Cruach Innse

 

Note: For some reason my SPOT tracker did not track me continuously on sections of this walk, probably due to tree cover.

In August 2019 I decided to climb the Corbett Cruach Innse from Spean Bridge. This hill is often climbed with the neighbouring Corbett Sgur Innse but I decided to climb Cruach Innse on its own and leave the other hill for another time.

Leaving the small car park in the woods near the railway bridge on the outskirts of Spean Bridge there's a two mile walk along the road to the end of the paved road.

One of the problems climbing all the hills in this area is that of finding somewhere to park a car which doesn't involve blocking gates or passing places. Sadly the obvious place for a car park, somewhere near the junction with the unpaved road up to Coire Choille Farm, is festooned with no parking signs. It is possible to drive up this track for another mile or so but it won't do a car's suspension much good.

As the track reaches Coire Choille Farm the hills come into view with Cruach Innse on the left and Stob Coire na Ceannain on the right.

The track heads away from the farm with views (if it wasn't so cloudy) towards Aonach Mor and the White Corries...

....before turning directly towards the Lairig pass and Cruach Innse.

The weather was brightening up and what I think is Aonach Mor (under a cloud cap) can be seen on the right.

Looking back into Glen Spean. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

One of the features of this walk is the carved statue of the "Wee Minister". Next to it is a box for donations for the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team. You never know when you'll need them so a small payment was duly inserted,

The track climbs steadily into the Lairig....

....before reaching a bridge over the Allt Leachdach

Shortly after the bridge there is a small gravel pit and a faint path leads off uphill for a short distance...

....before disappearing. It's just a matter now of climbing roughly eastwards up the grassy slopes to reach the ridge line.

The views up the glen give an excuse to stop now and then. Ahead are the pointed summit of Stob Coire na Ceannainn (1123m) and (in cloud) the summit of the Munro Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m)

Having reached the main ridge I turned south eastwards and began the fairly relentless climb....

....keeping to the right of some rocky outcrops. In places it is extremely steep and, of course, there is no path. I decided to mark my route on my GPS roughly every hundred metres for when I was walking back downhill.

A zoomed in photo looking downhill to the waters of Loch Lochy in the Great Glen and to the left of it what appears to be flooded land near Gairlochy where the Caledonian Canal and River Lochy parallel each other.

Further up the hill a rough and intermittent path appears....

....and the gradient eases as the summit dome is reached.

The cairn at the summit of Cruach Innse (857m) looking back towards Spean Bridge and the Great Glen. It had taken me three and three quarter hours from the outskirts of Spean Bridge.

Looking south east from the summit the nearest hill is Sgurr Innse. Beyond are Stob a'Choire Mheadhoin and Stob Choire Easain the two Munros above Loch Treig.

A 150 degree panorama showing (from left to right) Roy Bridge, the long whale back shape of Beinn Chlianaig and the two Easain Munros. On the far right are the slopes of the Munro Stob Coire Claurigh.

Click on the photo to see a larger image.

Across the Lairig is Coire na Ceannainn  the summit of the Munro with Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m) still partially hidden by cloud.

A long distance zoomed photo looking northwards up Glen Roy shows the Parallel Roads formed by glacial lakes. The red dots on the photo and maps show their locations.

Back down on the track in the valley the clouds have cleared the summits. Now there's just another 4 miles back to the car...