Sgorr Dhearg trail head in Glenachulish.
Route up Sgorr Dhearg's west slopes.
Descent from saddle between Sgorr Dhearg and Sgorr Dhonuill.
| Sgorr Dhearg & Sgorr
Dhonuill from Glenachulish Sgorr Dhearg Sgorr Dhonuill |
| Estimated net time | 4-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but the ascent to Sgorr Dhearg up its west slopes is steep and might have risk of uncontrolled sliding if the grass is wet. An alternative is to continue up to the saddle (from where you descend) and then follow the south-west ridge to the summit. You will then have to walk the upper boggy valley twice. | ||
| Drinking water | You're likely to find running water several places up to the valley above the forest. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route, but a little patchy through the forest (June 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park. | ||
| Start height | 37 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1255 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 11.2 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the round about where road A82 and A828 intersect on the south side of Loch Leven drive road A828 1.5 km (0.9 mi) west in the direction of Oban. Turn left towards "Glen Achulish" and drive 700 metres to the end of the road and find parking at the car park.
Start your walk by following the forest road into the valley. Fork left across a bridge after 700 metres and immediately turn right onto a path signed for "Sgorr Dhearg". Follow this path 1.1 km, cross the forest road, and continue on the path on the other side of the road. Keep walking another 450 metres, and again cross the forest road. After another 950 metres, a little after you get out of the forest, leave the path and head off-path uphill to the left. Walk south-east and aim directly for Sgorr Dhearg's summit. This is steep terrain, and be careful not to slide if the grass is wet, but there are no technical difficulties. The summit is marked with a small cairn.
From Sgorr Dhearg follow the path down the scree along the south-west ridge, and then continue up to Sgorr Dhonuill on the other side of the saddle. This summit is marked by a pile of stones.
Descend by reversing your ascent route down to the saddle and continue on the slightly boggy path through the valley and back to where you left the path while ascending. From here reverse your ascent route.
This was a grey Tuesday, and the rest of the family wasn't terribly keen on hiking after their relatively long hike to Ben Nevis the day before, so I left our house in North Ballachulish immediately after breakfast in order to be back at a reasonable time. I had some light rain in the beginning of the hike, but this soon stopped and conditions were just grey and not miserable.
When I got out of the forest I saw an opportunity to hike directly up to Sgorr Dhearg, and after hesitating once or twice I decided to have a go at this slightly steep route. This turned out well, and in hindsight was a very wise move since I then didn't have to cross the boggy part of the valley before the latter part of my hike and could keep my feet dry for as long as possible.
Hiking across to Sgorr Dhoniull was straight forward, on a fairly good path, but I was starting to get tired as I approached the summit. With the limited views because of the low clouds I didn't stay very long at the summit, and I was also keen on getting back to the house to get some food and be with the family. But first I had to take on the relatively strenuous descent, which had a can of Coke at the other end of it.