Hillwalking Thread

[microdave]

Ime is definitely the most featureless Munro in that area. I combined it with Beinn Narnain the first time up it, and before I went Ime was described to me as being ‘an unrelenting slog’, which turned out to be quite accurate. You could have made your return route a bit more interesting by scaling the boulders up the back of Narnain to its summit, and descending down the front of Narnain taking the path that leads almost back to Succoth car park, missing out the never ending zig zag path. 

Featureless is a very apt description. I met a guy on my way down who told me that the last time he'd been up (decades ago) the path was almost nine existent and was like walking in treacle. I was up Narnain last year and descended down the front which I found pretty tough. I was happy to return via the zig zags last week although there are a few short cuts just to speed the walk up a wee bit when it's most needed.

[IrishBhoy]

20 minutes ago, microdave said:

 

 

Featureless is a very apt description. I met a guy on my way down who told me that the last time he'd been up (decades ago) the path was almost nine existent and was like walking in treacle. I was up Narnain last year and descended down the front which I found pretty tough. I was happy to return via the zig zags last week although there are a few short cuts just to speed the walk up a wee bit when it's most needed.

 

Yep Narnain down the front requires a wee bit of concentration. I might be getting mixed up with another Munro but it’s Narnain that has the darker section of rock about half way up called the Spearhead? 
 

Talking of clag, me and my friend went and climbed Ben Cruachan and Stob Daimh at the crack of dawn one Monday morning last year. When we started the ascent up Cruachan we could hardly see 5 feet infront of us, but managed to get to the trig with only a couple of detours where the path became boulders. We followed the path round to Stob Daimh easy enough too, and after a couple of minutes at the cairn chose a path which we assumed was the route back down the opposite side of damn. After walking for about an hour, the high winds created a brief visibility window and I noticed that the Cruachan damn was on our left, and not on our right where it should have been. We realised we had completely lost our bearings and were on our way back to the summit of Cruachan, soaked to the bone, with near zero visibility, and an extra 2 hours added on to the walk. The low ground between the damn wall and the train station was an absolute bogfest in to the bargain. Was glad to get back to the car that day. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Yep Narnain down the front requires a wee bit of concentration. I might be getting mixed up with another Munro but it’s Narnain that has the darker section of rock about half way up called the Spearhead? 
 
Talking of clag, me and my friend went and climbed Ben Cruachan and Stob Daimh at the crack of dawn one Monday morning last year. When we started the ascent up Cruachan we could hardly see 5 feet infront of us, but managed to get to the trig with only a couple of detours where the path became boulders. We followed the path round to Stob Daimh easy enough too, and after a couple of minutes at the cairn chose a path which we assumed was the route back down the opposite side of damn. After walking for about an hour, the high winds created a brief visibility window and I noticed that the Cruachan damn was on our left, and not on our right where it should have been. We realised we had completely lost our bearings and were on our way back to the summit of Cruachan, soaked to the bone, with near zero visibility, and an extra 2 hours added on to the walk. The low ground between the damn wall and the train station was an absolute bogfest in to the bargain. Was glad to get back to the car that day. 

We missed the cairn on Stob Diamh on that route on a crystal clear day. My mate who was on his SECOND FUCKING ROUND dismissed it as a subsidiary top, only to realise his mistake a few mins after we'd walked past it. Surprisingly his suggestion to tag on the Corbett was roundly ignored [emoji23]

[IrishBhoy]

3 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

We missed the cairn on Stob Diamh on that route on a crystal clear day. My mate who was on his SECOND FUCKING ROUND dismissed it as a subsidiary top, only to realise his mistake a few mins after we'd walked past it. Surprisingly his suggestion to tag on the Corbett was roundly ignored

We managed to find the cairn but must have went round it 360 degrees to find the same path we had just came up. How did you find the section between the damn wall and getting back to the road, I’ve heard that even on a dry day it’s bog factor is off the scale. 
 

Apparently the hydro damn at Cruachan is a bit of a visitor attraction, and it gets the name ‘The Hollow Mountain’ due to a kilometre long tunnel built through the heart of it, where they keep the turbines and other machinery. I imagine it’s like something from Thunderbirds I wouldn’t mind seeing it. 
 

 

[Gibby82]

Did The Saddle and Sgurr na Sgine at the weekend. The Saddle was a lot of fun but hard work, some of the most enjoyable scrambling I’ve done. Legs were wiped after the descent from there, had to drag myself up the second. We came down from from the imposing but unforgiving Faochag and it was a couple of hours of miserable fucking pain, my steepest descent yet. A few (extortionate) pints in the Cluanie Inn helped dull the pain but feeling it today. Stunning part of the country, hoping to get back up that end again this year at some point to tackle a few more.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Gibby82

[Benjamin_Nevis]

How did you find the section between the damn wall and getting back to the road, I’ve heard that even on a dry day it’s bog factor is off the scale. 

I can't remember it being a problem tbh. It was 8 years ago now but I think we took the service down beyond the dam then rejoined the outward path without too much of an issue. It was after a few days of scorching weather mind you.

Faochag

[Gibby82]

3 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

 

 

Vowed to sack off hill walking and move to the Low Countries during that descent, absolute hell, though mostly over it now.

[IrishBhoy]

3 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

 

I can't remember it being a problem tbh. It was 8 years ago now but I think we took the service down beyond the dam then rejoined the outward path without too much of an issue. It was after a few days of scorching weather mind you.

