Early snows on Beinn Fhionnlaidh
The first snows of the winter lay on the tops as I left my old camper van at the end of the single-track road that runs north-east from the head of Loch Creran.
Leaving the rhododendron-choked house of Elleric behind me, I was faced with the prospect of a very wintry looking Beinn Sgulaird, its craggy north ridge rising precipitously above the farm buildings at Glenure. But Sgulaird wasn’t the destination today – I was in search of a route to the summit of its Munro neighbour, Beinn Fhionnlaidh, 3146 ft/959m.
Fhionnlaidh is a rather isolated Munro that lies between the great sea lochs of Loch Creran and Loch Etive. It’s a long whaleback of a mountain that rises fairly gently from the wooded flatlands at the head of Loch Creran to a steep blunt nose that overlooks the densely forested slopes of Glen Etive and this is the route many walkers take. I knew from previous experience that the hill’s summit not only felt appreciably shy and retiring, as the old guidebooks would have it, but positively misanthropic!
On one visit, with my old hiking pal John Hood, we stumbled and struggled into gale-force winds all the way along the ridge to the summit, cursing the mountain gods for the plethora of false tops. Time after time, just as we thought we were climbing the summit slopes another rise would appear in the mist before us. But what I also remembered from that day was the craggy nature of the higher reaches of the hill, the schistose rock interlaced in places by great bands of limestone that provide the basis for some magnificent Alpine plants.
The problem with the route we walked that day was that we returned exactly the same way! I was looking for something a little different, more of a circular route that would add something to what is a fairly impressive hill.
The Scottish Mountaineering Club’s guide to the Munros suggests a route from Invercharnan in Glen Etive, following a firebreak through the forest. This is also the shortest route, but it also required you to return the way you came. Another, very old, route runs across Beinn Trilleachan’s north-east ridge from the head of Loch Etive to Airigh nan Lochan before dropping down the chasm of Glen Ure to the head of Loch Creran. This sketchy path offers a wet but fairly easy route onto the bealach from where you can climb Fhionnlaidh’s southern slopes via its outlier, Meall Gobhar. The big drawback is that this route tends to be fairly boggy and still leaves you with having to retrace your steps back to the start.
Yet another possibility is to climb from Glenure up the length of the Allt Bealach na h-Innsig to Lochan na-h-Uraich from where some steep scrambling will take you onto the summit ridge. A descent via the main ridge back to Glenure offers a fine round trip but I was looking at the possibility of another circular route.
When viewed from the west it’s clear that the long slopes of Beinn Fhionnlaidh are split by the tumbling waters of the Allt Bharainn, creating a separate west-north-west ridge from the main west ridge. A useful forest track from Glenure leads to an isolated house at Barnamuc before leaving the forest to run above the River Creran. Once out of the forest I made my way past some old shielings and onto the lower bracken-covered slopes of this north-north-east ridge where an argocat track gave me a line to follow all the way up the ridge to a high corrie below the steep rocky slopes of Fhionnlaidh’s north-west top.
Some steep scrambling took me through a band of crags to the stony summit ridge and over a couple of rises to the summit itself, with its small cairn. My arrival at the summit coincided with a snow shower so it was no place to linger but as the shower abated on my descent the views began to appear, out the length of Loch Creran to Loch Linhhe and the Sound of Mull. I could see the Paps of Jura and Ben More on Mull and closer at hand the Corbett of Fraochaidh and the twin tops of Beinn a’ Bhheithir dominated the forested pass that runs from Elleric to Ballachulish. The Glen Etive hills all looked impressive with their snowy mantle shining in the sun and in the north the Glen Coe peaks looked grey, wintry and daunting.
I was glad to be heading west, into the sun, down to the snub-nose of Leac Bharainn and grassy slopes back to Barnamuc and the forest track. It probably wasn’t the greatest circular route the mountain has to offer but it gave me the opportunity of discovering a slightly different aspect of the hill’s character, and that’s what it’s all about.
Map: OS Sheet 50
Distance: About 10 miles
Approx Time: 5-7 hours
Start/Finish: The car park at Elleric, beyond the head of Loch Creran
Route: Leave the car park and take the private road to Glenure. Cross the bridge over the river and at the first gate turn left. Pass the farm buildings and continue left, onto the forest track that winds its way through the woods to the house at Barnamuc. Leave the forest and follow some rough Argocat tracks on to the ridge on the north side of the Allt Bharainn. Follow this ridge to a high corrie – Coire Caorainn, and scramble up steep slopes to the S to reach the main ridge. Continue in an E direction to the summit cairn. Return by following the main ridge all the way to the Leac Bharainn and descend grassy slopes in a NW direction to take you back to the forest track. Follow the track back through the forest to Glenure and the road back to Elleric
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I had a good day on this mountain in May. I biked up from Inver-charnan, climbed Sgurr na h-Ulaidh and made my way directly to Fhionnlaidh before returning to my bike. The only problem was a rather aggressive dog at Inver-charnan. The owner was outside with talking on his mobile phone and took no action to call the dog off. Fortunately there was no one around when I sailed through the farm yard on my return with my trekking pole at the ready!