I had my eye on a horseshoe round this Munro with Sgorr Ruadh and the colossal Corbett, Fua Thol. However, although I left a glorious Inverness, as I began the drive down from Achnasheen it was clear that the weather was not so fine here. I was going light and packed my trousers and down jacket into my small 20-litre rucksack, heading up the small road in shorts and my Brooks GTX trainers. The first view to the Corbett looked immense but the clag was very low. As I slipped through the hole in the fence, I took to the path proper and made my way up on the coire floor at about 300m. From here, i could make out the lower half of Bein Liath Mhor but that was all. I figured that by keeping to the coire floor and running the distance of the glen, by the time I started the ascent up on to Beinn Liath Mhor, the weather may improve. Unfortunately, it didn't and I got a bit of a soaking though I was running well and felt warm and happy. Before the final climb past the reservoir at 750m, I donned my trousers as the wind has escalated. The climb was great though q airy at times and the water poured off the path. I didn't fancy returning this way as a slip could be costly. Given that the weather wasn't great, I made the decision to only to Beinn Liath Mhor and return over the ridge. Once up on the summit, the wind was pretty mental so I donned all my gear and hunkered down behind the large cairn for sustenance.
I sent a text to my wife and then was on my way. The traverse over the ridge was enjoyable but I couldn't see much. It wasn't until I was descending to the coire floor that of course, the clag lifted and some sun shone through. I could now see most of the impressive crags of Sgorr Ruadh and some of the Fuar Thol buttresses. Too bad!
The light was pretty stunning looking over and beyond Fuar Thol and the snap below was probably the best to capture this fantastic arena. I made it down to the path, stripped off an enjoyed the 5 km run back to the car, getting round in just over 3 hours. A really enjoyable Munro despite the fairly rubbish weather.
