KYQ4: Sgurr a' Mhaoraich

Sgurr a' Mhaoraich

Saturday, 7 August 2024

Ascent: 959 metres

Distance: 13 kilometres

Time: 3 hours 53 minutes

Sgurr a' Mhaoraich. 1027m. 2hrs 7mins

John had to return home on Saturday so we cleaned the cottage and took advantage of the exceptional weather to drive to Loch Quoich and climb Sgurr a' Mhaoraich. It is a long 20-kilometre drive from the A87 alongside Loch Garry. The single-track road had been closed all week for electricity transmission work but John had read that it would be open on Saturday. The car parks for Gairich and Gleouraich were full but we were the first takers for our chosen hill. I had remembered Sgurr a' Mhaoraich as a reasonably easy climb and the path, whilst steep, is much better than most in these parts. I thought that three and a half hours would suffice but the heat and the effects of four longish days on the hills must have taken their toll.

I made a steady start climbing 350 metres before stopping for a drink. The visibility was perfect but the midday heat was stifling. Keith and John went past as they continued their ascents so I decided to extend my break, eat an orange, admire the Knoydart skyline and recall the many inspiring days in this wildsome paradise. I hoped that the photographer from the Glomach Falls whom I met yesterday had managed to capture their essence as she attempted to climb the Knoydart Munros from Glendessary.

I restarted up to the outlying hill of Sgurr Coire nan Eirricheallach which is almost a Munro at 891 metres but does not have a sufficient drop to be a Corbett. There is a pleasant undulating ridge that continues for a couple of kilometres to the summit. It is decorated by a magnificent stone wall at a height of over 800 metres. The blocks are massive and often laid vertically, the wallmakers must have had backs of steel and muscles of rubber. On a more mundane level, the heat had brought out the flies and for much of the ascent, it was a case of swatting them away. The last section of the climb is by a steep ramp below a north-facing cliff below the ridge that was still holding snow in late May during a previous visit.

It had taken 21 minutes longer than my last visit but that was first thing in the morning on a cooler day. The views to the Saddle and into Knoydart were impressive as was gorgeous Gleouraich to the east. The South Cluanie Ridge looked a stone's throw away and prompted many happy memories of the ridge including charging along the ridge with Gregor when he was just eleven and then hitching back up to the Cluanie Inn with a Newcastle musician. There were a couple of walkers at the summit and whilst we had some lunch a Glasgow walker arrived, he had lost his glasses on the ascent and asked us to keep an eye out for them on our descents.

The descent was not much faster than the ascent although we seemed to be going at a good pace, It was still very warm when we arrived back at the road and we were out of water, there had been no burns on the route down. Keith and I contemplated a swim but the Loch was a little too far away. The Glaswegian walker arrived down and to his delight, the other couple of walkers had found his glasses and left them on his car bonnet. He gave us a slice of patter and a full bottle of water to slake our thirst.

The traffic going north on the return journey was continuous, summer had brought the trippers out in full flow but at Fort William, the traffic was going our way. The Fort was clogged up, it was the day of the Ben Nevis Race. Keith had competed on a few occasions during his long and impressive list of events over the last forty years. Today he had charged up the hill after I had stopped for a break to test whether he was fit enough to win his age group for the Lakes 50-mile race from Caldbeck to Cartmell in October, he had already won this on two occasions. The roads from Glencoe were not as busy as expected and we were back home by 8pm, I made a meal for us all while showers were had and after eating Keith returned to Glasgow whilst I went to Stirling to collect Gregor, he was staying the night before I took him to the Strathclyde Park half marathon tomorrow.