Over The Hill

On a clear day, as you approach the Ballachulish Bridge from the north on the A82, the twin tops of Beinn a'Bheithir dominate the skyline above forest covered slopes that rise steeply from the southern shoreline across the bridge and hold the promise of an exciting days hill walking. However, as we approached south on the A82, through Glen Coe, the rain and very low cloud obscured everything down to about 400 metres; things did not look promising.

Then, as we turned west along the shoreline of Loch Leven towards the Ballachulish bridge, everything suddenly changed; the rain stopped, the clouds began to disperse, and blue skies appeared. By the time we started walking up through the forest tracks of Gleann a'Chaolais we were reaching for the sun cream and not the waterproofs. From sea level to 500m a truly delightful forest track winds its way up the hillside, sometimes under a canopy of pines, and at other times opening out and offering a tantalizing glimpse of the mountains ahead.

Clearing the forest at 500m, we continued to climb south towards the very obvious bealach just over a kilometre away; the route taking us below, and parallel to the steep ridge to the west formed by the rugged northerly spur of the 930m subsidiary of Sgorr Dhonuill that leads out north to the outer satellite of Sgorr a' Chaolais, and over a flatter section of grasslands, a little wet underfoot, but easy going until the final steep climb up to the bealach.

From the bealach, the two Munros look similar, and almost equidistant, with broad, grassy lower slopes leading away from the bealach towards each top. It is the summits of these two mountains that are in complete contrast. Sgorr Dhearg, the highest at 1024m, is a straightforward climbed up a very broad whale-back ridge onto a dome of broken rock and scree. The views are extensive as you gaze over Loch Leven and beyond to a wonderfully clear Ben Nevis, or take in the vista from the Pap of Glencoe south along the line of the mountains on either side of Glen Coe.

Contrastingly, the final approach to Sgorr Dhonuill is often described as having an "alpine" feel as the ridge narrows and provides a very short, airy scramble over the rocky crags, where I tread slowly with caution, while my companions scramble with ease like mountain goats. Above the crags, it is a few short steps to the cairn which sits on a surprisingly open and grassy summit with views extending westward over Loch Linnhe to Ardgour and the islands of Lismore and Mull which were once again, just stunning. A glorious mountain on a glorious day.

There are various route options for these mountains, as was shown by the number of other walkers we met, chatted with, and said farewell to throughout the day, all of whom seemed to be on a slightly different agenda to the other, the only common factor being the two summits. We, for our choice were to retrace our steps back down the "airy" ridge to the bealach, and thence back through the forest on that most delightful of forest paths for our return to Gleann a'Chaolais.

A wonderful day, fine weather and great company - Thanks Ian