This wasn’t my finest day in the mountains but mainly due to a broken rib. I fell between floor joists in our home while fitting insulation board the day before the hike. Thankfully, my friend D was patient and kept me talking so I thought less about the pain. We walked 14km to bag two Corbetts Cruach Innse and Sgùrr Innse, near Spean Bridge. The Munros of The Grey Corries are usually walked from the same place.
The track continues south through woodland and then heads through two gates before we crossed a bridge over the Allt Leachdach. We could now see the first Corbett, Cruach Innse, looming ahead.
We knew at some point we would need to strike off east from the well laid track and on to pathless and rough mountainside. We delayed and delayed until we thought that we spotted a bit of a trod.
The trod came and went and this told us that most people just head uphill at some point and take a different route each time.
The climb was quite steep and I could use only one hiking pole in the hand on the opposite side to my broken rib.
I remembered to stop to look back over my shoulder for increasingly fabulous views over the glen and Spean Bridge below.
The cairn marking Cruach Innse at 857m was only about 5km into the walk.
On to Corbett 2: Sgùrr Innse
We walked further along the wide ridge in a southerly direction before descending on a fairly obvious path to Bealach na Cruaicheat around 600m elevation. As we descended, we looked across to the high peaks of the Grey Corries and chatted about when we had individually bagged these Munros
Sgùrr Innse rises very steeply to the south and we wondered if we would find a route around the many rocks and crags. In the end, there were long sections of trod to follow and while the route weaved back and forth it didn’t pose too much difficulty until higher up the slope.
We came across a short scree gully that required a bit of scrambling, although nothing too daunting, before the final stretch to reach the summit at 809m elevation. The views were fantastic and we stopped for a short while to have a bit to eat and enjoy the vistas.
We were careful to follow a similar route back to the bealach, before heading west on to very rough vegetation with the aim of returning to the track a the base of the glen.
The track seemed like a very walk – it is about 5km – but I was suffering with my sore rib and I was very happy when we returned into the woodland and then to D’s car, where I happily sat down.
This is a great half-day hike to reach two Corbett summits.
The details: Cruach Innse and Sgùrr Innse
Distance: 14km
Total ascent: 960m
Route: Strava and OS Maps
Corbetts bagged: 161