keptie Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 Not been hillwalking for a while so decided the get the walking boots on yesterday, decided on Beinn Dearg and after a misty cloudy start got to the top just as the weather brightened up. No real long steep ascents just a long haul from tilt car park should've took a bike perhaps but good to be out on the hills again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty It Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Going to applecross for a few days anyone suggest any decent hills to get great views? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microdave Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 The view from the top of the Bealach na Ba is pretty good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomCat Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Sunny in the Pentland hills 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin.Hood Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Going to applecross for a few days anyone suggest any decent hills to get great views?I bloody love applecross. However we did no hillwalking.I've zero to add but the road to get there is teckle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 On 05/08/2019 at 16:26, MONKMAN said: I assume Dr No was hospitable and had plenty pre prepared food for his piranhas. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 57 minutes ago, Empty It said: Going to applecross for a few days anyone suggest any decent hills to get great views? The view from the top of Sgurr a' Chaorachain (a Corbett) is sensational on a good day. The benefit of this is that there is basically no climbing to be done if you are at the top of the Bealach na Ba already....It's also an easy hill in an area full of tricky stuff... Other than that - Bheinn Bhan is fucking hill porn - but it needs a bit of experience to do any of the fun routes IMO - not sure how much you've done in the past... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty It Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 The view from the top of Sgurr a' Chaorachain (a Corbett) is sensational on a good day. The benefit of this is that there is basically no climbing to be done if you are at the top of the Bealach na Ba already....It's also an easy hill in an area full of tricky stuff... Other than that - Bheinn Bhan is fucking hill porn - but it needs a bit of experience to do any of the fun routes IMO - not sure how much you've done in the past...Not a great deal but will definitely be looking out for this 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty It Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Managed to take in some decent hills whiles away, not sure of names though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 6 hours ago, Empty It said: Managed to take in some decent hills whiles away, not sure of names though I'm pretty sure it's Sgurr a' Chaorachain - did you do it from the top of the Bealach na Ba road? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty It Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 I'm pretty sure it's Sgurr a' Chaorachain - did you do it from the top of the Bealach na Ba road?Yes, on the left hand side going from Lochcarron to applecross 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 (edited) I've always got a few trips pre-planned - bucket list stuff like @ThatBoyRonaldo's (brilliant) Suilven trip above - that are waiting for my time and decent weather to coincide. This happened at the weekend when the trip to climb Ben Aden was finally a go-er. Ben Aden is regarded as a classic but is as hard to reach a mountain as there is in Scotland - it's a proper expedition. For "fun", I also added two more remote hills - the Corbett Sgurr a Fhurainn and the Munro Sgurr Mor - to the trip. In order to solve the issue of actually getting into and back from these hills in a couple of days, I used my packraft to remove the obstacle of Loch Quoich. The climb onto Sgurr an Fhurainn was fairly easy as there was an old stalkers path that made it fairly pain free. The views of the west ridge of Gairich was nice from the summit. I last climbed Sgurr Mor about 10 years ago and it was probably the most miserable day I've ever had on the hill (10 hours of rain, having to crawl onto the summit due to mad winds, getting trapped in Glen Kingie due to the river being in spate) - so a bit of unfinished business there. This time, it was perfect weather but climbing up the steep ridge in that sort of heat with a v heavy pack was a fucking killer - I had about 100 rests on the way up and pretty much collapsed in a heap at the summit. The views to Ben Aden, Luinne Bheinn, Ladhar Bheinn (and my planned campsite at Lochan Nam Breac) were amazing and I lay about up there for a while. My plan had been to follow a stalkers path down to Loch Quoich and paddle along to the head of the Loch - but the problem was that the loch wasn't there. Someone had pulled the plug at the dam at the other end of the Loch to the point that the western 3km shown on the OS didn't exist. This turned what was going to be an easy paddle into a fucking nightmare walk through a massive swamp. It took hours and my sense of humour had failed massively at this point. It was a weird place - buildings that had been submerged when the Quoich was enlarged for Hydro were visible again, as was a forest of dead trees. I was delighted to arrive at one of the best hidden gems of the west highlands - Lochan nam Breac - where I'd always wanted to camp. If it were in any way accessible, it would be a busy place. I arrived just as the sun was setting behind Luinne Bheinn and I had just enough energy to get the tent up and get some water. Definitely one of the best places I've ever pitched my tent. A good night's sleep later and I headed up to Ben Aden. It's a pathless, complex hill that would be a nightmare in low cloud and it took a while to pick my way up the NNE ridge - lots of scrambly stuff and quite fun. I was actually pretty elated to make it the summit of this one as I'd wanted to do it for years and it was great to finally be there. Being able to see Loch's Hourn, Nevis and Quoich (and all the mountains around them) from one spot was unforgettable - highly recommended if you can deal with the massive arse-ache to get there.. "All" that was left was to get back to the tent, pack up and make it to some water to get out. Even though I was knackered by this point, the paddle out was a real highlight - lovely conditions and the wind was behind me all the way. Edited August 27, 2019 by Swello 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florentine_Pogen Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 That looks fantastic, Swello. [emoji108]Just out of interest, when the pack raft is deflated and folded, what does it weigh/how cumbersome is it ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 6 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said: That looks fantastic, Swello. Just out of interest, when the pack raft is deflated and folded, what does it weigh/how cumbersome is it ? It weighs a couple of kilos - think a 2 man backpacking tent in terms of size and weight. the paddle breaks into 5 pieces and weighs about 500gms and there is an inflatable life vest which is fairly negligible. You definitely notice it but the advantages of being able to cross lochs and use rivers far exceed the pain of carrying it. I try to keep my other kit minimal to make up for it. I took this pic a couple of years back of my basic gear for this sort of trip - the packraft is in the blue drybag, my 1 man tent is in the red. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Any P&B Hillwalkers ever gone to the effort of writing giant words on a hillside (in this case on Suilven)? Link 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 You'd feel a right tit if the cloud was down and you'd walked away in there and couldn't see it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I wonder what he did with the 458m of tenting? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonHMFC Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Have any folk climbed Ben Ledi of late? It used to be one of my Dad's favourite to walk, so I said to him we should do it in September. However my only fear is the other month we did around 20 miles of the Corrieyairack Pass and he was absolutely fucked. Just want to make sure that there is a decent enough path to follow for when I have to carry his body back down. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 59 minutes ago, LondonHMFC said: Have any folk climbed Ben Ledi of late? It used to be one of my Dad's favourite to walk, so I said to him we should do it in September. However my only fear is the other month we did around 20 miles of the Corrieyairack Pass and he was absolutely fucked. Just want to make sure that there is a decent enough path to follow for when I have to carry his body back down. It's a good path all the way - the middle section was being repaired when I last climbed it about 18 months - 2 years ago, so I can't imagine there will be any problems. Biggest problem is trying to get parked at the bottom on a nice day... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonHMFC Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 2 minutes ago, Swello said: It's a good path all the way - the middle section was being repaired when I last climbed it about 18 months - 2 years ago, so I can't imagine there will be any problems. Biggest problem is trying to get parked at the bottom on a nice day... Cheers for the reply, really appreciated. WIll have a look at the parking situation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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