Rough and tough beauty.....Quinag

Hill: Quinag…..Sail Gharbh (808m); Sail Ghorm (776m); Spidean Coinich (764m)

Type: Corbetts x3

We decided to do the route anti clockwise on the advice of one of our party but in retrospect I would stick to the clockwise route as described in Walkhighlands & SMC book. There is a good reason that most people recommend clockwise.

Lochan Bealach Cornaidh appears as we climb

Coffee break as our last Corbett comes out of the cloud

Sail Gharbh still in cloud but straightforward

Sail Gharbh

The forecast was for the best day of the week but as we headed up the very well renewed track it did not seem like that, the track all the good work by the John Muir trust. The low clouds added to the atmospheric conditions but as this was my top to-do ramble of the year I wanted blue skies and views.

A good walk up the track when unexpectedly Lochan Bealach Cornaidh appeared beside us. We had been on a gradual rise but that was soon to change as we began the very steep ascent to the ridge leading to our first Corbett of the day, Sail Gharbh. The final section is rocky with only a vague track. As we gained ground false top after false top appeared out of the cloud until the final peak was the real thing, good going just over 2 hours. The highest of our three Corbetts although I can assure you it did not feel like it. Cloud was coming and going so some great views alternating with misty cloud.

Kylesku bridge

Sail Ghorm long slow climb

In a Walkhighland report one walker went down here in error in bad weather luckily recovered after a major fright

Looked back and the rock formation looked like a rhino head to me, had lots of other suggestions

Liz on Sail Ghorm

Now some unwanted backtracking before we contoured our way round towards the 2^nd Corbett of Sail Ghorm. On the way views over to Kylesku bridge opened up, a stunning combination of deep blue water and verdant greenery, so picturesque.

En route we reached the bealach with the projecting stone where some of the group had their pictures taken, a fine airy piece of rock. There are a few ups and downs alongside some stunning views, it really doesn't get much better than this.

There is a contouring track, narrow and eroding, with dangerously steep drops on our right side, not a place to slip, quite likely to be fatal.

Then a slightly tricky minor scrambling descent before the long walk to Sail Ghorm. It is a fine ridge walk and although only about 1.5km long it seemed a lot longer.

We passed the impressive rocky cleft with an almost vertical drop. You can find a walkers report on Walkhighlands who in bad weather who started to descend this, a frightening experience for him.

The cairn, which is on a wide grassy area, was reached with good views eastwards but the westerly views over the sea had too much cloud cover. Nevertheless through the breaks it was impressive as the blue water turned white where it was breaking over rocks. Lunch time but the wind had turned very cold so not as long spent as might have been.

Liz edging out

Formidable last Corbett lies ahead

Looking back Corbett 1 far right and Corbett 2 middle distant

Spidean Coinich

Descent

More backtracking this time the full distance before the scrambling section, much easier than descending.

A short walk, another climb, then time to take in the good views as the next section was for me the morale sapping stage.

This final section was the toughest by a long way for many reasons. At the end of a long walk you want as easy a finish as possible, this was anything but. The 3^rd Corbett was the lowest in height but certainly not in blood, sweat and tears.

An ascent of about 120m would normally be good for a 3^rd hill but not here. Then followed a descent of around 170m, all that height gain eroded and more and it was a crappy horrible steep descent with total concentration required. It felt like we were almost back down to the level of the lochan we passed on our wat to Corbett 1, not an inspirational feeling.

Now an ascent of 140m surely that was it, nope. Another 60m descent, I was getting well fed up of this roller coaster and wanted it over. Again another 120m of ascent and we were finally at Spidean Coinich, Corbett number 3. Walkhighlands describes the views are sensational and I would not disagree. All of Assynt & Sutherland was laid out before you with much, much more besides. By now we were in complete blue skies with only minimal cloud covering the odd top, so the long distance views were impressive, everything I hoped it would be.

All that remained was the initially very rocky, mainly pathless, tough descent. More or less continued all the way down.

We made good time and I was delighted to complete this iconic trio of Corbetts but no denying it was a tough walk. As stated earlier I would have preferred to get the roller coaster as a hard starter with an easier finish. Views at times out of this world, really as good as it gets,

Ascent: 1240m

Distance: 15.3km

Time: 7.06

Wildlife: Ring Ouzel; Skylark; meadow Pipit; Golden eagle (on way home); Common Green bottle fly;