Thursday 13 June 2013

Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor

I was counting the cost of falling over the previous day when I put my boots on for one of the more strenuous walks of our holiday. I had stood on a rock, which tipped over leaving me to fail miserable at staying on my feet. I smashed down into a mossy stream with a sickening thud. My camera crashed into the stream bed and I really thought the worst. Standing up I checked my camera and amazingly it was not marked at all and worked perfectly. I had landed badly on my right knee and elbow, which were both cut and bruised. My clothes were also in a bit of a state. What's worse we had hardly gone any distance from the nearby road and my acrobatics had been witnessed by all my family.

Anyway I soon forgot my aches and pains once we set off as the weather was perfect. Fuar Tholl dominated the view as we had to travel almost all the way around it. 

Fuar Tholl from the west - can you make out the face?
Fuar Tholl From the South
The route took us around this mountain to a bealach between it and Sgorr Ruadh.


Sgorr Ruadh (left) and Beinn Liath Mhor (right)
From the bealach the route climbed steadily to the summit of Sgorr Ruadh where the view across to the Torridon giants was absolutely stunning. We encountered another fellow by the summit cairn. He was on a backpacking adventure and had risen from his tent early to enjoy the wonderful weather. He kindly agreed to take our photo and luckily he new what he was doing.  

Bag (with the silly hat) and Sam Having a Well Deserved Rest
The mountains in the background are Beinn Alligin and Liathach. The bit with the snow is the highest point on Liathach and is called Spidean a' Choire Leith. From our vantage point the Torridon giants appeared to be one single mountain blocking the way north for all.

From the first summit a short scramble down the northern side of the mountain lead us to an indistinct path that descended into another bealach. From here we had to carefully navigate over two small summits before arriving on the slopes of the second munro of the day.

Sam Climbing the Steep Path on to Beinn Liath Mhor
Bag Trying To Prevent His Head From Burning
The summit cone was a massive jumble of Quartzite boulders, with some fixed rocks poking through, which offered a bit of easy scrambling. Once again the view was spectacular and so was the weather. 

Sam Looking Cool
Bag Pointing at Adventures Yet to Come
I Think Sam Needs a Drink



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