AN TEALLACH, SANDSTONE SUPERSTAR
What has turned out to be my last ever guiding day was made particularly memorable by fantastic cloud seas and lots of Brocken Spectres. Tim had wanted to do the traverse of An Teallach for years but although very fit he felt he needed a guide for the scrambling. Cloud was down to 500 feet in the morning but I had seen glimpses of sun on my drive over from Inverness and was pretty sure we were going to get above it. It seemed like most people had been put off, however, as the car park was nearly empty, and in fact we only met eight people all day. Around 2000 feet higher up the mist began to give off a telltale glow so the arrival of a view wasn’t a complete surprise, but that didn’t make it any less stunning. The cloud sea was high enough to hide most summits, with only the higher peaks of Torridon and Fisherfield poking up into the sunshine.
Looking back to Sail Liath
The Sail Liath summits had Brocken Spectres from every knobble and edge, as well as lots of feral goats enjoying the sun, so our pace slowed as we both indulged in an orgy of photography. As we gained height along the ridge we became further removed from the fluffy ocean and the Brockens disappeared, as did the goats once the terrain became barer and there was less for them to eat. The compensation was that the towers of Corrag Bhuidhe ahead became more and more impressive.
Corrag Bhuidhe from below
Eventually we arrived at the foot of the infamous Bad Step and it was time to rope up. There are several possible ways of climbing the step, the two easiest being a short but rather holdless groove and a slabby flake with an awkward move into a cave to start. The former is quite insecure and harder than it looks so I’ve always preferred the flake, which has big positive holds. Tim isn’t a climber so found the start tricky (as nearly everyone does) but then romped up the flake. Everything is much easier after that, although often quite exposed, and Tim was fine soloing.
Noel Williams on the flake, the Bad Step
The next section is as good as scrambling gets. The ridge is a chain of sandstone towers, with quite a lot of up and down. Sometimes you are more or less walking, but on a sharp crest only a couple of feet wide, other times you wind in and out of knobbly pinnacles, or climb steep grooves on huge holds. Much of the time the drop below you is immense, it’s no place for anyone without a good head for heights.
On Corrag Bhuidhe (Tim Saxby took the pic)
The most famous spot is just beyond the summit of Lord Berkeley’s Seat. Reputedly the eponymous aristocrat won a bet by sitting on the far end and dangling his legs over the drop, which overhangs in two dimensions. It’s a gulp-inducing spot, but it seems to be impossible to get a photograph that captures the feel of sitting on it (without a drone, at least) as the place you would need to be is in mid air! This is probably a good thing, as otherwise the internet would be awash with images of it.
Looking back to Corrag Bhuidhe
After the descent from Lord Berkeley’s Seat the scrambling ends, but the ground remains rocky and you still know that you’re on a ridge. A steepish pull gains Sgurr Fiona, the first Munro, then the descent beyond has a well-used track these days. Another steep uphill takes you to the main summit, Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill (peak of the grey-green hollow).
On my trip with Tim the views back to Sgurr Fiona were superb, with the jagged skyline of Corrag Bhuidhe outlined against the cloud sea. One of the few people we met was Paul Webster, who runs the Walk Highlands website, and one of his shots from the day was the headline background to the site for a while. I was once on the top on a gorgeous day with a group of regular clients, five of whom I knew were over seventy. After the inevitable group photo I said “lets have one with just the seventy-somethings". Only four of them stayed by the trig and when I asked the other one later “Weren’t you proud of climbing a big Munro at over seventy?” she replied “Age is just a number!”. Good answer.
Corrag Bhuidhe from below Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill
How you descend from the main summit depends on where you started. The most used route goes down to the col with Glas Mheall Mor, then descends Coire a’ Muilinn to Dundonnell (and the pub) on a good track. Rather oddly this is unmarked on OS maps, while the far less used variation via the Meall Garbh ridge is shown prominently. This latter goes up a rocky spur on well made zigzags so makes a nicer way up but it is rougher so is harder going on the way down. Up one track and down the other makes a good loop for those who just want to do the two Munro summits without the scrambling.
