Glen Kingie

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Section 10b 885 Sgurr a'Bhac Chaolais 885 Buidhe - bheinn 804 Beinn na h-Eaglaise 790 Beinn Loinne 781 Sgurr Mhic Bharraich 773 Beinn nan Caorach 913 Sgurr a'Choire-bheithe 901 Sgurr an Fhuarain 894 Sgurr nan Eugallt 887 Ben Aden 858 Fraoch Bheinn 796 Sgurr Coire Choinnichean 785 Beinn na Caillich 901 Ben Tee 835 Sgurr Cos na Breachd-laoigh 880 Sgurr Mhurlagain 838 Meall na h-Eilde 804 Geal Charn 788 Meall Dubh 909 Streap 867 Bidein a'Chabair 829 Carn Mor 796 Sgurr an Utha 796 Beinn Bhan 774 Meall a'Phubuill 765 Braigh nan Uamhachan Section 4 Section 9 Section 10a Section 11 Return to Corbett index Return Home.

Sgurr Mor and Sgurr nan Fhuarain from across Loch Quoich. Sgurr Mhurlagain 880m 2885' Rough topped peak.  Map Fraoch Bheinn 858m 2808' Heather Hill  Map Sgurr Cos na Breachd-laoigh  835m  *  Peak of the speckled calf's hollow.  Map Sgurr an Fhuarain  901m  2961'  Spring(fountain)peak.  Map *Promoted in 1981 edition.

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Sgurr Mhurlagain 880m

 

Sgurr Mhurlagain from the slopes of Fraoch Bheinn.

For most folk, Sgurr Mhurlagain is misnamed. Sgurr invokes an image of a lofty spire, a sharp peak, an eye catching sharpness promising an exciting ascent, Sgurr Mhurlagain is a grassy lump. This though is an impression caused by the road layout, everyone does Mhurlagain from the shores of Arkaig, or the Bealach Dearg. Look at the hill from Glen Garry and it is a different story, there is your sgurr, only it is lost amongst a noisy background of jaggy hills.

The day after I finally climbed the hill, I was descending the hydro road from Loch a'Chreateach, north of Invermoriston. It was a spectacular sunset, and at one point the gap in the nearby hills was only big enough to show but two peaks against a red sky. Neither my companion nor myself could identify them. Eventually I took faith in my hunch that the steep sided saddle hill was Froach Bheinn, but could not see the required pudding to its left. Gradually the memory that Sgurr Mhurlagain has a hidden side returned to me.

My first encounters with the hill were both in 1987. In the summer We passed down Glen Kingie on a coast to coast walk, a trip that showed the great corrie and Sron Garbh well. Sron Garbh ends abruptly in a steep buttress, but Coir an Stangain Mhoir and Bheag lie back and have no dramatic headwalls for the climber. Three long ridges meet at a narrow summit. That winter I was in Kingie again and up Gairich, a fine view point for this interesting side of the hill.

Sadly the Northeastern side of the hill is a long walk from anywhere and most folk have to make do with the easy ridge up from Bealach Dearg, perhaps combining the hill with Fraoch Bheinn. Alternatively you could do as I did and slog up the long easy grassy slopes from Murlagain cottage.

The southern approaches have their compensations with fine views across and down Loch Arkaig, Gaorbheinn looks very good from here as does the wooded glen at its foot, Gleann Cam-gharaidh. I have a long held ambition to visit this glen, still waiting though. Another advantage is the short approach, this is an ideal hill for a short day, perhaps after an extended trip westwards.

I had previously failed on this hill when a winter visit coincided with very heavy snowfall. I was reluctant to leave the car at the end of the loch, as it was fairly likely I would not get out again. Never underestimate the tortuous road along Loch Arkaig. It twists through all 3 spatial dimensions and is totally unpredictable. There are numerous small braes that will defeat you in snow. I left the care at the falls at the near end of the loch and went up Glas Bheinn in very foul conditions. A few years on, on a 2nd January, a cold but not too snowey day, I made my move.

I had a cold, and was travel sick after the drive along the loch. I was driving! The prospect of 800m straight up from the road was uninviting, but the sun was out and I was determined to nail thjs one at long last. Murlagain was occupied, someone was dismantling an armchair by the roadside. 400m up the grassy slopes I could look down on the house and saw a plume of black smoke from the burning furniture. Nothing moved on loch or road. I was also half heartedly keeping an eye out for the Arkaig Treasure. A fortune in French gold to finance the '45. It was bound for Achnacarry through the western passes. It never made it. As Hamish Brown said, two reasons could account for that.

