Beinn Sgulaird - Glen Etive Hills - March 2006Beinn Sgulaird InformationBeinn Sgulaird is one of the two westerly out-liers of Glen Etive and are a real ******* to get to. Although virtually neighbours with Glencoe you have to go in the complete opposite direction to get there. Without a doubt best aspect of Beinn Sgulaird is the sea views ! wow you get a smashing wee view of the Isles of Lismore and right over to Mull to see the mighty Ben More. The walk itself can be as hard or as easy as you want although I warn you that the locals name this hill the b******* for obvious reasons as you plod up only to plod down again 2 minutes later then up again and you get the picture ! Beinn Sgulaird I suppose could be combined with Beinn Fhiohnalaidh if your super fit but what's the rush take your time and enjoy as this really is one of the better Munros ( in my opinion) Also when you have finished stop by Oban and go to that chippy on the main street I forget the name but you will see it, best chippy I have ever had in my life ! Beinn Sgulaird RouteWell with a big freeze after a big snow fall I knew this hill was going to be an ice axe job but I really did not think it would be as tough as it was. Firstly we were half way there from Glasgow when it suddenly donned on me "Eh Andy I think I have forgotten mae boots" but luckily he had a second pair ( as you do) which I gratefully took ! first crisis averted ok now onto the walk.. We parked at Elleric ( I think ?) well it said Elleric but it really did not match up with the GPS which I must have set up wrong. On a clear day its pretty obvious where you are going anyway and the steep western slopes of Beinn Sgulaird really are a site. Continue out of the small car park on the private road to Glen Ure lodge passing a well funky little bridge, this bridge actually has its own bridge ( yeh that's right its not a typo and I didn't see the point of it either) Continue through the farm at the end of the road and out the other side, most routes would take you right here and up the southern slopes of Beinn Sgulaird but since we were following a slightly dodgy gps bearing we went left which turned out to be in my opinion a much better route ( you get the view saved right till the last minute) follow the farm track and continue along this for I would say a good mile or so. the steep slopes of Stob Gaibhre ( Beinn Sgulairds fore peak) is a daunting site on your right. after a mile you will reach a bealach and is your cue to take the the slopes and haul yourself up. Unorthodox route means no path I'm afraid and just get up best you can, we seen a herd of mountain goats and they were right in front taking a wee hairy looking route so we decided to be smart humans and go up the other side of the rocks which looked better....always trusts the goats they know the mountain best! so after reaching an impenetrable wall we had to turn back and take the goat path. After about an hour of really tough climbing you will reach the summit of Stob Gaibhre ( 684 m) with the huge coire of Sgulaird to your immediate right. drop down into the col between them and head up the western wall of the coire. This part is much easier and far more enjoyable than the earlier reaches of the walk. after about 30 minutes climbing you will reach the summit ridge with a short 10 minute walk taking you to the actual summit. Like I said the sea views are saved near enough right up until the last minute and they really are a site ! The summit cairn is a bit of a heffer and a stand on top of it is a must I'm afraid ! Well the proposed route off was to follow Beinn Sgulairds south western ridge down over Meall Garbh but my feet were not up for that ! so que our amazing decent( which I don't really recommend by the way unless your a mad arse). We traced back to small bealach on the summit ridge where there was a valley running down the side of Beinn Sgulaird back to Elleric we could actually see the car so was a handy land mark. This valley was iced up good and was an extremely dodgy climb back down. Having well messed up feet by this point (due to the smaller boots) I managed to slip on several occasions once not being able to stop and according to my GPS clocking up a speed of 30mph sliding down ! needless to say I hit a rock ( backside first) and have not been able to sit down since ! anyway I cant really give you a route for this part since I do not recommend it, and we didn't really have a route that I could tell you ! You will however end up back at Farmer Joes field about 300m up where you need to circumnavigate round (no taking cutties through the field now) and this drops you back out onto the road you came in on. Yeh I cant really give you a proper route for this walk since ours was flawed from before we even got out of the car, this was definitely an experience for me and taught me how important the use of an axe and a proper fitting pair of boots are ! although it was extremely enjoyable I think for the very above reasons...I am after all an adrenalin junkie ! Weather was brilliant as we had hoped for, clear air, lots of blue skies, lots of snow/ice and even managed to get a wee suntan in the spring sun. Beinn Sgulaird Photos / Pictures / ImagesGot a big batch form today, getting really into panoramics these days so ill chuck a couple of them in.
Final pull to the summit of Beinn Sgulaird Cracking view over to Ben Cruachan
Battling the elements on Beinn Sgulaird Nearly there now ! how shiny is that ice !
Beinn Sgulairds huge coire ( I love this shot, I have a 2 m wide one up on the wall !)
What you climb the hill for... the sea views across to Mull and the Lismores ( pity it clouded over )
And one more just so I can pose ! this is
probably the only pic you will see of me on this site ! |
