. Looking back down:
This photo is called "The Three Caillichs" - two Beinn na Caillich on Skye and the one that took the photo
Made it! The wind was too strong for me to go over to the edge to take a picture looking down into the abyss!!!!
Looking east to Meall an Doireachain with Beinn Bhan, Beinn Damh and Liathach over to the left:
There are lots of little locans on top of Beinn a'Chlachain and they were all partially frozen. I didn't go up to the summit immediately as it's so exposed but found some shelter from the bitter wind by a lochan and enjoyed strolling around taking photos without the heavy backpack.
Here is Baosbheinn and the back of Beinn Alligin:
The views are pretty good but the weather was starting to change and here's the first snow storm I encountered coming in from the south. You can see many of the Applecross hamlets and the Crowlin Islands:
Looking north - next stop the Arctic:
I then went up to the summit shelter which provided no shelter whatsoever so just took a few photos and scarpered.
You can see how windy it was from the waves on the lochan. It was snowing lightly as well, so mighty cold:
Here's the cracked trig point in the stone circle:
I next headed for Meall na Fhuaid (604m) and stopped at a little lochan on the way.
The snow storm that had passed:
And more to come - looking towards Skye:
Beinn a'Chlachain-19 by
AnnieMacD, on Flickr
The cairn on Meall na Fhuaid:
Then it was a longish but easy downhill to Loch nan Eun. I had approached it from the west a few weeks ago and wanted to complete the circle. It's a lovely and very private loch as it's protected on all sides by the hill. There's a long spidean of land sticking out into it which makes for lots of nooks and crannies. There is even a small beach - looks great for a dip in the summer but not today!
By the time I got back to civilization it was starting to get dark and these guys watched me passing by:
Stags in the Gloaming by
AnnieMacD, on Flickr
A fantastic day and I achieved one of (my many) 2014 goals.