Hillwalking Thread

[Snobot]

8 hours ago, Swello said:

For folk that like a walking trip to Sutherland like I do - I saw this on twitter warning folk not to bother with the Kylesku hotel any more as it's now being run by the NC500 vampires - 70 quid for fish and chips and 2 glasses of bog standard wine 

 

That tweet now has 250k views - over 100k more since lunchtime. What hilariously terrible PR for them. Someone pass me the world’s tiniest violin.

[invergowrie arab]

Sort of awful. Sort of happy someone is ripping it out of the NC500 lot.

[Florentine_Pogen]

23 hours ago, Swello said:

For folk that like a walking trip to Sutherland like I do - I saw this on twitter warning folk not to bother with the Kylesku hotel any more as it's now being run by the NC500 vampires - 70 quid for fish and chips and 2 glasses of bog standard wine 

 

 

14 hours ago, Snobot said:

That tweet now has 250k views - over 100k more since lunchtime. What hilariously terrible PR for them. Someone pass me the world’s tiniest violin.

 

10 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Sort of awful. Sort of happy someone is ripping it out of the NC500 lot.

According to Companies House, the Kylesku Hotel is in liquidation. Presumably now being run under new management and they are ripping the tourists a new hole ?

[Smurph]

I wouldn’t have a malbec with fish and chips

[Mark Connolly]

On 03/03/2023 at 11:39, Smurph said:

I wouldn’t have a malbec with fish and chips

A true sign that you are a SMERSH agent

[Bob in Denny]

Dunno if any of you are involved in the climbing scene.

Sad to hear that Jimmy Marshall has passed...

Have a shuffty here

Edited March 4, 2023 by Bob in Denny
add content

[invergowrie arab]

Creag Mhòr, Glen Lochay today. Didn't bother with Beinn Sheasgairneach as I did that from Glen Lyon last year.

Glen Lochay bit of a hidden gem I, I have done the Glen loop a few times as a low level winter walk. 

Day started out perfect but clouded over so summit photos pish. At least got back to car before the snow started.

[Swello]

There was a really nice weather window for Saturday morning and well into the afternoon - with the Cairgorms looking like the best area - and because I never need much persuasion to go there, that was my plan set. I headed up to Linn O' Dee car park on friday night (-8c so was quite chilly for a van kip) and was heading off along the track to White Bridge about 7am. 

I had decided to do the Corbett Sgor Mor - basically the high ground between Glen Luibeg/Lui and Glen Dee which I had walked and cycled around countless times without ever really noticing. 

The climb wasn't bad at all once the heather gave way to deep snow - but it was hard work. There was zero wind and great visibility, so I was enjoying myself. 

The broad ridge had been blown clear of snow, but the ground was hard - so this was the easiest part of the day - the views all around were brilliant. 

Getting off the hill to the point where the Laraig Ghru meets Glen Luibeg was a nightmare - thigh deep snow in a lot of places and the highest parts of the path back to Derry Lodge were covered in Snow Drifts as usual, so it was a lot of work. 

In all the countless times I've been in there, I have never once walked to/from Derry Lodge - it was literally the reason I bought my first mountain bike in fact - and it felt weird not blasting back to the car in 10 minutes but as it was such a nice day (t-Shirt weather for me at this stage), I actually enjoyed the long walk out...

[Priti priti priti Patel]

This thread got me into walking / hiking. Never had time for it when I was in my teens and twenties but I've done a couple Munros in the past few years. Was in Lanzarote two weekends back and did a 3.5 hour hike through the lava fields and up and around an ancient (2 million years +) volcano. Took me 5 hours because I stopped to take in the views and have snacks.

Caldera Blanca is 600m high, 1.5 km across. The walls of the caldera catch the nutrients and vapour in the trade winds flying in off the Atlantic and channel them to the base. Grass and flowers grow along the channels and in a circular pool at the centre of the caldera, giving it the appearance from certain angles of an eye. From other angles, you can imagine it's the crater of a giant asteroid.

Lanzarote is a windswept land 60 miles off the coast of Western Sahara. Not a lot grows here, but the ancient people would climb down into the volcano and use its shelter to grow cereals and vegetables. You can still see the remains of dry stone houses where they would sleep while watching over the crop.

I'm not religious, but have discovered I get very hyped by the outdoors, and having never seen anything remotely similar to this, it was almost spiritual.