First the snowline, then the next landmark, reaching the ridge and an end to the steepness. Past a shelving in the broad ridge, and soon onto the narrow summit ridge with its small cairn. There was a reasonable depth of snow up here, but sadly no view. One of those annoying thin clouds that stick around summits. It was also perishingly cold, windchill and humidity drove me back down the ridge rather than my original idea of exploring eastward, enjoying the views. It really was an annoying wee cloud, as I dropped out of its base, Ben Nevis was clear, just as it was during the ascent. I had strayed a little too far west. Anticyclonic weather in winter is like that, weak warm fronts can pop up introducing enough moisture to hide everything. Not every day is spent under a pale blue sky, although during this trip I clearly exceeded my fair quota of still cold sunny days. Out of twelve hill days in a row at the beginning of 2003 , all but three were nearly cloudless, and every day was dry.

The summit. On descent I stuck with the ridge, almost to the Bealach Dearg so as to cut out half of the knee wrecking steepness. Voices carried far from three dots passing through the pass below me. Now below the cloud I could enjoy the alpenglow on Sgurr a'Mhaoraich. Even half the descent was brutal, hard ground with no give.

I bottomed out west of the car with a short walk back amongst the stags along the single track. A solitary goldeneye bobbed on the grey waters, Arkaig never freezes. Plenty of cars parked at the road end, but none on the road. I hope that someone took full advantage of the cold and enjoyed a dry crossing of the Mam Cioch Airde. I did not feel sick driving out, but was nearly taken out by 4x4 speeding round a blind bend. The other event of the drive out… radio commentary on the Edinburgh derby: 2-2 at the end of normal time, 4-4 at the end of injury time.

Fraoch Bheinn 858m 

Fraoch Bheinn is perhaps the best of the three hills, a simple ridge with steep sides and a very sharp aspect above Glen Kingie, the prow of Bidien Iain Glais rising steeply above relict birkwoods. Of course this fine peak is not often seen, only visible to folk in remote Glen Kingie or on the Sgurr Mor ridge opposite.

The hill is easily accessible from the south, once the Loch Arkaig road has been travelled, but the two paths shown on the OS map are (were?) very faint on the ground. There may have been work on the Feith a'Bhrolaich (eastern pass), since my last visit to the area. From the end of the public road, near Strathan, either the pass path or the south ridge can be easily, although steeply walked to the summit. The highest point is the southern top, and its worth walking to the northward top for the view of Glen Kingie.

I climbed Fraoch Bheinn as a quickie while backpacking into Glen Kingie with the aim of walking the northern ridge of the glen. Both Sgurr Mor and Gairich were wanted Munros, and it was an easy warm up, leaving the pack on the pass and nipping up the east face. Normal Rough Bounds stuff, weaving between crags, a lot of rock but nothing climbable. The hardest part of the trip was getting to the end of Arkaig. I had no car then, and Arkaig had defeated me many times. Until then I had never got a lift beyond the falls at the Achnacarry end of the loch. My only trips into the area before 1990 were long walks through Knoydart, from Sheil Bridge and Loch Ailort. I had been to Glen Kingie before the end of Loch Arkaig.

This time, just after Christmas, Frances and I were scrunched up in the back of an ancient Landrover, along with an oil drum and a collie. The three dimensional contortions of that infamous road were felt all the more when you could not see what was coming. Eventually we emerged blinking into sunlit fog and toiled up wet slopes to the pass. We were blessed with an inversion and this was to be the start of a very fine spell of weather, sunshine and frozen bogs. The view once above the cloud was rather good, even when sandwiched between two Corbetts. Bidein a'Chabair was doing its Sgurr na Ciche impression and the Glenfinnan Hills were silhouetted against a bright sky, the first time I had seen them from this side.

We went our separate ways at the head of the pass, once I had decided which hill to do, Fraoch Bheinn was chosen as the most exciting of the pair. I was rewarded with a fine view over the Rough Bounds, all under frost and snow. The site of the morning fog was betrayed by hoar, above which there was a golden layer of burnished grass crammed in below the snowcaps. Joy at my surroundings was somewhat muted by the knowledge that I was to sleep out in that cold glen, and this was before I got my super warm Rab pit. It sobering to reflect on how different the New Year hill trips were then. We lived out of one pack, everything was carried for up to a fortnight. We soon ran out of dry clothing. Now, even though we still go far into the hills, there is a car boot full of dry clothes and new supplies. We have warmer sleeping bags, and the inevitable festering days are enlivened by fine food and whisky. It can still go horribly wrong, 2001/2 involved a hogmanay bivvy in a building site thanks to road blockages caused by the privatisation of the snow ploughs.

Being midwinter and after a hitching start, there was only time for the one hill, though normally it is quite easy to combine an ascent of Fraoch Bheinn with Sgurr Mhurlagain. While Mhurlagain was missed, the next day I was to land the awkward Sgurr an Fhuarain.

