Beinn Damh

Peaks: Spidean Coire an Laoigh (903m)
Area: Beinn Damh, Torridon
This hill benefits from an isolated position south of Torridon, well away from the more high profile peaks north of the Glen. The day started dry, with a high cloud base, so we'd all walked along the shores of Loch Clair for superb views of Liathach followed by a magical moment as a golden eagle wheeled above Beinn Eighe lit by a sudden shaft of sun. After this, we drove to Shieldaig for coffee and cake in a prolonged heavy shower: all rather unsettled and very different to yesterday's sunshine. For lunch, we walked up the Beinn Damh path from the Torridon hotel through lovely pine woods. A waterfall on the Allt Coire Rhoill made a fine backdrop for our slightly damp picnic. I then continued upwards for another quick hill run. The weather really closed in as soon as I left the woods: heavy rain, brisk winds, and all rather unpleasant as I followed the path up Toll Ban to the obvious broad col below Meall Ghorm. The mist closed in as I ran up the broad NW ridge, skirting the 868m forepeak and following a tenuous path through scree slopes to emerge on another sub-peak. As soon as I gained this top, the mist miraculously cleared giving views over Loch Damh to the west, and down to Shieldaig. For a while, the mist shifted in and out, then dramatically cleared again to the west as the ridge narrowed slightly at a small col: views as far as Applecross this time, but still misty to the east giving photogenic views of the main peak. I got to the summit in 50 mins or so, and the wind then tore all the cloud away leaving brilliant views east to Sgurr Ruadh and the Achnashallech peaks. Finally, I could appreciate what a fine peak Beinn Damh is, typical Torridonian structure, and I decided to give it due respect by making a traverse by descending the steep NE ridge (Stuc Toll nam Biast) to the Drochaid Coire Roill. This goes down rocks to gentle grass, then becomes very steep and hard to read from above. After a few cautious forays too far west, I spied a cairn and located a little path through a series of rocky buttresses which gave an interesting and intricate route down to the Coire Roill. Stupidly, however, in my haste to get back to the family in the hotel I didn't bother to check the map for the location of the stalker's path and just stumbled blindly through the boggy wilderness west of the river. So the subsequent nightmarish aquatic flounder back to the woods was entirely my fault and richly deserved. It didn't take long though, and the family had only just returned to the car when I got back to the hotel.