Torridon Weekend - Beinn Eighe gallery, Ruadh-stac Beag gallery

Sunday 13th September, the morning was very still and there was a lot of mist, but it started to clear as we drove to the Beinn Eighe visitor centre near Kinlochewe. We left the car park and walked steadily uphill, more moorland than mountain; beyond the bracken, across broken and muddy ground up to a high col. We decided to go south to Ruadh-stac Beag and see if Meall a'Ghuithais would be free of clouds later; the way ahead didn't look obvious but a faint but obvious path took us up the fine valley, it clung on to the steep slope, precariously at times, above the steep sided gorge of its rugged stream. The nice path was too good to last, and after a final stream crossing we started the slog uphill, I thought it was going to be one of those climbs. However, the steep bouldery scree, made for quite an interesting climb, much better that I had expected; he summit plateau was big and flat, covered in rocks that looked almost as though it had been concreted over, and the descent was just as exciting. It was a long, warm back down the valley and back to the visitor centre, the one Corbett had taken as long as the big Munro the day before.

Saturday 12th September, it was a bright evening after my 9 hour journey to Inchnadamph; the confusing and indeterminate forecast made us think about many different options for the weekend. On Saturday we made the short drive the Beinn Eighe car park, where a signpost shows the way to a long walk on an obvious path around Sail Mhor and up to the spectacular Coire Mhic Fearchar, beneath the soaring Triple Buttress and many other equally precipitous crags. We Walked around the left hand side of the loch, almost to the far end, before climbing up between boulders and waterfalls, passing a series of lochans in their own little hanging valleys before reaching the steep scree leading up to a high col. Mist was swirling over the col, it cleared to reveal a view of Beinn Eighe, as we walked up the white stones on the narrowing ridge to the summit of Ruadh-stac Mor. We walked back down to the col and up an airy ridge to the summit of Coinneach Mhor, and then towards the bulk of Beinn Eighe – an apparently straightforward route. There was a narrow exposed ridge before climbing up a steep shoulder up to the exciting summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach. The descent from the separate trig point took us into Coire an Laoigh, a long way down as you slide and slither on eroded muddy banks and loose stones by the side of the stream all the way down the the valley road.

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