James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

  • Home
  • About me
  • Volcanic Seven Summits
  • Top 50 Ultra Prominent Peaks of the World
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Blog / Sgurr Thormaid

Sgurr Thormaid

11th July 2013 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Earlier in the day I had descended from Sgurr nan Eag after my night in Coire a’Ghrunnda.  This blog is not named after the principal peak i climbed, but after one of its subsidiary summits.  In addition to re-ascending the Munros I also had my sights on climbing all of the subsidiary summits listed in Munro’s Tables.  Sgurr Thormaid is a tricky one and it was my principal objective for this adventure.

After a late breakfast and a bit of snooze following my early rise and ascend of Sgurr nan Eag, I was ready for my next objective for the day – Sgurr Thormaid.  Whilst I intended also to take in its parent summit, Sgurr na Banachdich, I was top collecting this day.

Now the most straightforward approach to the Munro and its top is to start from the Youth Hostel in Glen Brittle.  Via this route the Munro at least can be reached with hands in pockets.  Wanting a slightly longer outing and a bit more scrambling I decided to approach them from the Glen Brittle Hut about one kilometre down the road.  This follows a good path into Coire na Banachdich and eventually on to the main ridge between Sgurr na Banachdich and Sgurr Dearg.

The day had changed from one with clear blue skies to one where a white sheen had drawn itself over the island.  It was oppressively warm though but a gentle breeze had also developed.  Soon after the start a solid wooden bridge is crossed and the corrie comes fully into view.

IMG_5686

And perhaps 10 minutes later a rather fine waterfall is passed.  It was tempting to descend to the pools below to cool off.

IMG_5688

The path leads steadily into the jaws of the corrie with one short stony gully to navigate.  In the corrie there was complete shelter from the breeze and I stopped regularly to re-hydrate.  After an hour and a half I was in the upper reaches of the corrie and could look back to see where I had come.

IMG_5689

In the scree and large blocks the path disappears.  There are cairns, some rather confusing as they seem to pick out alternative ways up.  A band of rock is met and a line of cairns took me to the right so as to avoid it.  As this was now taking me up the flank of Sgurr Dearg I trended to the left to a cairn placed at the bottom of a rather unpromising looking gulley.  Anyway I decided to go up at this point.  It was unpleasantly loose but OK.  Part way up I met a guy who was just sitting in the middle of the gulley and heard his wife struggling a bit on the loose rocks above.  He was not ideally placed should his wife cause rocks to tumble.  He told me that his son was even further up looking for a way ahead.  What, for them, had started as a walk up from the camp site had put them in terrain that they did not look comfortable in.  Their objective had simply been to get on to the main ridge.

I offered to help them but they did not seem interested.  I scrambled up to my left on to a nearby rib so as to avoid knocking rocks down on the guy.  It was a good move anyway as the way on soon came into view.

IMG_5691

I contoured around to the bealach and then on up 100ft or so for a break to drink and to eat.  Sgurr Dearg loomed above with Sgurr Dubh Mor, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich and Sgurr Alasdair to its left – an interesting end on view of Sgurr Mhic Choinnich I thought.

Having previously tackled the intervening tops to Sgurr na Banachdich I decided to avoid them on this occasion.  There are some flanking routes on the west side of the ridge that enable this to be done.  There is a prominent notch on the ridge after the final top (and the ground becomes easier) to tell you it is time to climb the final feet to the summit.  Today it was an unhurried 3 hours to the summit.  The long distance views were lost in the heat haze.  But Loch Coruisk lay below on the other side of the ridge:

IMG_5693

Sgurr Dearg loomed large still with the peaks beyond

IMG_5694

and the pyramid of Sgurr Thormaid lay tantalisingly close below me with Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh behind.  Sgurr Thormaid is Norman’s Peak, named after one of the Victorian pioneers of climbing, Norman Collie.  Although this top can only be 400m or so from the top of the parent, a slightly circuitous route is needed down some fairly rotten ground to a point below the bealach.  From the a bit of a scrabble up loose stones gets you to the bealach where the ground is now sound.  A way up might be made directly from the bealach, but being a bit tired by now I looked for an easier route.  This I found by traversing part way around the west side of the pyramid and then making my way straight up.  There were a couple of useful small ledges on the route.

It surprised me but it had taken 35 minutes from top to top.  Sgurr Thormaid’s summit is short and narrow.  The position is dominated by Sgurr na Banachdich one way and Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh the other.

IMG_5698

IMG_5696

and the angle on Loch Coruisk has changed a little.

IMG_5697

The scramble back down the way I had come was much easier as I could see all the hand and footholds from above.  The easiest way back now was to re-ascend Sgurr na Banachdich.

IMG_5699

Rather than go out along Sgurr nan Gobhar, there is a simpler route down the shallow corrie between that ridge and An Diollaid (Coir’ an Eich).  This is what is looks like:

IMG_5700

There is a clear path, loose for a while, but it soon takes you down and speeds you back to the road at the Youth Hostel.  Here is the view back into the corrie:

IMG_5701

And you pass some more nice waterfalls before the road

IMG_5702

It was then a stroll of a kilometre down the road to the car in the knowledge that I now only had two more tops to do to complete them all.

Filed Under: Blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Links

  • Walkhighlands
  • Parkswatchscotland
  • Peakbagger
  • Alan Arnette
  • Mark Horrell
  • Ted Fairhurst
  • Cookie policy (UK)
  • Terms & conditions

Tags

Aconcagua Antarctica Australia Ben Nevis Bolivia Corbetts Damavand Dan Bull David Hamilton Francois Bernard Giluwe Hewitts Humour Iran Iztaccihuatl Katie Sarah Kilimanjaro Kosciuszko Llullaillaco Marilyns Mount Bogong Mount Elbrus Mount Hagen Mount Mukal Mount Rainier Mount Sidley Munros Ojos del Salado Pico de Orizaba Ruapehu satyarup siddhanta Scottish Mountains Seven Summits South America Taranaki Ted Fairhurst Teide Tochal Toubkal Ultras Volcanic Seven Summits Volcanoes Yorkshire 3 Peaks Zhang Liang

Recent posts

  • Cerro Chirripó – the highest peak in Costa Rica
  • Volcanic Seven Summits completions – February 2023
  • Mount Sidley – January 2023 – seven more V7S completers
  • V7S completion update – end 2022
  • Nevado Sajama

Archive

  • March 2023 (1)
  • February 2023 (1)
  • January 2023 (2)
  • October 2022 (2)
  • September 2022 (1)
  • August 2022 (1)
  • July 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (1)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (3)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (25)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (7)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • August 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • April 2011 (1)

Copyright © James Stone 2014-2023

Manage Cookie Consent
I use cookies to optimize this website.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}