Sgor na h-ulaidh - Glencoe - Dec 2005

Sgor na h-ulaidh Information

Sgor na h-ulaidh is the hidden one of the Glencoe peaks and one that not a lot is said about except that it has a confusingly annoying name, i don't even try !  The peak forms the second last obstacle in the Glencoe's and lies in the Shadow of Bidean nam Bian hiding it even more.  Sgor na h-ulaidh has quite a walk in and the hill is hidden right up until the last step.  Anyway yah yah its well hidden but is that a good thing? well sure if you like to feel isolated you can get this feeling up here no probs, but for me the walk in was a bit of a bore and compared to other Glencoe hills, its not up there I'm afraid.  Sgor na h-ulaidh stands at 994m, which for me sadly was 994 too many (boo hiss you say).  However I'm sure if you got a clear day the views of the Bidean would make it all worth while.

Sgor na h-ulaidh Route

Well exams have put this off this write up for weeks but all finished yeehaa so here we go...

The route for Sgor na h-ulaidh for me started in the car park of the Glencoe tourist/visitor/building thingamajig ( i cant believe this is in the computers spell check shock a roo !) where there is plenty of parking but I'm not sure if they allow parking for being away all day, but shhhh i wont tell if you don't !  Anyways park there or as close as you can to there and head south east back along the main road until you reach a land rover track branching off on the right, take this and climb the stile.  This road continues for the good part of an hour taking you past a farm.  As i said before you really cant see Sgor na h-ulaidh  from this point but its there believe me !  continue right to the end of the track where you meet up with a small burn the Alt na Muidhe.  Now an obvious path crosses this and takes to the right hand side banks but continue on the left hand hand side of the burn and in about 10 minutes you will meet a much better path, one on the right you are basically trying to walk straight along a 70 degree slop ( very sore on the feet) Anyway take to the flat path on the left of the burn and continue right up until you reach s large plateau area.  Sgor na h-ulaidh is obvious now...right in front of you ! and the directly adjacent cliffs are quite a site.  this would require some hefty rock climbing gear and skills so the common Joe walker needs to head south east when the feel fit to do so and take to the shoulder of Sgor na h-ulaidh known as Stob an Fhuarain.  Its a killer of a climb, a don't over exert yourself or you will see last nights dinner kind of job if you know what i mean !   slow and steady takes you onto the shoulder where now the walk becomes as usual becomes 10 times more enjoyable.  a jaunt along the summit ridge takes you to the actual summit of Sgor na h-ulaidh, watch out for this cliffs i mentioned before nearer the summit in bad weather you don't want to be walking off there.  Take in the views, we didn't get much but was clear over towards Beinn a Bheithir so got an alright view of that.  For the descent to make it more circuit like continue down the western ridge of Sgor na h-ulaidh  (there's a path)  taking you over some nice scree areas and generally nice part of the walk.  After about 15 minutes or so you start the real descent which is quite dodgy to be honest with you, we found ourselves doing some bum shuffling down the hill, getting over some serious rocky outcrops.  This part only lasts for about 10 minutes or so though before you are deposited back at the head of the Alt na Muidhe which you now just follow the same route out.  

Weather was hmm I'm going to say disappointing.  Loch Lomond, Crianlarich, Bridge of Orchy all were cloud free on the drive up from Glasgow but there was a fair bit of cloud floating around Glencoe.  Anyways it did mean i was able to get a purple clouds shot ( see last photo) something ive always wanted since i seen one in a Scottish Calendar ( actually come to think of it that photo was Glencoe too) anyways not bad, but compared to other Glencoe hills got a bit of work to do. 

Sgor na h-ulaidh Photos / Images / Pictures

         First view of Sgor na h-ulaidh coming out the cloud            One for the ladies ! Alex giving us a pole dance up top

 view from the summit of Sgor na h-ulaidh   Sgor na h-ulaidh from Alt na Muidhe   Final climb to summit of Sgor na h-ulaidh