Bla Bheinn

6 June 2006 (6/6/06!) - a nice day to start, cloudy `later
Start: OS Explorer 411 GR562216; parking area on B8083 near head of Loch Slapin

Set off: 1030
Return: 1530
Duration: 5hrs. Distance: 9.5 km
Total Height Climbed: 928m

Non Walking Westie - words from Steve, photos from Kev!

I (Steve) was keen to climb Bla Bheinn obviously as it is the name of the B and B and so I jumped at the opportunity when Trish's sister Lynz and her boyfriend Kev said they'd like to climb it too when they were here! We didn't worry too much when the date was the 6/6/6 (6 June 06) and set off reasonably early on a clear day with blue sky and patchy clouds. The drive down the B8083 from Broadford was as fantastic as always with Torrin still looking like an ideal spot to live! Predictably we stopped in Torrin and by Lock Slapin to take the customary Bla Bheinn - Clach Glas photos - thanks Kev for the one on the left!

We parked at the car park by the woods on the west bank at the head of Loch Slapin and prepared to climb the tourist route. It was fairly easy going up the north bank of the Allt na Dunaiche past some lovely waterfalls and we made good time crossing the burn and heading up Coire Uaigneaich on some loose rocks/scree in places. We were surprised to see sheep perched precariously on ledges on An Stac to the left - how do they get there?
Here we are well into Coire Uaigneaich! Instead of heading up the tourist route which is almost a U turn back up the SE ridge, we chose to go up the back face of the coire so we could tackle the SSE ridge. After a steep climb up the back of the corrie on loose scree, we headed up the fairly easy going slope of the ridge. After some lunch and without seeing anyone else, we carried on up weaving between boulders etc until we came to a 50' slab with a staircase break which looked fairly straight forward. After looking round the sides we decided to scramble up the slab which Lynz sailed up despite this being her first scramble! After a fairly hard slog zig zagging up the ridge and passing a few other walkers who were descending the ridge, we came onto the Southern Top of Bla Bheinn with some fantastic views across to Rum and the Black Cuillin Ridge.
The Northern and higher top was only a few hundred yards away but there is a 15m drop between the 2 tops which required more scrambling. After I did a wee test run down and up again we decided to climb down this way rather than edge down and round on the eastern side as others were doing - the photo on the left is from the dip between the 2 tops looking back up the southern top. Again with me in front and Kev behind, Lynz climbed down with ease and we then climbed up onto the actual top at 3045ft.
So this was Lynz's first Munro and my third on Skye! After loads of piccys and another bite to eat and customary phone calls - the B&B can be seen from both tops so I did call Trish but she couldn't see me through binoculars even though I was standing on top of the trig point! We descended via the tourist route which was, as expected, a long slog down slightly knee jarring scree and steep slopes. The cloud also came in as you can see below so it was not as pleasant going down as going up! We did get a reasonable view of Clach Glas but only briefly and it did start raining on the lower sections.