Munro Bagging Beinn Udlamain/Sgairneach Mhor (Munros #18/19) 19.08.2018

My first time back out in over two months saw me in the Cairngorms National Park on a wet and cloudy Sunday morning to climb two of the 7 Munros found near the Pass of Drumochter, Beinn Udlamain and Sgairneach Mhor.
Beinn Udlamain is a Scottish mountain which stands just to the west of the summit of the Pass of Drumochter and east of Loch Ericht, some 30 km west-northwest of the village of Blair Atholl. The mountain’s summit stands on the border between the Highland and Perth and Kinross council areas. At 1011 metres (3317 feet) Beinn Udlamain qualifies as a Munro, and with a high prominence, a Marilyn. It is the highest of the Drumochter hills, however it is not the most eye catching of the group, being flat topped and shielded from a clear view from the A9 road by the surrounding Munros of Sgairneach Mhòr and A' Mharconaich. The best view of the mountain can be obtained from the other hills around Coire Dhomhain. The most common interpretation of the mountain’s name from the Gaelic language is “Gloomy Mountain” which comes from the word Ùdlaidh which means gloomy but can also mean secluded.[2] Other explanations of the name put forward by mountain writers are “hill of the unsteady place” and “hill of the shaking”
Sgairneach Mhòr is a Scottish mountain which lies in a group of seven Munros near the summit of the Pass of Drumochter and are known as the Drumochter mountains or informerly as the “A9 Munros”.[2] The mountain is situated 13 km SSW of Dalwhinnie and four km east of the large LoSgairneach Mhòr lies to the west of the A9 road in area of high ground which was historically called the Druim Uachdair (the ridge of the upper ground). It is a Munro and a Marilyn with a height of 991 metres (3251 feet). The hill is well seen from the Pass of Drumochter showing off its impressive north facing corrie Coire Creagach which holds snow well into the spring. This notable rocky corrie gives the mountain its name which translates from the Gaelic as “Big Rocky Hillside” and this underlines the fact that Sgairneach Mhòr is the only hill in the group with any significant stony areas on its surface and makes it the most visually striking of the Drumochter hills.[3][4] ch Ericht.