Torridon’s Sgurr Dubh has been nagging away at me…
Hills you haven’t climbed: they stare mockingly down at you as you pass them, demanding your attention. The feeling of not doing them nags away at you, urging you to do something about it, until finally the day arrives.
Sometimes it takes weeks and sometimes years – and that was the case with a Torridon Corbett I hadn’t done.
Sgurr Dubh rears up on the south side of Glen Torridon as you make your way towards Loch Torridon and the village. Its rocky profile doesn’t quite match the grandeur of the great Torridon triumvirate of Beinn Eighe, Liathach and Beinn Alligin, but it’s no less a hill for all that, being largely rough and pathless.
I’d ascended its neighbour, Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine, several years before in winter, and while the two Corbetts are often done together, the very mixed and undulating ground between them caused us to miss out Sgurr Dubh. With fading light on a short winter’s day, we instead made our way down the path on the east side of the hill to Coulin Lodge and Loch Clair.
A perfect spell of autumn weather and an invitation to stay with friends in Torridon village provided the opportunity to rectify my non-ascent of Sgurr Dubh in the company of Bob Shorter (he’s actually taller than me!).
Having completed his round of the Corbetts, Bob was ideal company and we set off along the path that skirts the whitewashed Ling Hut with high hopes of a grand day ahead.
The easiest way to climb Sgurr Dubh is to use the path from Coulin Lodge I’d previously descended, but never one to make life easy, I was keen do the hill from the west side, comprising a series of rocky terraces.
Before you get to them, however, you have to tackle some remnants from the last ice age – drumlins. These small, grassy mounds, with soggy ground between them, which guard the lower slopes of Sgurr Dubh like the defences of a castle, are energy sapping, but we at last made it to the base of the rock terraces and began to move up.
There’s no defined path and you simply have to weave your way through, looking for lines of least resistance. Superb views of the area were now opening up, with mighty Liathach most prominent across the glen, as we reached the edge of a deep, rocky gorge carrying the Allt nan Corrag, which issues from a series of lochans that pockmark the upper heights of Sgurr Dubh.
The ground was now easier to navigate on scree paths and we wove our way between the plethora of lochans towards the summit, listening to stags bellowing in the corries and an unseen ptarmigan croaking somewhere above.
The summit, which has a small shelter, is a grand viewpoint, providing a panorama of the countless hills, too numerous to mention, spread around.
Most visitors to the glen were after bigger fare on the north side, so we had the hill to ourselves all day, the sounds of nature our only companions.
An unexpected shower drifted in while we rested and ate lunch, causing us to don waterproofs. But it soon cleared and we prepared for the descent.
Good visibility allowed us to find the way easily, but mist would require careful way finding to avoid catastrophe on this complex hill.
A well-used path led south towards Coire an Leth-Uilt until we were able to traverse across to the highest lochan, then gradually down to the right-hand edge of the gorge again.
We were keen to avoid a long walk back out so I forged a line across the totally pathless and in places very marshy terrain towards the Ling Hut (thank goodness for gaiters!). The outward path leading past pretty Lochan an Iasgair to the road was a welcome sight and, rather wearily, we agreed it had been a brilliant day.
One more unclimbed hill climbed for me. Now all I have to do is tackle the rest!
Route details
Sgurr Dubh
Distance 5 miles / 8.5km
Time 6-7 hours
Terrain Mostly rough and pathless
Start/finish Coire Dubh Mor car park, Torridon
Map OS Landranger 25; OS Explorer 429
Returning to climb a ‘missing’ hill in perfect conditions
Click here to view the route in OS Maps