Sgurr Cos na Breachd-laoigh 835m 
Sgurr an Fhuarain 901m 

The summit.

Remote Sgurr an Fhuarain is one for the aspiring munroist. Not that its likely to suddenly gain 13m in height, but because its an easy add on to Sgurr Mor, one of the more challenging Munros. If you were to leave it ,you wold have a big walk back to get it later. Once you have battled in to Sgurr Mor, then you might as well carry on down its east ridge for Sgurr an Fhuarain. If you come back later, you will have some work to do.

Sgurr Mor and the west ridge from the summit of Sgurr nan Fhuarain

 

Good news: There is a pony path up Sgurr an Fhuarain.
Bad News: Its from Kinlochquoich Lodge, which is somewhere beneath the enlarged loch. Its still of use, but only to the canoeist. Every one else has to come in from Glen Kingie. Loch Quoich is a vast loch, always with an ugly tide line. The old loch was raised above the watershed, there being a pair of cut off dams at the west end. The old natural loch was a famed trout water, and still monster ferox patrol the depths. The lochside lodge, Kinlochquoich held the unenviable distinction of holding the British annual rainfall record. Its even wetter now!

Walking up the glen is a long haul. It's the same procedure as the usual walk in to the near Corbett of Gairich, only you get to walk many more miles round or over the hill to get at Sgurr an Fhuarain. Nearly everyone comes in from Loch Arkaig in the south.

Take either pass that flanks Fraoch Bheinn, and cross the Kingie. This can be a problem, as it's a big burn. While I have spent an idyllic afternoon swimming in it, its quite often an uncrossable obstacle. Remember the lodge beneath the water holds the annual rainfall record. Sgurr Mor and friends are not hills for a wet spell. Across the river there is a choice of an easy ridge at the east end of the ridge or a fine zig zag path up to the pass between Sgurr Beag and An Eag. From here there are the remains of a stalking path all the way over Sgurr Beag and Sgurr Mor. While Sgurr Mor is obviously a big hill, it is also worth remembering that Sgurr Beag is almost a Corbett, and there is a big climb and descent going over this hill. The pass with the stalkers path is a good way into Knoydart, and we passed this way from Lochan Breac when crossing Scotland in 1987. On the summit we met a man running from Gairich to Ladhar Bheinn, via Sgurr na Ciche in a day. Later, down in the glen, after a swim on a scorching afternoon we met Dave Hewitt walking the watershed. He describes our meeting in his book.

Back to Sgurr an Fhuarain, the less celebrated bookend of that fine rough ridge running all the way to Ben Aden. I had no thoughts of swimming in the Kingie, when I finally came round to climbing the hill. Being a new year trip at the time of an intense anticyclone, most water was locked up as ice, and the river crossing was of little consequence.

Once over the river, the grassy slopes of the hill gave little resistance and I was soon up onto the ridge and soon after by the cylindrical trig point. Unlike the previous day on Fraoch Bheinn, there was no fog and visibility was good all day. I was wearing a pair of ankle killing Koflach boots, but I got away with it, the only non painful walk I ever had in them. Climbing trips involved walking in in bendys and changing at the route. Walking down the hill at the end of the day was excruciating, yet they were like slippers on steep ice.

At this time I still had a handful of Munros to do, and obviously continued along the snowed up path to Sgurr Mor. A magical walk, snow squeaking in the cold, and deep views down to Lochan Breac under Ben Aden, and across to the ridges of Knoydart. The low sun just about made it over southern cloud and again I shuddered at another cold night in a thin sleeping bag. Frances was festering, but was she warm enough. I was happier on the hill. After a few mild damp new year trips, this was all that I could wish for. The weather forecasters on television crow about mild weather, but mild is just another four letter word. Would it last for Gairich the next morning? Sgurr Beag did not live up to its name, but the slog up was aided by the path, its so unusual for stalkers paths to run along ridges like this, but the Kinlochquoich network of paths seems to get up every ridge. Despite the loss of their origin, they are still useful, and the one up Coire Reidh to the Sgurr Beag/An Eag col was still being maintained by the estate in the late 1980s. Nobody else was on the hill, and the snow, several days old, bore no foot prints.

The weather did hold, and in a mad rush the following day, the 30th December ,from a Kingie base I climbed Gairich before dawn, and was out hitching from Strathan by lunchtime. In those days you could not get a carryout on a Sunday, so I needed to catch the shops on Saturday or see in 1990 dry. Hitching from the end of Arkaig is easier than getting in and we made it to Fort William, in time to stock up and catch the train to Moidart.

Sgurr an Fhurain from above the Bealach Dearg.

 

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20th January 2003