Ciste Dubh, 979m, GR NH062166, a munro-bagging day out by Suzanne
Tuesday 6 May 2025
We returned back home from a last blast of the ski season in Tignes at the weekend to find that Spring had sprung in Scotland. The weather was clear, with a high-pressure ridge sitting over the north of the country bringing stable weather. Overnight temperatures were still cold, but daytime, the sun was shining and the mercury rising to a decent 11 or 12 degrees Celsius. So, we swapped telemark boots for walking boots and headed off to the Northwest Highlands to bag a Munro or two.
Our first thought had been to attempt the South Glenshiel Ridge, but having not been out in the hills for quite a while, we thought it might be sensible to do a single Munro to start with and see how we felt. We still hadn’t quite decided what we wanted to do before we left home, so decided to call in at the Cluanie Inn for breakfast and make a plan while we ate.
I have to say, unfortunately, the Cluanie Inn breakfast was a little disappointing. It was £18 each and for that I’d expect there to be a bit more variety and higher quality products on the breakfast buffet. The sausages were mini pork chipolatas; the lorne sausage was a bit rubbery and rather tasteless; the fried eggs rather over-cooked for my taste; and the only bread available was standard sliced loaf. Still, having paid for breakfast we thought we’d ask if we could leave our vehicle parked in the car park for the day, which was fine, and helped us make up our minds about which route to do – £18 each well spent.
So, after eating our fill, we set off straight from the Cluanie Inn carpark and up the track on the road opposite towards Ciste Dubh. There are several options you can take to climb this mountain, depending on where you park, and all of them involve quite a long walk in as the summit is good way from the A87 road that runs along between a lot of the Munros in this area. A lot of the route options include the ascent of the Corbett Am Bàthach but we decided to give this a miss on this occasion as we didn’t want to over-exert ourselves, particularly with a relatively late start.
Once across the road, we turned right then almost immediately left through a metal gate and started up the track through glen An Caorainn Beag. We were following a decent ATV track but according to the map this was going to run out at some point, so once we could see the walkers’ path on the other side of the allt a’Charorann Bhig burn, we decided to cross over and follow that up the glen instead.
With the dry spell we’ve been having there was no problem crossing the burn and we easily found the walkers’ path and carried on our steady ascent. The path is easy to follow but it is boggy and stony in places, so a bit hard on the feet; we were glad it was a dry day. The path climbs gently upwards under the slopes of Am Bàthach to the right. We stopped every now and again to look back towards the seven Munros of the South Glenshiel Ridge.
We reached the Bealach Á Chònich where the lochan was virtually dried up. A quick drink of water, from our flasks, a check of the map, and then we skirted round the western side and picked up the track to start the steep climb up the southern flank of Ciste Dubh. The path is easy to follow here and quite eroded in places but you quickly gain height. At this point, we had a good view of the pointy peak of An Cnapach above; I’m not brilliant with heights or exposure, as I’m sure you’ve realised by now if you’ve read any of my other tales of being in the mountains. The track skirts below the peak though so that bit wasn’t too bad, but then you have to cross a narrow ridge to get to the last climb. Although a little bit exposed, in hindsight, it was not too bad: a little bit of self-talk and singing to distract myself from looking down seemed to do the trick! My mantra is ‘one step at a time’. I’m definitely worse when I haven’t been out hillwalking for a while; I’ve no idea how on earth I’ll ever be able to do some of the more ‘airy’ routes to compleat my Munro round. Mind you, at the pace I’m going, it’ll take me about another 180 years anyway……so I don’t think I need to worry too much about that just yet.
After that little ridge section, we were on to the last section of the climb to the summit. Looking up, all I could see was what looked like a ridiculously steep and narrow section ahead of me. Head down, focussing on where I’m putting my feet, I just took it one step at a time. I actually don’t particularly like being on the top of a mountain if there is not a lot of room, so it was a quick photo and then we turned round and started the descent. I wanted to get back across the ridge and past the steep traverse of An Cnapach before celebrating my 30th Munro.
Slow and steady, it wasn’t long before we were past the worst. We met another hiker on his way up and stopped for a chat; a welcome respite and my first real opportunity to look around and enjoy the scenery. The views from here really are quite spectacular as you are surrounded by even higher mountains, the five sisters of Kintail to the west, the South Glenshiel Ridge to the south.
The round trip was 7.4 miles with an ascent of 2,589 feet. It took us 5 hours and 50 minutes all together including stops.
We then descended to the Bealach and just below that stopped for lunch. A perfect picnic stop, sheltered from the wind and enjoying the sunshine. It was sublime. We then just had the long walk out along the walkers’ path and then back across the burn to finish on the ATV track.
Here’s a little video near the top from our YouTube channel:
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