Hill: Sgurr Mor
Date: Friday 26th August 2022
Company: Myself and Ann-Marie
Distance: 19.7km, Ascent: 1230m
Time: 7Hrs 50Mins
On Friday morning, we good suited and booted inside
the car before walking at pace to escape swarms of midge and numerous deer
ked. We did not have a fixed route in mind with the only real objective of
the day being to summit Sgurr Mor.
Route:
Rights of Way signs at Strathan:
A
short distance before reaching Glendessary, we left the main track to ascend
to the bealach between Druim a' Chuirn and Fraoch Bheinn.
Ascent from
Glendessary alongside the Allt na Feithe:
Looking back to Glendessary and Monadh Gorm:
Much
of the ground at the Feith a' Chicheanais was wet underfoot. As we
progressed towards Sgurr Mor we could see that the top was capped in cloud.
We hoped that the cloud cap would lift by the time we would be approaching
the summit.
Sgurr Mor and Sgurr an Fhuarain:
The
ascent of Sgurr Mor looked as steep as I remembered from my previous ascent
in September 2005.
Looking across to steep ascent ahead:
From
the bealach we descended to Glen Kingie and then crossed the River Kingie
without difficulty. On my previous ascent in 2005 we had struggled to cross
the river while it was in spate.
Glen Kingie:
Crossing the River Kingie:
Looking back to Glen Kingie and Fraoch Bheinn during ascent of Sgurr Mor:
On
reaching the ridge alas the cloud level had dropped meaning we would get no
views from the ridge or from the summit.
Onto the east ridge of Sgurr
Mor:
Ascending Sgurr Mor's east ridge:
While at the summit we could see small sections of blue sky above and hoped
that it might clear. It did not. We therefore returned back the same way
without also ascending nearby Sgurr an Fhuarain, a Corbett I had included
with Sgurr Mor on my previous ascent.
At the summit of Sgurr Mor:
No
views from the summit:
Ann-Marie at the summit of Sgurr Mor:
On
reaching Glen Kingie we could see that Sgurr Mor was still capped in cloud.
Around twenty minutes later the cloud lifted above the summit but only
temporarily.
Looking back to Sgurr Mor and Glen Kingie:
Sgurr Mor summit now free of cloud:
Glendessary:
Good to re-do Sgurr Mor but somewhat disappointing that on both ascents of
this hill I have had no views.