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A few years ago I climbed The Saddle via the Forcan Ridge with the full intention of, upon reaching the Bealach Mhalagan, continuing upwards onto Sgurr na Sgine as the WalkHighlands route suggests. But on that day, once I got there I felt like I'd had enough and descended instead. The Forcan Ridge is enough to satisfy one for a day
As it turned out in the scheme of things, that was a good plan because quite recently I read a report on here of a much more exciting way to climb Sgurr na Sgine - the scrambly route up the North-East ridge and an approach via the mighty Faochag. I don't understand why Faochag isn't on any of the lists of peaks, or in any of the guidebooks of 'best peaks in Scotland'. I've felt drawn to it ever since I first saw it. It's a mighty pyramid from some angles, a seemingly impenetrable slope from others. And, as I found out, it's a fantastic viewpoint too.
- Faochag from the road
And so I parked up at the foot of Faochag and followed the path, signposted 'Kinloch Hourn 7m'. I almost went there instead, I really am getting the hots for Knoydart, but I girded myself and headed for my target, crossing the burn in as elegant a fashion as anyone could wish (wobbling from rock to rock like a drunken weeble) and starting upwards on what I was expecting would be a bone-crushing, muscle-busting slog.
As it turned out, it was fine. Nothing like as bad as I was expecting. For a peak that isn't on any lists and doesn't feature prominently in any guidebook I'm aware of, there was a really good path and a steady plod at a comfortable pace brought me to the summit in a little over 2 hours. And blimey, what a summit it is.
- Faochag from the ridge towards Sgurr na Sgine
- The Forcan Ridge and The Saddle
The maps don't really do it justice. It's the head of a huge snaking dragon-neck of a ridge that leads onwards towards the impressive summit of Sgurr na Sgine which from here bears more than a passing resemblance to Buachaille Etive Mor. If Sgurr na Sgine was visible from the road and wasn't surrounded by The Saddle and the Five Sisters of Kintail it would surely be regarded as one of the jewels of The Highlands. I guess it's testament to just how great Kintail is that this mountain is one of the also-rans. That status also meant I had the place to myself, which was both a wonderful thing and a source of some apprehension.
- Sgurr na Sgine from Faochag
I'd come here to climb Sgurr na Sgine by its North East ridge. I'm a scrambler, that's what it says on my Walk Highlands profile, so I have a confession to make. Over the last 12 months I have lost my bottle. It started almost exactly a year ago - a simple mistake, a slip on a wet rock when descending from Sgurr Dubh in Torridon that resulted in nothing more physical than bruised ribs but that could have been so much worse. Had the rock I bruised my ribs on not been there........ It cost me a week off work but the psychological effects have been much longer lasting. I've been scrambling since but have found myself avoiding the difficult lines I would previously have gone directly for, I have a (probably healthy) fear of wet rock, and I'm not enjoying it like I used to. And here I was, in a 30 mile an hour wind, about to climb a north-facing knife-edge ridge on a deserted mountain after several days of rain. That thought would not even have occurred to me 12 months ago.
I didn't just have second thoughts. I had seventh thoughts. But I've always had a 'get back on the bike' philosophy, and a bit of an adrenaline addiction, and I persuaded myself to head over to the base of the ridge and have a really good look. And so I wandered past tiny semi-frozen lochans bursting with frogs and balanced my way across the boulder field in the coire all the time telling myself "If it's wet I'll come back".
- Faochag and a frog-filled lochan
It was wet. Really wet. I had a sandwich. It was still wet. I had some chocolate. It was still wet. I took off my warm coat and waterproof. I put my waterproof back on. I had some more chocolate. It was still wet. But I was completely shielded from the wind, and I *really* wanted to do this. I found a safe way around the wet start, avoided a couple of tricky-looking wet gullies lower down and then I was on the crest of a perfect knife-edge ridge. I didn't stop for photos I'm afraid, my concentration was on the rock. I was in gloves, which I don't like, and everything was damp and at one point when a move got serious and committing I did look over to my right to see if there was a way down into the coire but I committed to the moves and by god I was scared, and it was bloody great
It was all over too quickly and not soon enough, depending on which part of my brain I listened to, but I found a path right near the top and I felt like kissing it. And then I was on the summit of Sgurr na Sgine, my 60th Munro (not that I'm counting) and a golden moment. I have never, ever, in all honesty, been that scared on a mountain before, and I've done more difficult, more exposed routes than that. It's all in the mind. It wasn't difficult at all, there was nothing to compare with "that" downclimb on the Forcan ridge, nothing that remotely approached the exposure of Corrag Buidhe on An Teallach and yet neither of those had set my nerves on edge the way this had. I felt completely alive and punched the air as I walked up to the cairn, then settled down for a celebratory cereal bar and a few photos.
- Back down the way I came up, which you can't see as it's too steep
- Forcan Ridge again
- Not entirely sure where this is (north of Loch Hourn) but I've decided I need to go there
- Loch Hourn
I could have stayed up there all day were it not for the freezing wind, so I started back down via the normal route.
- Back towards the summit. The north-east ridge is the obvious ridge heading bottom left to top right
- Forcan Ridge again....
- ... and again
I went down via the Bealach Mhalagan again, and once again I got the strong feeling that I'd had enough when I got there. The walk down from there does feel like a very long way.
- Up Glen Shiel. You can just see my van as a tiny white dot bottom left.
Finally, back at the campsite, I found my bottle. It had been in a cupboard all along