Walking the Corbetts Vol 2 North of the Great Glen. Brian Johnson
and dramatic Munros and Corbetts, including A’ Mhaighdean and Beinn Dearg Mor. He is a member of the Munro Society and has sponsored some surveys to measure the height of ‘dubious’ Munros and Corbetts, including the one which resulted in Beinn a’ Chlaidheimh being relegated to Corbett status.
PREFACE
Connoisseurs of the Scottish Highlands will know that north-west Scotland provides some of the most magnificent mountain and coastal scenery in the world.
North of the Great Glen the sea-lochs cut deep into the western seaboard, giving fjord-like scenery, and islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides have a magic of their own. This side of the Great Glen most of the mountains are rocky and rise steeply from a rough and wild landscape dotted with sparkling lochs and lochans. Along the western seaboard there are far more Corbetts than Munros and most of these are magnificent mountains. In fact, there are no Munros at all in the wild Ardgour or Moidart, nor on the islands of Harris and Rum, and in the far north and west few of the spectacular isolated peaks composed of Torridonian sandstone reach Munro status.
A list of the 50 best walks on the Corbetts would contain at least 45 from north of the Great Glen!
You will find that most of the peaks in Volume 2 of this guide are tougher and more committing than the peaks described in Volume 1 and many could be daunting for the inexperienced walker in bad weather.
This guide is aimed at the walker who wants the most interesting route on the mountain, but even the peak bagger looking for the shortest way up might get more out of his ‘tick’ by following the routes suggested here.
Brian Johnson
Glen Barisdale, Knoydart (Route 31)
INTRODUCTION
Loch Beinn Dearg, Fisherfield Forest (Route 72)
What are the Corbetts?
Scottish Peaks over 3000ft (914.4m) became known as ‘Munros’ after they were listed by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) published the list and ‘Munro-bagging’ soon became a popular sport. By 2010 over 4000 people were recorded as having ‘compleated’ all the Munros, although there are many more unrecorded compleatists, too.
In 1930 John Rooke Corbett, a district valuer from Bristol, became the fourth person and first Sassenach (Englishman) to compleat the Munros, but he didn’t stop there. He went on to climb all Scotland’s hills and mountains over 2000ft (610m) and drew up a list of mountains between 2500ft (762.0m) and 3000ft (914.4m) with a drop of at least 500ft (152.4m) on all sides. When Corbett died in 1949, his sister passed his list on to the SMC, who published it alongside the Munro tables.
Corbett’s original list has been adjusted as the accuracy of maps has improved, and this has meant the addition of about 20 Corbetts and the deletion of others. Also mentioned in the route descriptions are ‘Grahams’, which are mountains between 2000 and 2499ft.
Cliffs above Allt Slochd a’ Mhogha on Sgurr Coire Choinnichean, Knoydart (Route 33)
Volume 2 covers the Corbetts north of the Great Glen, including the western seaboard and the islands of Mull, Rum, Skye and Harris. South of the Great Glen it is the Munros which attract most attention, but along the western seaboard and in the far north it is often the Corbetts or even the lowly Grahams which dominate the landscape, with isolated rocky peaks rising steeply above the sea and inland lochs, in a wilderness of heather and bog dotted with sparkling lochs and lochans. There are few Munros here, but there are spectacular Corbetts all the way from Ardgour to Cape Wrath, including those in Ardgour, Knoydart, Applecross, Torridon and Fisherfield. The far north-west provides some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the world and it is difficult to beat the magical islands of Mull, Rum, Skye and Harris.
Is it a Corbett?
Since the lists of Munros, Corbetts or Grahams were first published there have been many revisions as more accurate OS maps have been produced. Accurate surveys, sponsored by the Munro Society, have probably settled all doubts at the boundary between Munros and Corbetts, but there are still likely to be a number of promotions or demotions between Corbett and Graham status.
The problem is highlighted in the case of a peak which appeared in the first draft of this guide but has now been excluded; Beinn Talaidh on Mull. When the OS 1:50,000 maps were first published, Beinn Talaidh was listed at 762m, the minimum height for a Corbett. Later editions listed Beinn Talaidh at 761m and it was relegated to Graham status. However, the latest OS 1:50,000 map shows Beinn Talaidh as a confusing 761(763)m. The OS seem to be doing this when the trig point is not the highest point on a summit. John Barnard and Graham Jackson in 2009, using sophisticated GPS equipment, measured the highest point as 761.7 ±0.1m and this height has now been accepted, missing the requirement for a Corbett by about 30cm (1ft). Barnard and Jackson believe the 763m may be a mistake by the OS measuring to the top of the large ‘prehistoric tumulus’ which is nearby. Incidentally, the author’s measurements gave a reading of 766m which is the same reading as he got for nearby Dun da Ghaoithe which is listed at 766m!
The OS only claim an accuracy of ±3.3m for spot heights on their maps derived from aerial photography.
Geology
An Teallach from Sail Mhor, Fisherfield Forest (Route 74)
Much of the early pioneering work in geological theory was based on investigations on the rock formations of NW Scotland. This is recognised in the UNESCO-endorsed award of Geopark status to the North-West Highlands. Geopark designation is intended to encourage geotourism, and a number of excellent visitor centres as well as roadside information boards have been developed to encourage this. This Geopark area is undoubtedly the most scenically attractive area in the UK.
The North-West Highlands contain rock formations which span over 3000 million years of earth history and include some of the oldest rocks in the world. Along the west coast, the oldest rock in the region, Lewisian gneiss, creates a landscape of low hills and scattered lochans. Rising from this gneiss landscape are huge masses of Torridonian sandstone, capped by quartzite, which form the distinctive mountains Cul Mor, Suilven, Canisp and Quinag within the Geopark as well as the mountains of Fisherfield, Torridon and Applecross further south-west.
Lewisian gneiss 2900–1100 million years old
Lewisian gneiss: Most of the Outer Hebrides and the North West Highlands Geopark have a bedrock formed from Lewisian gneiss. These are among the oldest rocks in the world, having been formed up to 3 billion years ago. About 2900–2700 million years ago north-west Scotland, together with parts of Greenland and North America, made up the ancient continent of Laurentia, which was being built up as igneous rock deep in the earth’s crust and then metamorphosed at very high temperatures. These rocks, with irregular light and dark layers, were intruded by later basaltic dykes and granite magma.
Torridonian sandstone 1000–750 million years old
Torridonian sandstone: Many of the most spectacular mountains in north-west Scotland are composed of Torridonian sandstone, a coarse-grained purplish-red sandstone. Sediments were laid down upon the gneiss by broad, shallow rivers, where the water flowed in many small channels separated by sand-bars. These sand grains and pebbles would have come from an eroding mountain range whose roots are now on the other