The Power of Awe- Ben Mor Coigach

Start: Culnacraig car park at end of the Achiltibuie road

Ascent: 870m Time taken: a dawdling 6 hours(2 hrs to 1st summit) on mostly good paths

Distance: 11km ( total return)

Rating: 5 stars

We were at the end of a 10 day trip enjoying the Western Isles from Barra to Harris and now we had only two days left based at Ardmair near Ullapool. Despite it being mid November, it had been amazingly dry with plenty of sunshine, albeit cold(hardly a complaint given the time of year!) The day before, we had the most spectacular ferry crossing I’ve ever experienced, sailing from Stornoway on one of those absolutely cloudless, crisply clear days when you can see for miles.We’d stood on deck the whole time, me dressed like Nanook of the North, watching the Assynt peaks loom larger as we headed for the mainland. There had been plenty to see too in terms of wildlife with two separate schools of Common Dolphins making an appearance.One was of around half a dozen, the other easily two dozen, leaping at pace through the water and clearly on the hunt.

But really, the scenery had been out of this world. Quinag, Suilven, Cul Mor and Cul Beag, possibly Ben Hope and Foinaven, famed mountains of the far north west…they were etched sharp as diamonds against the lemony blue sky.I couldn’t take my eyes off them the whole journey.

Ben Mor Coigach looked enormous as we headed into Loch Broom…

The view from the ferry really revealed what a massif it is.It had been a very long time, maybe 20 years, since we’d climbed it which seemed far too long given the memories I had of how stunning it was.

There are many mountains called Ben Mor/More in Scotland- the name means The Big Mountain and it tends to be given to the highest hill in any particular area.So this Ben Mor is the highest in the wonderful Coigach area just north of Ullapool.It’s an area of unique , ‘island’ mountains that rear up out of the impossibly knolly, rock strewn moorland , great monoliths with superb character all of their own

With a great forecast for most of tomorrow before solid rain came in, the hill walk we planned had to be Ben Mor Coigach!

At 7.45am next morning, we set off from our Airbnb at Ardmair on a very chilly, frosty morning, well below freezing, just as the rising sun was beginning to put colour into the eastern sky. I could see our objective across the bay, a solid black, steep wall rising out of the sea. It looked so near but the Achiltibuie start we planned meant about an hour’s drive on a big loop out west.Not a hardship, as it’s a stunner of a drive along Loch Lurgainn. In fact, we stopped many times to admire Coigach and Assynt’s unique inselberg peaks, their summits turning a pink then fiery orange as the sun climbed higher.

We were the only car at the parking area at Culnacraig, where the view over the sea and the Summer Isles and Wester Ross was already gorgeous.Not far beyond this, the road peters out completely.

Got the gear sorted and boots on (solid and frozen as I’d left them in the car overnight😫) then a walk down the tarmac road towards the cottage at Culnacraig to pick up the obvious grassy track which marks the start.

I remembered this first bit, a climb up a steepish bit of moorland to the 300m mark, though the pathless ascent has been replaced by a very eroded, braided series of tracks – a sign of how popular hill walking has become in the last twenty years or so.It was great to have this but it was down to the boggy black peat in many places and slithery.It felt a longer slog somehow too (mind you everything is these days😀)  and I was quite relieved when the angle eased off and the long, very gradual ascent to Sgurr an Fhidhleir came into view.

The most popular route up the mountain is actually the very steep, obvious ridge on the right but that’s not really my cup of tea.Our route is much more straightforward without negotiating steep, rocky ground.

A look back confirmed that even at this point, the views were wonderful.

It was difficult to make out the rest of the mountain to our right because the sun was still so low in the sky but the slopes looked dark and ominous.The ridge here is known as Speicein Nan Garbh Choireachan(peak of the rough corrie)

I must admit, I was glad of the now very gradual ascent on an excellent path. I’d had Norovirus during the first day of our trip (lucky white heather) and although that was now nearly a week ago and the stage of actually being sick hadn’t lasted too long, my appetite had been really poor all week.I’d been surviving on soup, chocolate and fruit.(Once home I found out that I’d lost half a stone which is probably why I made such heavy weather of the ascent today!)

Chris pushed on up the very gently rising , excellent path through Coire Reidh and I lumbered in his wake, feeling exhausted already.The Fiddler’s Peak ( as it translates from the Gaelic) looked quite close but it never actually seemed to get any nearer and I found myself fading a bit in motivation and energy.

I asked Chris for a break and slumped down at a cairn, gulping some water and munching half heartedly on an apple.From that long ago last hike up here,  I remembered the other summits around us being very easily ascended but right now, shrouded in darkness, they looked steep and unappealing.

