279. Sgor na h-Ulaidh (149). 26/06/2024

Having saved this single munro tucked away in Glen Etive for a half-day, we had time to climb it before driving south. We stayed in the Glencoe YH and left at shortly after 6am. Hoping to start walking at 7am, we were well ahead of time when we were driving down the glen and were hailed by an exhausted looking woman with two small dogs. It turns out that she had left her car in the ditch at the end of the road around 3am and was walking out to get help. She was probably only just over half way, so we agreed to help and take her to the main road. This set us back about half an hour, but she was very grateful and we were still setting off only a few minutes after 7.

The first part of the walk is the same as that of Beinn Fhionnlaidh, which I had climbed with Hamish and Elodie the previous month, except there had been a lot of forestry work in between and in fact we got to see some of that in action!

After 3km of forestry track, we continued along the fairly pathless and damp approaches to the hill. We were gradually climbing, but when we eventually met a line of fenceposts near a broad bealach, progress became better. These fence posts turned up the hill and acted as a good guide for us as the faint path was occasionally lost through the rocks.

Despite being a mostly clear day, the top was still in the cloud, so we didn't stay long. The descent was once again fairly gentle and we finished the 15km and 950m of ascent well ahead of the book at only 4h25.

Sgor na h-Ulaidh to the right of centre from the forestry track

A big of clag at the top