Beinn Damh Wednesday 19th May 2010

Been looking at climbing Beinn Damh on and off for a while so decided this was the day. My Dad (who is 78 hope I can still walk at that age) had come up for a few days to join us at the cottage and since his knee can give him a few problems on descent we did not want too big a day, mind you saying that all these hills up here have nearly a sea level start so you really are climbing all the way. Parked the car at the Loch Torridon Inn and followed the climbing path beside the Allt Coire Roill through the beautiful Caledonian pines.

The Path through the Caledonian Pine Forest

After leaving the forest we were rewarded to some lovely views of Upper Loch Torridon.

Upper Loch Torridon

Now after leaving the trees and almost reaching the col which separates Sgurr na Bana Mhoraire from the main Beinn Damh mass we went into cloud which never lifted till we were back down at this level on the return which is a real shame as denied us the views hence no more photos, nevertheless onward and upward we went, following the path marked with occasional small cairns until reaching the quartzite boulders at the dip which then narrows, and you could still tell this even in cloud, up the narrow ridge to reach the summit cairn which is right on the edge of the steep east facing corrie. It was just like looking into a big white hole. On way back though we kind of went off path and lost the cairns in the cloud but what impressed me was how accurate my satmap was, I said to Dad & Paul we're about 20-30 metres lower down than on way up according to the snail trail so we started to ascend a little and bang right back on the path again.As soon as back at the col as I said before out of the cloud and nice lower down views came into view again. Still a five hour walk by the time back at car and then dad took us for a nice run to Diabeg where the film Loch Ness was filmed starring Ted Danson. Another brilliant day !

Diabeg