Mumbling to Chris that I’d be happy to reach the first summit then call it quits( at this point I just felt like turning back to be honest), as ever, he never gets very het up about what we do or don’t do and said that was fine by him – no point in not enjoying the day.We could stop off at Achnahaird beach instead, a big favourite.

It feels so rubbish not to reach ONE summit, so I was determined to plow on. I recalled it offered the best views of the whole round so I convinced myself that we wouldn’t be missing too much by leaving the other summits out.

 Two hours after setting out, we reached Sgurr an Fhidhleir and Coigach and Assynt reared spectacularly before us, the great southern faces of the mountains lit by the morning sun.It was a jaw drop!

That amazing, ancient landscape…it has some of the world’s oldest rocks, all weathered into fantastic shapes, the mountain equivalent of great dinosaurs frozen in time, lapped by the blue of the sea and countless lochans.

Away to the south rose a snowy An Teallach…

I felt a renewed sense of energy, inspired by the grandeur.The  ‘power of awe’ which I’d recently read of as being very important to us, hugely helping our mental health and well being, certainly existed up here!

It wasn’t a spot to leave quickly and we sat snacking and admiring the vista for half an hour or so until the chill in the air meant we really had to get on the move again.

Decision time….back the way we came or head on?

Head on, I suggested and I’d see how things were once we descended to the great rim of that steep corrie headwall below  Fhidhleir.

Down we went with the great void of the corrie on our left and soon we were at the plateau of Coire Reidh.Another wow moment!

From here, the great prow of the peak is seen at its best.There was also now a vista way down onto shadowy Loch Tuath, where four stags were silhouetted as they made their way slowly along the shore below the heights of Beinn an Eoin.They were such a beautiful sight.

Coming off Fhidhleir, I thought we would leave the best of the views behind but those vistas along the edge of the corrie were astonishing.

No way was I leaving the mountain when the views were this good!

There was an on and off path up the next rise taking us onto the main ridge which leads to the summit of Ben Mor Coigach itself. It was only 150m of ascent but felt harder, my legs still a bit weak.

We were well off the normal path to that summit, veering deliberately left to reach a spot at the 700m mark.Stopping part way up, I looked back to see a Golden Eagle sweeping across the void, heading our way before disappearing below the ridge itself.Its great yellow head was clearly visible in the sunlight.

In 20 mins or so we reached another stunning spot, the angles different now with views opening up to the south.To have missed this! It’s just as well photos are digital now because I would have run out of film.

I followed Chris round the beautiful high plateau we were now on and which gave wonderful views down Loch Broom and along the great rock wall that is the whole massif on the Ardmair side.

It was gorgeous territory, a joy to wander around.There was hardly a breath of wind.We now had fine views over to the Beinn Dearg group and across to a snowy An Teallach.Layer upon layer of Wester Ross mountains went on forever.I don’t remember ever being on this corner of the hill which gave a stunning view too of the sharp looking summit of Speicein Coinnich.

As we made our way out to the summit of Ben Mor Coigach itself, there was quite a bit of frost and icy rocks on the now slightly more broken ground so a bit of care was needed.Anything still in shadow was quite slithery.

Ben Mor Coigach itself was another wonderful summit with great views over the bristly, steep ridge of Speicein nan Garbh Choireachan. I knew Chris fancied descending that way and suggested he should do that and we could meet back at the 300m mark.But after checking it out, he decided everything was a bit icy plus he had a ‘dodgy partner’ today and better stick around.😊

The sun was really lowering in the sky, the light changing…

It really is a stunner of a massif offering beautiful walking.There is never ending interest and such jaw drop views.A breeze had picked up now and heavier cloud was starting to build to the south, a forerunner of the projected rain coming in tonight.I felt lucky that we’d been given this window of perfect weather for what in many ways is a perfect mountain.

Chris was ready to head down pretty quickly but I really needed an extra 5 mins here, just for a breather.

The thrills of today weren’t over yet because as we finally headed off back down the path, there was sudden movement ahead of us amongst the rocks. Ptarmigan! 

There were four of them – flying off briefly but given they need to retain energy to survive in this harsh far north environment, they landed a very short distance away.Quietly approached them, hoping to get a shot.I really love seeing them, these wild birds of the high places. 

From that last summit, it took us 90 mins or so to return to the car, soon picking up the excellent track down Coire Reidh (the appropriately named Corrie of the Slopes.)I must admit, there wasn’t much left in my legs at this point, I felt quite tired but so pleased we’d explored most of the mountain.

Six hours on a fantastic hill and one which I must also be good in snow with mostly wide, benign slopes (except for the Choireachan ridge which can be avoided.)

The views weren’t over yet however as we still had the return along the Achiltibuie road…

The next day was as dreich as the Met Office had predicted so that had been a very fortunate window in mid-November, the power of awe certainly out in full force on Coigach’s own Ben Mor.