Ben More Assynt and Conival Loop

[oap2046]

This route avoids retracing your steps when climbing Ben More Assynt and Conival.
The walk starts from Inchnadamph as normal and continues up the path towards Conival until you see the sign on the right for “caves”. The track up to here is suitable for cycling and would save several miles of walking and perhaps a couple of hours there and back.

Path towards Caves

Follow this new path until you reach the Allt a Bhealaich burn which is followed south east. There is no distinct path only sheep or deer tracks across moorland. This is the view looking backwards towards the path.

View north west from Allt a Bhealaich burn

The route continues south east towards the left side of the gorge containing the Allt a Bhealaich burn at the foot of Conival.

View of Conival with route to the right at its base

Walk towards the bealach at the foot of Conival where many wild flowers grow.

Bealach at foot of Conival

From here the route continues around the base of Conival towards the outlet from the Dubh Loch Mor at the base of Ben More Assynt. The route then goes towards the ridge to the south west before the climb up towards the south ridge of Ben More Assynt.

The route is to the right of the cliffs of the south ridge of Ben More Assynt

The climb up to the South Ridge affords excellent views of Ben More Assynt and its cliffs.

South ridge of Ben More Assynt

Outlet from Dubh Loch Mor

Ben More Assynt form the South Ridge

There is a small section of the South Ridge where hand work is needed. I found that a direct route up to the top of the ridge may be preferred if the route around the left side with its exposure seems daunting.
The route from Ben More Assynt to Conival is well marked although Conival itself consists of broken quartzite which makes for uncomfortable walking requiring some care due to its instability.



The route off Conival goes north. Deviation towards the west leads to a route into moving scree consisting of broken quartzite of various sizes and the potential of an accident.
The well- marked path then continues down south west until it meets the “caves” turn off and then to Inchnadamph.

[jamies1]

Hi there, great report, just back from doing this loop the other way round with snow. Not quite enough to get the crampons and ace out but still a bit of a clencher going across the snow covered angled slab! I'll maybe be back in better weather, my whole day seemed to be viewed through sepia glasses

[Pastychomper]

Thanks for this, it looks like a nice route. Handy that the report got bumped up while I was idly considering options for a revisit to these two!