With Graeme and Roy Adames I started this hill from the bothy at Lochavron [about a mile from the A832 where it meets Loch a'Bhraoin]. The weather good and getting better all the time. A pleasant. easy stroll, gently upwards moving towards Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair. Up till now we had no idea where we were going to climb. We fancied Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair but the books made the outlying ridge ( Sgurr Dubh) seem horrendous and we wanted to have a look before deciding. We were either going to do this or walk further up the glen and go across Beinn a'Chlaidheimh but in the end we did neither. As we climbed into the corrie we could see the big slabby bits the books mentioned and the way up the Mullach was obvious. I think, however, we all more or less decided that with the loads we were carrying it might be easier just to go up the middle mountain, Sgurr Ban.
The initial route was up and down the usual boggy land but once over this we climbed straight up the slabs. Actually it was like climbing up a waterfall as a river was flowing down the middle of the slabs. Roy was very nervous at first as it did look a bit hairy going up a steep, slabby route which might have been slippery. It wasn't, however, and it made for the easiest climbing we had had to date. At the top of the slabs the burn and the way turned into a very bouldery little ravine. Not difficult but rough on the boots as you boulder hopped your way up. Quite tiring but you gain height fast and we were soon heading off up on to the ridge leading to the top. It was rocks all the way. This mountain is totally made up of small boulders. I have never come across such a bouldery mountain. Up and up, boulder to boulder and the occasional slabs. Stopped halfway up for lunch (soup and energy bar) and admired the view over Sgurr Dubh. The pinnacles leading to the Mullach really are pinnacles and looked really fierce, though they were probably very interesting. On and upwards, a straightforward climb although on boulders all the way, with the others going miles ahead of me. Towards the top was a large snow field which when you bypassed it gave you the impression of walking alongside a sheer cliff edge.
The summit was nothing special, just a cairn on top of a stony bump. The other side, the way down was just as stony. Within a short period we found ourselves down at a cairn which had been built like an igloo and had room for a couple of people to shelter. The route leads to a col between this hill and Beinn a'Chlaidheimh and coming off it to get down into the glen on the left was easier said than done. First we had to descend sharply to a lochan. Then the climb down from here has to have been about the worst I have ever experienced. It was craggy, rocky, very slippery and muddy - really awful. By the time we got to the bottom we were very tired and yet when we looked back at the route we had descended it looked quite easy and straightforward. I tell you though it was not.
The bottom was our reward. A beautiful glen with a river and pleasant green banks. A view of An Teallach in full magnificence at one end and Beinn Tarsuinn at the other end. The weather at the end of the day ( six o'clock by now) was sunny and perfect and the knowledge that we were miles from any road or habitation made this idyllic. Certainly one of the prettiest places I have ever been. The walk from there to the dreadful bothy at Carnmore was astoundly beautiful but very, very tiring.
