Over The Hill

We were looking at a couple of options for our approach to An Cliseam, and, as might be expected with the larger group, we started at two different locations. One group departed from the base of the southeast ridge and made directly for the summit via the ridge. The remainder of us continued on down the road for a few kilometers before setting off for the eastern outlier and minor top of Tomnabhal.

A steady pull over the rocky hillside with a slightly steeper section towards the top soon had us sitting atop the 552m Tomnabhal and admiring a wide vista over Loch Seaforth and Loch Langabhat, albeit, through a slightly hazy cloud, which although still quite high was threatening to make its presence felt within the next few hours. Our initial thoughts were to descend southwest from Tomnabhal to the 476m bealach and then contour southwest to join the main ridge that the earlier group had taken to the summit. However, from our position on Tomnabhal we could see a very narrow gap high on the rocky eastern crags of An Cliseam which we assessed as a possible route to gain the summit directly from the bealach.

And so, decision taken, we crossed the bealach, as unbeknown to us, we were watched from above by Norrie, Colin, Angus and Chris as they sat on the summit watching, and photographing us as we crossed west towards the higher crags, An initial, steep ascent over boulder strewn areas interspersed with short sections of solid boulder fields led us to a gentler section just above the 500m height, before once again becoming quite steep as we kept our eyes on the narrow gap, all the time wondering what we would find when we reach it, and hoping it was not to substantial a scramble for the final section.

I think we were all surprised, if not also a little disappointed, when suddenly, after a short pull up a grassy rake, there, just a few steps ahead of us was the summit, no scrambling involved, just a steep climb and then a few metres along the rocky summit to the cairn and Trig Point marking the 799m summit of An Cliseam. As we arrived on the summit, we could see the other group clearly outlined on the ridge ahead and making good progress over ground we had yet to tackle.

We dropped back off of the main ridge to our access point for a spot of lunch before setting off down the rocky western slopes of An Cliseam and over the minor top of An t-Isean, after which, a steep, rising traverses across the northern side of the ridge on a narrow and exposed path leads to the 743m top of Mulla bho Dheas. Departing Mulla bho Dheas, the ridge narrows considerably, falling away quite dramatically on each side giving the descent quite an "airy" feeling. Again, Norrie, from his vantage point further along the ridge was busy with his camera and caught a nice shot of Alan highlighted against the skyline as he made the descent.

We then continued over the two minor tops of Mulla bho Thuath, 720m and Mullach an Langa, 614m with no difficulties other than that a great deal of care is required as you negotiate some very large boulders and the odd small craggy area. By this time, the weather was turning quite dramatically, with heavy rain and a strong wind making progress a little difficult at times. Thankfully we were well clear of the ridge, and by now making our way across the lower broad hillside towards Mo Bhiogadail from where we picked up a good track which took us easily downhill and back to the Scaladale Centre, from where a short walk along the road brought us to the parked mini-bus and a re-uniting with the others who had remained doggedly ahead of us over the entire walk.

This was a great walk, and a wonderful day - Thanks all.