Introduction
Further north, you head into more desolate country with little habitation. The mountains stand out proud amidst desolate moorland. The drive north of Loch assynt breaks into the most sparsely populated country in the UK. Some of the roads up here only see the postbus for days at a time!

Unlike assynt and Inverpolly, the moorland isn't so flat but consists of many craggy hummocks intersperced with many lochs. Another feature of this area are the sea lochs that break deeply into the heart of the country, Lochs Eribol, Coul and Inchard are all examples of this.

Ben Stack seen from Scourie

Looking across Loch Eriboll

Quinag
This mountain is located just north of Loch Assynt. It is comprised of three principle summits, each one classified as a Corbett. The ridges are all well defined with some occasional scrambly sections. From the north, two of the summits are seen as throwing down impressive buttresses 400m tall standing guard on either side of the corrie in between.

Quinag seen from Inchnadamph

Sail Ghorm seen from Sail Gharbh

Access to the summits is normally gained from the east where a stalkers path is followed into Lochan Bealach Cornaidh and to the bealach beyond. The southernmost Corbett, Spidean Coinich is attained by ascending a narrow ridge on a well worn path. It is narrow, but easy under summer conditions with just occasional need to put hands on rock. Beyond the first minor top, progress is along a broad but rocky ridge.

Sail Gharbh seen from Sail Ghorm

The sharp ridge rising to Spidean Coinich
seen from Sail Gharbh

From just east of Bealach a' Cornaidh, a slight path ascends the steep grassy slopes to the summit ridge of the central Corbett Sail Gharbh. You can ascend directly to point 745m from the bealach, but this is steep and craggy. The summit ridge to Sail Garbh is broad and easy. Contour round point 745m to gain access to the ridge heading north to Sail Ghorm. One minor top is traversed round on a path on its eastern slope. A scrambly descent is then followed down to the saddle with Sail Ghorm. The ascent to this Corbett is then easy along a grassy ridge.

Arkle, Foinaven and Ben Stack
These three summits are superb. Foinaven is the highest at 914m - just a whisker beneath 3000ft and yes, it has a big cairn. My own opinion of these summits is that they're far nicer than the munros of Ben Hope and Klibreck - far more striking. Both Arkle and Foinaven are tough mountains, the terrain is largely composed of small quartzite rocks and boulders and is a very light colour.

Foinavon - one of the finest mountains in the far north

The southern slopes of Arkle

Ben Stack and Loch Stack

The summit ridge of Arkle

Arkle has some striking south facing cliffs facing loch stack. While the eastern slopes are broad an homogenous, a ridge forms linking the two summits of Arkle and is quite narrow in places requiring mild scrambling. This ridge overlooks a corrie to the north that seems to be completely devoid of any grass, but the boulders seem to be arranged in a river like formation that flows downward - glacial morriane. From Arkle, the main top of Fionaven seems to be a long way away with one section of the ridge looking very sharp (not so).

A stony plateau east of Arkle

Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughaill seen to the southwest of Arkle

The north side of Arkle seen from Fionavon

Foinaven is a long ridge with six tops along it. I approached the principle summit from the south east at the bealach with Arkle. It's a tough route and took me four hours to do the 5km walk to the principle top. It's quite broad on the south side and reveals nothing about the north eastern corries hidden away. The south ridge from point 869m to Cadha na Beucaich is the narrowest part of the main ridge that involves short easy scrambling, while the walk out to A' Cheir Ghorm has a proper scrambly bit on it.

On the easternmost section of Fionavon looking north west

The narrowest section on the main ridge of Fionavon

The northern most corrie of Fionavon with the principle summit behind - Ganu Mor

As said before, the ridge is very rocky, well stony, but the going isn't too bad. The corries are superb some places have 300m tall cliffs! Not sure what rock climbing has been done here but some faces look like clean rock.

I've never climbed Ben Stack before but from what I've seen of it, the eastern approach should be trivial while the western approach gives the more exciteing routes - it certainly appears more striking from the west.

Ben hope and Klibreck
If you can stand the drive, Ben Hope, the most northerly munro, is worth ascending. It's a quick two hours up, two hours down from the car park. It isn't the most inspiring route though. The path is wet and boggy low down and is on convex broad slopes higher up where the steep west cliff is largely hidden from view. A better route is said to tackle the summit from the north where you can take some scrambling on a rock step on its north ridge.

Ben Hope seen from across Loch Eribol

The top of the north ridge of Ben Hope

I should note that if you don't have a car, then Ben Hope, out of season is a very remote summit. You may find that one postbus a day is all that travels the road. I was faced with a six hour trek on the road out to Altnaharra - it's that remote!

Ben Hope seen from Strath More

Strath More seen from Ben Hope's south ridge

Ben Klibreck is the other munro in the far north. It's not very inspiring to climb. Most routes are grassy and homogeneous. The ridge itself is broad and pleasant but it was the climb to the ridge that was the bore. The views again are vast, no mountains to get in the way and when you see Seana Braigh to the south in the far distance, you realize once again that Scotlands is a big place!

The headwall of Na Glas Coire, Ben Klibreck

Ben Klibreck seen from Ben Hope

Creag nan Lochan, Ben Klibreck

Two routes of approach originate from the west. One is from the Crask Inn, a longer route, said to be drier. The other is further north just north of Vagastie cottage. A bridge crosses the small river, and a path is followed east on largely flat but wet grasslands south of Loch nan Uan. The ascent to the ridge is on top of soft deep grass and heather, but you reach a good footpath traversing the side of the slope 50m down from the crest.

This path is followed north to a saddle at 688m and from here the ridge rises gently north and then more steeply east to reach the summit of Ben Klibreck. An ascent from Altnaharra is possible, but pathless.

Furture development to this page - Cranstakie, Ben Loyal and Coastal walks

Cranstakie and Beinn Spionnaidh seen from Ben Hope

Ben Loyal seen from the Ben Hope road