Looking west from Fuar Tholl over the Coulin Peaks

Introduction
This range of hills are generally known as the Coulin Peaks, although strictly speaking the Coulin forest occupies only a small portion of this ground. The mountains comprise of three munros and seven Corbetts. Most of the summits are very fine in character, but also easy to climb.

Looking east up Glen Carron

Looking down into Coire Lair with Beinn Liath Mhor on the left

Bounded by Glen Torridon to the north, Glen Carron to the south and Applecross to the west, this range of hills offers some very striking summits. Some of the hills stand as proud isolated summits. Flat on top but very steep on all sides and generally more rocky than grassy. Other summits offer deep corries on one side with smooth hillsides on the other. Then there are summits offering rocky, but quite easy symmetrical ridges.

Looking east from Beinn Bhan, Applecross into the Coulin Peaks

In between these summits lies a moorland dotted with numerous lochans and undulating terrain forming a mix of rocky ground and peat bog. These moors are criss crossed with some of the best stalkers paths in the country and offer easy access to all the hills.

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 (907m), Sgorr Ruadh (962m) and Beinn Liath Mhor (926m). 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 up the southeast ridge of Fuar Tholl

Looking into the north corrie of Fuar Tholl

Fuar Tholl seen from Maol Chean Dearg

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 scree slope descending in the corrie to the east of point 895m offers an easy descent back down to the stalkers path.

An alternative ascent route to Fuar Tholl from Achnashellach is the southeast ridge. From the railway track just west of the river crossing from Achnashellach, a faint path offers a way up to the moor of Sgurr a' Mhuilin. From there the southeast ridge looks very steep and slabby. It is, however, quite easy if you pick the correct route through the slabs and buttresses higher up. For this reason, the route is recommended in ascent rather than descent so that the break through the buttresses can be found.

The North Cliffs of Sgorr Ruadh

The scrambly north ridge of Sgorr Ruadh

Sgurr Ruadh seen from the east ridge of Beinn liath Mhor

From the south, the ascent to Sgorr 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 Sgorr Ruadh can be seen via a grade 1 snow gully - very obvious seen from Coire Lair.

Sgorr Ruadh seen from Fuar Tholl

Looking west along the east ridge of Beinn Liath Mhor

Looking back east along Beinn Liath Mhor's east 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 terrain on either summit is very rocky.

Maol Chean Dearg seen from the east

An Ruadh Stac seen from Fuar Tholl

The approach from the south starts at the Fhionn - abhainn river. Here a landrover track is followed for a short distance to a shooting lodge from where a good stalkers path continues to follow the river. About 1km beyond the bothy a path splits off to the west to ascent the slopes to Bealach a' Choire Ghairbh.

From the 3-way bealach linking Maol Chean Dearg (933m) with An Ruadh Stac (892m), the direct ascent of An Ruadh Stac is steep and slabby in its lower reaches. From below the ridge, the high point of the slabs looks tricky, but upon reaching it you find the nature of the ground to be less slabby and more rocky. In non icy conditions, you won't find difficulties on this ridge. Beyond the slabs, the ground relents birefly before steepening to a mix of small to medium sized rocks and some scree. Find a route to the south for the easiest ascent. Upon reaching the summit, the view of Beinn Damph is very striking and out to the west you have an uninterrupted view of the Applecross Corbetts. Return by the same way to the bealach.

Beinn Bhan and Sgurr a' Chaorachain
These two Applecross Corbetts form the westernmost extent of this area of mountains. At 792m, Sgurr a' Choarachain hosts the third highest public road in Britain over the Bealach na Ba. This road probably has the most alpine character of all the UK roads, that's most appreciated when looking back down into Coire na Ba. Both summits sport smooth western hillsides and very dramatic eastern corries.

Beinn Bhan and the A'Chioch ridge seen from the south

Where the road crosses the 120m contour over the Russel Burn, a small layby offers parking and is a suitable starting point of the walk. The long south ridge of Beinn Bhan (896m) is broad and rises up at an easy, unrelenting gradient. Higher up the ridge starts to level out and upon reaching the first top you are greeted with a view straight down into Coire na Feola and the A' Choich ridge on the other side. This is a fine sporty ridge of considerable exposure. Continue round the corrie headwall, rising up to reach the summit where it's summit ridge continues north for another 3.5km.

Sgurr a' Chaorachain seen from Beinn Bhan

Southernmost top on Beinn Bhan

The A' Chioch ridge

From the summit of Beinn Bhan, the southeast ridge to Bealach nan Arr is broad, but increasingly rocky. Beyond the bealach, a broad terrace can be followed southeast cutting across a hillside to give access to the north ridge of Sgurr a' Chaorachain. This ridge is rocky and undulating before a final steeper rise takes you up to the mast on a subsidiary summit. From here, follow the corrie headwall round over a torridonian tower along the way to the summmit dome. Return the way you came and make your way down to the road over the Bealach na Ba.

From the same bealach as before, the ascent of Maol Chean Dearg starts of steeply with an ascent to its south east plateau where you gain a small breather before tackling the final boulder fields to its summit. The views towards torridon are largely uninterrupted with Liathach and Beinn Eighe looking like steep formiddable walls that they are.

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.

Beinn Damph seen from An Ruadh-stac

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, Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine and Beinn Liath Mhor
seen from Maol Chean Dearg