Coire Mhic Fhearchair and the Triple Buttress
On Tuesday last week I travelled to Torridon to hike to Coire Mhic Fhearchair, a three hour walk to a hidden corrie behind Beinn Eighe. Coire Mhic Fhearchair must be one of the most dramatic corries in the whole of the Scottish mountains, with the impressive backdrop of the Triple Buttress.
The day started off with blue skies and very little wind, and the walk along Coire Dubh Mhor beneath the eastern cliffs of Liathach was almost idyllic (there were a few midgies about), with a great view in the morning light of the glacial ‘hummocky moraine’ deposits in Glen Torridon called ‘The Corrie of a Hundred Hills‘.
When I got to Coire Mhic Fhearchair the views were exceptional, with the steep cliffs on the south and west sides of the corrie reflected in the still waters of Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair reminding me of similar views in the Canadian Rockies.
Wreckage of a Lancaster propellor below the Triple Buttress
I walked to the scree slopes at the southern end of Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair below the Triple Buttress and explored the remains of a Lancaster that crashed into the Triple Butress in 1951. You can see my page about this wreck site on my website here.
In the afternoon it clouded over and started to rain and I made my way back out of the corrie the way I had come, without walking up to the many summits of Beinn Eighe. The weather throughout all my trips this month has been pretty wet, it’s been another rain-filled July for Scotland. Here’s hoping August does not go the same way.
You can see the photos from the walk on my website here.
John Tuach
Hello
The Triple Buttress walk is on my bucket list – a couple of questions if I may.
(1) Where did you start the walk from?
(2) Is the path up to the coire OK for a reasonably fit 65 year old?
(3) How long would it take to walk up to the coire?
Thanks for any info.
Regards
John Tuach
Eddie
Hello John,
The walk to the triple buttress isn’t too difficult, there’s a good path the whole way, and while rocky in places, it only climbs to 600m, so it’s not like climbing a Munro. It should take about 2 hours to get to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair beneath the triple buttress, and the path starts at a car park on the A896 near a bridge, marked prominently on the OS map of the area.
Eddie