The Coulin Peaks seen from the South

The Coulin Peaks seen from the East

The Coire Lair Horseshoe
Three peaks form the Coire Lair Horseshoe. The traverse of all three summits starts off from Achnashellach and takes you over the summits of Fuar Tholl, Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor. Both Fuar Tholl and Sgorr Ruadh have some hugely impressive corries that have some of the most difficult rockclimbs on sandstone. The summit of Fuar Tholl is quite grassy yet the surrounding low level moorland is very rocky particularly at the bealach between it and Sgorr Ruadh.

Looking into Coire Lair from across Glen Carron

Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh seen from Loch Torridon

The approach from Achnashellach station follows forest tracks up beside the River Lair, then a signpost marks the start of the stalkers path to continue the ascent. This path is of a very good standard and continues all the way up Coire Lair and over into Torridon. After the initial rise, a cairn marks the first of two path junctions. This junction sees a path split off towards the bealach between Fuar Tholl and Sgurr Ruadh. Again, this path is a good standard all the way to the bealach, but crossing the river Lair can be tricky in spate conditions.

Fuar Tholl is without doubt the finest of the three summits. It has a fine corrie with the best buttress for sandstone climbing in the country. The north western arm of this corrie offers some easy but loose scrambling while the northeast ridge of Fuar Tholl offers a short but exposed way up (said to be the best walkers route up).

The North Cliffs of Sgor Ruadh

Fuar Tholl seen from Maol Chean Dearg

From the south, the ascent to Sgurr Ruadh takes a wide slope mixed with grass and some rocky shelves. Eventually the slope smoothes out to become a mix of grass and small stones. Once on the summit, the ridge narrows and soon enough drops steeply down a short rocky nose. At most, mild scrambling can be expected here without exposure. At the botton of the nose the ridge broadens out to a mix of stones and small rocks. Where the ridge finally levels off, a small path can be found descending the north side of the ridge into the head of Coire Lair. Further east down Coire Lair, an eastern approach to Sgurr Ruadh can be seen via a grade 1 snow gully - very obvious seen from Coire Lair.

The scrambly north ridge of Sgor Ruadh

Looking the other way on the north ridge

By contrast with Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl, Beinn Liath Mhor does not have its distinct corries or large cliffs but does have a very long and rocky ridge. From the south on the main stalkers path, a second path junction is found with a good path heading north to the Drochaid Coire Lair and beyond. Soon into this path, the munro path splits off to ascend the steep southeast slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor. The path is well worn amongst the heathery terrain, and the steep initial slopes soon yield to gentler slopes above. The vegetation gradually yields to stoney quartzite rock near the first summit at 876m. Here the ridge narrows on the long westward journey and occasional towers see the main path divert beneath them. Once you reach the main summit at 925m, the ridge drops down and broadens out. Keeping to the south side, follow a band of cliffs to the point above a small lochan. Here a well worn path finds its way down the cliffs weakness to the lochan below and beyond to the head of Coire Lair.

Maol Chean Dearg and An Ruadh Stac
These summits lie deep within the Coulin Forest and require 6km of walking in from either road to the north or south. This is eased by the quality of the footpaths. Both mountains are quite stumpy - no long ridges here. The going on either summit is very rocky.

From the bealach linking Maol Chean Dearg with An Ruadh Stac, the direct ascent of An Ruadh Stac is steep and slabby. I asked a guy who did this descent route in thin soft powder snow what it was like and he said it was pretty treacherous - lots of slabs. It took him an hour to descend that small section!

Maol Chean Dearg seen from the Youth Hostel

Maol Chean Dearg seen from the east

An Ruadh Stac seen from Maol Chean Dearg

Other Summits
Beinn Damph is a great short walk with excellent views out to Loch Torridon and the Applecross peninsula. The mountain has a broad rocky ridge with typical sandtone tiered cliffs on its eastern cliffs. Two other mountains well worth visiting include Beinn Bhan and it's neighbour Sgurr a' Ghaorachain. They both have very similar eastern corries separated by fine narrow ridges of rock climbing difficulty.

Sgurr Dubh seen from Glen Torridon

Beinn Damph seen from Liathach

Beinn Damph seen from Maol Chean Dearg

A worthwhile short walk ascends the summit of Sgurr Dubh (782m). This is a Corbett thats quite rocky. A track can be followed along the eastern shore of Loch Clair to the Coulin Lodge where a stalkers path provides access southwest up Coire an Leith Uillt. Access from here to the plateau is via a heathery slope that breaks through the craggy ground. No comment can be made about the higher ground at this time as I was blown off my feet by the hurricane force winds at this point.

Sgurr Dubh at the start of the walk