Ciste Dhubh 100th Munro
Route: Ciste Dhubh and Am Bathach, Cluanie
Munros: Ciste Dhubh
Corbetts: Am Bathach
Date walked: 07/11/2016
Time taken: 5.5 hours
Distance: 12km
Ascent: 950m
I was looking for an interesting hill to make my 100th munro. At this time of year it had to be fairly short, to be completed in daylight. I selected Ciste Dhubh having seen it when I climbed A'Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-choire a few weeks ago. It looked to have the right ingredients, fairly short with some nice ridge walking.
I set off from the layby just east of the Cluanie Inn and made steady progress up towards Am Bathach. At this stage the views start to open up and I could see that I had hit it lucky with the weather, only clouds about were well above the summits.
The ground was now frozen underfoot but there was only light dustings of snow, with the occasional icy puddle so nothing to worry about. Headed down into the Bealach a Choinich and picked my way through the boggy bits as best I could. The initial climb out from here is a steep wet affair with plenty of boot sucking mud and bog but it eventually gets better. Soon enough I was up onto the ridge and made nice progress. I decided to take the lower path past An Cnapach and was soon on the narrowing ridge to the summit of Ciste Dhubh. This didn't disappoint, being airy enough to add a bit of spice to the walk.
On the summit there was a bit more snow but still nothing of any consequence (that is still to come), and I dropped my pack at the small cairn. I pulled out the hip flask and had a wee dram of Mortlach to celebrate. I don't usually have a drink when I'm walking but I figured it would be alright on this occasion. Took some pictures and then headed back down. Coming down I took the higher path over An Cnapach with was airy but with no difficulties, I'd recommend this path over the lower one.
Once past the bealach I headed down An Caorann Beag on the east side of the burn. The path is pretty poor on this side and I wonder if it would be better to cross over onto the west side as lower down it appears to have a vehicle track. Back out onto the road and a short walk back to the van.
I set off from the layby just east of the Cluanie Inn and made steady progress up towards Am Bathach. At this stage the views start to open up and I could see that I had hit it lucky with the weather, only clouds about were well above the summits.
The ground was now frozen underfoot but there was only light dustings of snow, with the occasional icy puddle so nothing to worry about. Headed down into the Bealach a Choinich and picked my way through the boggy bits as best I could. The initial climb out from here is a steep wet affair with plenty of boot sucking mud and bog but it eventually gets better. Soon enough I was up onto the ridge and made nice progress. I decided to take the lower path past An Cnapach and was soon on the narrowing ridge to the summit of Ciste Dhubh. This didn't disappoint, being airy enough to add a bit of spice to the walk.
On the summit there was a bit more snow but still nothing of any consequence (that is still to come), and I dropped my pack at the small cairn. I pulled out the hip flask and had a wee dram of Mortlach to celebrate. I don't usually have a drink when I'm walking but I figured it would be alright on this occasion. Took some pictures and then headed back down. Coming down I took the higher path over An Cnapach with was airy but with no difficulties, I'd recommend this path over the lower one.
Once past the bealach I headed down An Caorann Beag on the east side of the burn. The path is pretty poor on this side and I wonder if it would be better to cross over onto the west side as lower down it appears to have a vehicle track. Back out onto the road and a short walk back to the van.
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kenny3760
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