The car park at the west end of Loch Arkaig, accessed along many miles of single track road on the north side of the Loch from the end of the B8005 north-west of Spean Bridge, was the starting point, for the ascent of the Corbett, Carn Mor. Several vehicles were already parked there when we arrived and once geared up walked west along the vehicle track to the habitation at Strathan.
Here another track descended to and crossed the River Dessarry via a bridge, before entering the forest.
After three hundred metres or so we came to a junction of tracks, straight ahead led to Glen Pean but we took a right and continued through the forest and along Glen Dessarry on a reasonable track.
Around four kilometres later we came to a large break in the forest and here left the track and commenced the ascent of Carn Mor.
It was a fairly steep climb along the edge of the forest and mainly through long vegetation. The going may have been easier on the other side of the stream but to avoid the heat from the sun we stayed in the shade of the trees for as long as possible.
Beyond the upper tree line we climbed onto the north-east ridge of Carn Mor East Top where the gradient eased as we headed for the summit of this Graham Top.
From there we descended the undulating ridge to the col with Carn Mor before climbing onto its north-east ridge. It was then an easy walk to the summit of this Corbett passing several rocky areas to reach the small cairn set upon a rock.
After a break here we descended the long north-east ridge over the knolls of Meall nan Spardan, a Sub Simm, to the edge of the forest at the Allt Coire an Eich. From there we crossed some rough ground to join the vehicle track just north of where we had left it earlier in the day. The outward route was then followed back to the car park.
- Time taken – 8 hours.
- Distance – 21.75 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 1190 metres.