the rock ridges of Garven are all in view, and the way from this point may vary according to the route decided upon.

Ever since my first visit fifteen years ago with my good friend, the late W. Brown, I have wished to get to know better this delightful country, and several subsequent flying visits to the Garven corrie have increased the desire. This year a party, which sometimes numbered seven and sometimes was down to four, spent a fortnight in Ardgour and explored some of the other glens and corries of the district.

Sgurr Dhomhnuill (2,915 feet).—This is the highest point of a great tract of country covering about a thousand square miles lying to the south of the Fort William-Mallaig railway and bounded on the west, south, and east by the open sea, the Sound of Mull, and Loch Linnhe. This area comprises the districts of Moidart, Ardnamurchan, Morven, Sunart, and Ardgour, and is one of the most mountainous in Scotland. From most points of view Sgurr Dhomhnuill looks a shapely peak. It is well seen up Glen Scaddle from the Loch Linnhe steamer, and from the summit of Garven it dominates, owing to its nearness and its fine shape, the great mass of hills to the north-east.

Brown and I in 1897 had scanned it closely from the top of Garven, and speculated as to whether the steep ridge to the north-west would give a rock climb. The index to the first ten volumes of our Journal contains no reference to Sgurr Dhomhnuill, and it would appear that its inaccessibility and the fact that it is 85 feet below the Munro standard, have made it at least a very rare ascent among our members.

On 10th June, Miss R. Raeburn, with W. N. Ling, A. C. M'Laren, and myself planned an ascent. We had some discussion as to whether to take the route by Glen Scaddle or that by Glen Gour. Obviously the Glen Scaddle route would present no difficulties, but it is long. There are about four and a half miles to cycle to the foot of Glen Scaddle, and then it is fully nine miles to the summit, the glen rising very gently for a long distance, and leading to the foot of a long, easy ridge of the mountain. The Glen Gour route is shorter, there being three miles to cycle, and about seven to walk. The point of doubt

arose from the fact that there is the head of an intervening valley, Gleann Mhic Phail, between Glen Gour and Sgurr Dhomhnuill. From the character of the rocks above Glen Iubhair, we anticipated that if there was much traversing or up and down work to do, it might be a long and somewhat difficult job. However, it appeared from the map that if the direct route were too tiresome, the summit could be reached by a slightly longer route over two intervening tops, Sgurr a Chaoruinn and Sgurr na h' Ighinn. In 1897 Brown and I had returned from Garven by Glen Gour, and my recollection was that it was a beautiful glen. We therefore decided to go by it, as the shorter and more interesting route. We had to make a late start, as M'Laren was due by the mail steamer at eleven. My wife and little daughter, with a friend, set off in a trap at ten for a picnic in Glen Gour, and Miss Raeburn and Ling accompanied them on cycles to the foot of the glen, and then helped to carry the picnic things about a mile and a half up the glen. Immediately upon M'Laren's arrival he and I followed on bicycles, and, thinking that we might gain some time, we took our cycles rather over a mile up the glen, as far as a deserted cottage. We rode most of the way, but so slowly owing to the stones and boulders in the road, and there were so many necessary dismounts that probably we did not gain more than five minutes, and really the Glen Gour track cannot be said to pay for cycles. About four miles up the glen we joined the others, who had been going slowly to let us get up with them. A mile farther we struck up into the corrie between Beinn na h' Uamha and Sgurr a Chaoruinn. Near the foot of the corrie we lunched by the burn and left a rucksack there. A steep walk then took us up on to the ridge of Sgurr a Chaoruinn at a height of about 2,000 feet, about 250 feet above the col. From here we had a fine view of Sgurr Dhomhnuill rearing his sharp cone immediately opposite us across Gleann Mhic Phail. The slope facing us looked very steep, and the drop into the glen a big one. We roughly estimated it at 1,000 feet. We discussed whether it would be better to go round by the ridge, but M'Laren strongly advised

"charging straight at him," and that way when we took it proved much easier than we expected. Thirty minutes was sufficient to take us down into the glen and up the slopes of Dhomhnuill as high as the col we had just left, from which we are led to believe that the drop was not as much as we had estimated-probably about 600 feet. We struck the summit ridge just below the steep rise on the west, and then contoured round to the north looking for a climb. On the north there is a big steep face, probably a thousand feet in height, which in winter would give a long and difficult climb, but there are so many ledges, and the rock is so much broken up that we did not see any way which, under summer conditions, offered a definite continuous climb. We did not put on the rope but scrambled up by various routes. The summit was clear, and towards the north-east there was a view of countless mountains, but in other directions a haze prevented any distant view. Loch Sunart and Loch Shiel look quite close at hand, and Ben Resipol between them looks well from this point of view. Garven does not look his best, the rocky ridges being all in the face towards Sgurr Dhomhnuill and being lost in the massif of the mountain. If it were not for the easy ridge towards the south-east Sgurr Dhomhnuill would not be an mountain to ascend when coated with ice and snow.

easy

The mountain is a worthy king of its district. It is Sgurr Dhomhnuill that is celebrated in the "Songs of the North" as the sepulchre of the ancient Chieftain of Ardgour-"Strong Donald the hunter MacGillian More":

"Then here let him rest in the lap of Scaur Donald,

The wind for his watcher, the mist for his shroud,

Where the green and the grey moss will weave their wild tartans,
A covering meet for a chieftain so proud."

Upon the return two of the party followed the ridge over Sgurr na h' Ighinn and Sgurr a Chaoruinn, while the others went by the col. One and three quarter hours' easy going took them back to the rucksack. The ridge party went quickly, and we met on the slopes of Sgurr a Chaoruinn.