Noel Williams on Corrag Bhuidhe
If you have started from the car park at Corrie Hallie, the obvious plan if doing the main ridge scramble, then the quickest way down is to head out eastwards to the col with Glas Mheall Liath then descend steep grass directly to Loch Toll an Lochain. This looks really unlikely when seen from Corrag Bhuidhe, appearing more or less vertical – I used to enjoy pointing it out to clients and saying “We’re going down there”. They usually thought I was joking! From the north-east corner of the loch a small track leads all the way down to the road half a mile north of Corrie Hallie. The last section of this is horrendous though, a knee deep swamp through rhododendron jungle. I prefer to cut across the floor of Coir’ a’ Ghiubhsachain and up to an obvious notch between the cliffs on the other side (nice scramble up the slabs just left). This leads down the side of a strange quartzite scarp to an easy crossing of Allt Gleann Chaorachain and the path you started up.
Toll an Lochain and Sail Liath
Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill was the last Munro on my first round back in 1984 and that day I had the whole mountain to myself, despite it being July. Probably unlikely to happen these days. I had started from Shenavall, having done the Fisherfield Six the day before, so had to get back round to Loch na Sealga. To reach this I headed down the nicely narrow north-west ridge of Meall Garbh and crossed the saddle below Sgurr Ruadh, all good wild country. That part of the hill is still pretty deserted so the circuit of the huge Coire Mor is a good choice for those who want to pick up the two Munros but not meet many people. There is an easy scramble up Sgurr Ruadh and the knobbly north-west ridge is beautifully poised above Loch na Sealga. The start is at Ardessie, up either side of the gorge, which has spectacular waterfalls. The south bank has the best views of the lower falls, and it has a path, but it’s pretty boggy. The north bank has better views of the upper gorge, but no real path, and if you come down this way you have to ford the river, which can be tricky.
From Loch Gainmheaich to the NW, with Sgurr Ruadh prominent
A decade ago there was a cloudburst here and you can still see the debris and eroded banks. That day I was trying to get from Ullapool to Gairloch with a group and the road south was blocked by landslips. We turned round just in time and got out northwards via Strath Oykell, but even that was flooded in places, as was Gairloch. Several people weren’t so lucky, got caught between landslips on the side of Loch Broom and had to spend the night in their cars. I got the group to their hotel but I was staying in a B&B on the other side of the river, and the next morning the road at the bridge was several feet deep in water. I got across by walking on the bridge parapet and wading the overflow on the other side. We did a walk to Horrisdale Falls from the hotel in epic conditions. We all got totally soaked but the falls were quite something – there was a stopper wave in the river below them that was taller than we were! There was a certain amount of grumbling at the time but at the end of the tour they all said that it had been their favourite day. It was certainly memorable.
Upper Falls, Ardessie, on a rather less epic day
I’ve been pretty lucky with the weather on An Teallach and a couple of other days stand out. One was with a group of ten clients, too many for the route really, but all were fit and competent and it was a stunning day out. It took an hour to rope them all up the Bad Step but then they all clambered along Corrag Bhuidhe without any problems. Nobody wanted to dangle off Lord Berkeley’s Seat though! By the time we got back to Ullapool the pubs had all finished serving food, so we settled for fish and chips at the famous chippy, eaten with pints of cider on the seafront while Beinn Dearg turned red in the sunset. A perfect ending to what several clients said was their best hill day ever.
Ken Stewart on Bidein a ' Ghlais Thuill
Another memorable traverse was with two American friends in strange cloud conditions. There was a wall of mist on one side of the ridge all day, so a very odd light. It was quite a hazy day outside the cloud so it didn’t photograph well but it was very striking at the time. They were both climbers so we detoured up all the minor pinnacles and enjoyed clambering up everything in sight. We even had the energy to add in the scramble up the Ghiubhsachain Slabs on the way back over to Corrie Hallie.
Evening light from Corrie Hallie
Every day I’ve ever had on An Teallach has had something special about it, so it’s not surprising that it’s regularly voted as Britain’s best mountain. Personally I would put Liathach and Foinaven above it, but not by much. There’s also often some debate about its difficulty relative to the other big traverses. It’s definitely harder than either Liathach, the Aonach Eagach or the Forcan Ridge, although it’s less sustained than those three. The real difficulties are concentrated into that one thirty foot section. Everything else is avoidable (the Bad Step is too, but only at the cost of missing half the ridge). The South Peak of the Cobbler and the traverse of A’ Chir both have harder cruxes, and the latter is sustained too, while the Cuillin are in a class of their own. Perhaps the nearest to it in difficulty is the traverse of the Rum Cuillin, where the “Askival Pinnacle” (actually a slab) is about the same standard as Corrag Bhuidhe’s Bad Step, then there’s loads of easier scrambling. Wherever you place it though, it’s guaranteed to give you a great day out.
An Teallach from A' Mhaighdean on a similar day to the one I had with Tim
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