 

We came from the left hand side down the ladders but mainly the same route. Maybe just the weather we had that day, but if you weren’t falling knee deep in to the bog you were ankle deep in a stream. I would quite like to go back and complete the horseshoe on a clear day, I struggled to enjoy it after adding 2 hours on to the walk. 
 

On the way back we stopped at the chip shop in Arrochar as a reward for such a tough day. The place was rammed and they said it was a 20 minute wait for a sausage supper. Usually wee chip shops in places like that are great, so I didn’t mind waiting. When it came the sausages were about an inch and a half long, and the batter was so hard I physically couldn’t eat them.  Obviously I never went back, but when I was going to do The Cobbler last month I noticed it had shut down. Did anyone else use that chippy before? All the signs pointed to it being an excellent chippy, and maybe I just got them on a bad day?

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Vowed to sack off hill walking and move to the Low Countries during that descent, absolute hell, though mostly over it now.

I hated it with every fibre of my being first time round. Second I just did the saddle and came back via the dyke then back to the ascent path. f**k ever dealing with that again [emoji23]

[invergowrie arab]

Went inversion chasing on Beinn a' Bheithir yesterday. The risk of which is never popping out the top and so it came to pass that on one of Scotland classic days out I saw f**k all - although still managed to get burned.

75% thoroughly enjoyable walk with easy scrambling and  easy ridge walking which I swore I would return to for the views until that fucking interminable walk out.

Maybe if I can do a two car job I'll head off the West Side of Sgorr Donuil.

In better news the red squirrel was midge free, they have a food van that does cheap but high quality butchers meat food and the Clachaig is always fun.

Edited July 17, 2022 by invergowrie arab

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Driesh for the 13th fucking time on Saturday [emoji23] Though this time it was part of a long held plan to start at one end of Glen Clova and walk back to the start over various tops to the Airlie Monument. 15.5 miles and 1250m ascent which is not bad. However after the 6 mile point it's pretty mundane stuff and not a walk I'd be doing again. Mlions of flies, searing heat and plenty of nettle stings up the Scorrie path didn't help. Oh, and sunburn.

[invergowrie arab]

Won the race against the rain on A' Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-Choire today.

Another hugely enjoyable Kintail ridge walk. They are all good. The walk out isn't half as bad as made out either.

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by invergowrie arab

[Benjamin_Nevis]

12 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Won the race against the rain on A' Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-Choire today.

Another hugely enjoyable Kintail ridge walk. They are all good. The walk out isn't half as bad as made out either.

 

Aye those are tremendous hills, although the trauma of finding a used dangermouse stuffed into the latter's summit cairn still lives with me 

I think we retraced to the sub top in the middle of the ridge and descent that. The track out wasn't too boggy at all - certainly nowhere near as bad as the one out from Ciste Dhubh along the road. 

Pretty much all of the Kintail hills are good days out. The only ones i didn't enjoy were Fhada and A'Ghlas Bheinn, probably because i was knackered after walking for 4 straight days, that and my mate's shortcut route between the two being absolutely fucking ridiculous. 

 

[Central Belt Caley]

Done Ben Nevis a few weeks back and didn’t manage the CMD Arete as it was very misty on the day so didn’t fancy getting lost, need to get back up and avoid the Tourist path like the plague! 
 

Was Ben More and Stob Binnein for me at the weekend. Only seen 3 other people the whole 6 hours I was out for. Weather was brutal but enjoyed the challenge of Ben More and its interesting ascent

[Swello]

44 minutes ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Was Ben More and Stob Binnein for me at the weekend. Only seen 3 other people the whole 6 hours I was out for. Weather was brutal but enjoyed the challenge of Ben More and its interesting ascent

One of the worst slogs going - I did those hills 2nd time round from a start point further east along Glen Dochart (near where you start for Sgiath Chuil) and it was sooo much better...

[microdave]

Went up Ben Lawers today (and Beinn Ghlas) and I have to say being blown about in strong winds and being battered by rain was worth it for the amazing view at the summit[emoji23].

In seriousness, a few parts were quite tough but a thoroughly enjoyable walk all in. Next hill on Monday and I can't wait.

Exactly two years on and I did the same hills again. Great view from Beinn Ghlas but my Lawers curse struck again when the cloud came down when we were about twenty metres from the summit. Very, very windy up there today made it quite a tough walk. 4.5 hours to scale both summits but we made it back to the car in two hours. I'll sleep tonight.

[jamamafegan]

I bagged the ‘Glenshee 6’ yesterday to take my tally to 80/282. I’ve just seen the weather forecast for this weekend and oh boy are we in for a good one. Need to decide where to head.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 minute ago, jamamafegan said:

I bagged the ‘Glenshee 6’ yesterday to take my tally to 80/282. I’ve just seen the weather forecast for this weekend and oh boy are we in for a good one. Need to decide where to head.

Looks like a total scorcher. I'm off to Kintail for both the north and south ridges, plus the north cluanie circuit. It's been 8 years since i was on them and they were all done in shite weather so i'm looking forward to actually seeing stuff 

[The Marly]

11 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

I bagged the ‘Glenshee 6’ yesterday to take my tally to 80/282. I’ve just seen the weather forecast for this weekend and oh boy are we in for a good one. Need to decide where to head.

Ibrox?

[jamamafegan]

Ibrox?

£31 quid to sit in the bigot den surrounded by 51000 knuckle draggers on a glorious day, knowing that I could have spent the weekend bagging hills, wild swimming and tanning some #cans in the sun instead? I’ll pass!