Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Nan Eag, The Cuillin

27 July 2006 - acloudy and damp day clearing later
Start: OS Explorer 411 GR410205, Glan Brittle Campsite Car Park

Set off: 1200
Return: 2200
Duration: 11hrs. Distance: 15km
Total Height Climbed: 1120m

A non walking westie route by Steve - Note hill walking can be dangerous and this route involves scrambling and narrow crest walking, these details are for info only.

These 2 Munroes are at the southern end of the Black Cuillin ridge and involve a fairly long walk in. I did this walk with my sister Karen and her husband Bob, on a cloudy day at the end of July. We parked at Glen Brittle campsite and headed off around lunchtime! It is a steady slog up from the back of the campsite heading towards Coire Lagan, breaking off right to go around the bottom of Sron na Ciche, heading for Coir a Ghrunnda - the path is fine and easy to follow.
Turning into the head of the Coire, the path winds its way up steeply, crosses boulder fields with some massive rocks and includes some easy scrambling. We passed several people coming back down who said the cloud and mist were so thick around the loch that they had turned back. We continued up for a look and eventually (it's a long drag) came across Loch Coir a Ghrunnda where we had lunch in the mist!
We then trudged round the loch to head up the back wall of the Coire heading for the gap between Thearlich and Da Bheinn. The rocks here are amazing knobbly blocks with great adhesion!However, as the cloud was that thick, we had went too far around the loch and actually came up at the Caisteal which we realised straight away! We then followed the ridge up to Sgurr Dubh an-Da Bheinn with some great straight forward scrambling. We bumped into a chap with his son who had turned back from Sgurr Dubh Mor having not found a way up it! After some piccys, we headed down the ridge towards Dubh Mor with easy scrambling. In the clag, we did head too far right and had to come up a fairly loose break but once we were back on the ridge, managed to find the path again as we reached the top bulk of Sgurr Dubh Mor which looked quite impenetrable!
There were some interesting elements of scrambling up Sgurr Dubh Mor with a couple of areas where strong commitment was required, especially thinking about the return! We worked our way to the top still with no view and thick cloud. Sitting on the top enjoying a snack we were treated with the cloud clearing and some wonderful views down to Lochs Scavaig and Coruisk - see left! The cloud was coming and going so we headed back down they way we came up and it was easier than we had anticipated. It was an easy climb back up to Da Bheinn and then down to the Caisteal again where the decision had to be made about "do we Eag it or not?" Bob and I were of the opinion that it was such a long way in and as the cloud had cleared, we should press on so we did!
We rounded the Caisteal on the Coruisk side and headed up the ridge towards Sgurr Nan Eag. There were some nice scrambling situations on the way up and we soon came to the top where it levels off. However, the actual top is some distance along, approx 0.5km. We passed a group who said they planned camping by Loch Coir a Ghrunnda! The top provided great views towards Loch Coruisk and south to Canna, Rum and the Mainland. After some lingering, we decided to drop off straight down the southern slope of Sgurr Nan Eag rather than work back down through Coir a Ghrunnda. Although knee jarring, this did bring us fairly quickly down to the path at the bottom! It was then a long slog back to Glen Brittle with the time late - we got back to the car around 2200 about 15 minutes before it got dark! All in all a great day out with some great scrambling and it proved worthwhile pressing as the cloud cleared.