M104 |
1027 m. |
3370 ft.
Translation: Peak of the shellfish
Pronuncation: skoor a vooreach
This Munro was one of the hills which figured in my mental list as a more or less unknown entity. I had climbed the South Glen Shiel ridge, I had climbed Gleouraich but I had no memory of any views of Sgurr a’Mhaoraich. This could of course be due to bad weather on the hills mentioned but who knows why my mind had never registered this hill. Nonetheless I had always been looking forward to finally bagging Sgurr a’Mhaoraich because the hill has big shoulders and spacious ridges offering good access and possibly great views of Knoydart and its other neighbours. Now that we wanted to climb it on a semi rest day (Hey, what’s a four hour hike for a real Munrobagger!) the weather was again so-so.
We parked our car in the little layby right after the bridge over the northern finger of Loch Quoich. We vigorously climbed the very nice stalker’s path (on par with the path up Gleouraich) leading onto the Bac nan Caraichean Ridge. At an altitude of about 650 metres the ridge has a level section from where the view ahead towards Sgurr Coire nan Eiricheallach first opens up. Strong wind greeted us there and made it clear that todays Munro would not be bagged strolling along the ridge in bright sunshine worrying about sunburn developing on our arms and necks. Soon the highest point (891m) of Sgurr Coire nan Eiricheallach was reached and it became apparent that the continuation along the ridge leading to Sgurr a’Mhaoraich would be consisting of ups and downs and bends and corners to be turned. In other words: nothing difficult but quite contorted. Ok. On we went and made progress towards Sgurr a’Mhaoraich. In the clouds and mist which had closed in on us we negotiated the outcops below the summit. Scambling over grassy rakes and some snow left over from the winter we finally reached the uppermost part of the south ridge and marched to the 1027m summit of Sgurr a’Mhaoraich. We had our obligatory summit sandwich and apple. The views, however, were very limited and apart from a few glimpses of the South Glen Shiel Ridge nothing of notice could be seen. Sad! Things got cold sitting in the wind and mist and soon the hill saw us marching down the south ridge, taking advantage of some snow fields which allowed us to make easy downhill progress. From the environs of Leac nan Gaidhseich we dropped down into Coire nan Eiricheallach and picked up the landrover track leading back to the road by Loch Quoich. Then it was another 2 kilometres in an easterly direction along the road to our car which faithfully waited for us. A hill with good character, a well-engineered access path, entertainingly diverse terrain high up on the ridges and, again, hardly any decent views from the summit. Ah, you simply have to love Scotland! 🙂
Description This solitary mountain, situated 5 kilometres west of Gleouraich, is similar to it in some respects. On its north side it is steep and rocky, with impressive corries, but on its south side Coire nan Eiricheallach is much more open and grassy. Like its neighbouring peaks, Sgurr a' Mhaoraich is very accessible and gives an easy traverse. The start is a short distance beyond the bridge over the narrow bay of Loch Quoich where a stalker's path goes up the ridge to Bac nan Canaichean. Follow this path and continue along the ridge north-westwards to the summit of Sgurr a' Mhaoraich. Descend the south ridge and reach the road about 2 kilometres west of the day's starting point.