 

Edit: sorry I don't know how to compress images on my phone so will post them in separate posts 

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Priti priti priti Patel

[Priti priti priti Patel]

[Priti priti priti Patel]

[Priti priti priti Patel]

[Priti priti priti Patel]

[Central Belt Caley]

Managed to beat the weather in our first day out this year, we headed for Mayar and Driesh. The view when you first come out of the trees is superb.

Fairly easy climb and not too difficult a day and was back at the car within 5 hours including a half hour stop for lunch at the summit of Driesh. Hopefully get a few more done this year too. 

[Swello]

Nice. Look like the snow's gone for the year..

[invergowrie arab]

The snow will be back this week, although unlikely to last long I would have guessed.

Anyone have any info on times for Ring of Steall. Walkhighlands has 9-12 hours but most users are coming in at 8 which quite the spread.

Hoping to get up on Saturday, can alway bale out after Am Bodach as I have done the Devils Ridge before and whilst it's nice to look at it's a bit of an underwhelming experience.

 

[Venti]

On 13/03/2023 at 12:10, Swello said:

There was a really nice weather window for Saturday morning and well into the afternoon - with the Cairgorms looking like the best area - and because I never need much persuasion to go there, that was my plan set. I headed up to Linn O' Dee car park on friday night (-8c so was quite chilly for a van kip) and was heading off along the track to White Bridge about 7am. 

I had decided to do the Corbett Sgor Mor - basically the high ground between Glen Luibeg/Lui and Glen Dee which I had walked and cycled around countless times without ever really noticing. 

The climb wasn't bad at all once the heather gave way to deep snow - but it was hard work. There was zero wind and great visibility, so I was enjoying myself. 

The broad ridge had been blown clear of snow, but the ground was hard - so this was the easiest part of the day - the views all around were brilliant. 

Getting off the hill to the point where the Laraig Ghru meets Glen Luibeg was a nightmare - thigh deep snow in a lot of places and the highest parts of the path back to Derry Lodge were covered in Snow Drifts as usual, so it was a lot of work. 

In all the countless times I've been in there, I have never once walked to/from Derry Lodge - it was literally the reason I bought my first mountain bike in fact - and it felt weird not blasting back to the car in 10 minutes but as it was such a nice day (t-Shirt weather for me at this stage), I actually enjoyed the long walk out...

Ever thought about going into professional photography?

Those are quality.

[Swello]

31 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

The snow will be back this week, although unlikely to last long I would have guessed.

Anyone have any info on times for Ring of Steall. Walkhighlands has 9-12 hours but most users are coming in at 8 which quite the spread.

Hoping to get up on Saturday, can alway bale out after Am Bodach as I have done the Devils Ridge before and whilst it's nice to look at it's a bit of an underwhelming experience.

 

Are you doing the version through Steall Meadow and the wire bridge? I'm usually at the low end (often below) the WH estimates and I've found the Ring of Steall to be a longer day (that route took me 9hrs + change according to my GPS logs). There is a steep climb and descent which both take time and once on the ridge it varies from easy going to slow scrambly stuff - so it's not one that you can easily blast round. I'd be surprised if it took you anywhere even near 12 hours TBH.

Funnily enough, I was looking at Ring of Steall  among others for Sunday as I'm doing Crib Goch/Snowdon Horseshoe at the end of the month and I wanted to do something comparable after a winter of doing fairly short hill days.

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, Swello said:

Are you doing the version through Steall Meadow and the wire bridge? I'm usually at the low end (often below) the WH estimates and I've found the Ring of Steall to be a longer day (that route took me 9hrs + change according to my GPS logs). There is a steep climb and descent which both take time and once on the ridge it varies from easy going to slow scrambly stuff - so it's not one that you can easily blast round. I'd be surprised if it took you anywhere even near 12 hours TBH.

Funnily enough, I was looking at Ring of Steall  among others for Sunday as I'm doing Crib Goch/Snowdon Horseshoe at the end of the month and I wanted to do something comparable after a winter of doing fairly short hill days.

Yeah that's the one. My slight nervousness is that it looks like a lot of effort, faffing, tightrope walking, bog and waterfall traversing to even get to the stalkers path.

Given the ridge is likely to be either covered in soft wet snow and/or burns and waterfalls full of snow melt I might leave that for a June/July day and take my time.

I tend to be middling for WH times but the more climbing and technical stuff pushes me towards the higher end. I was budgeting 9/10 hours.

Eg I was up Ben Lomond on Saturday via Ptarmigan and that took 5 hours which is about average but I was almost 10 hours for Sgurr Mhic Coinnich alone in windy sleety conditions.

I'll maybe stick to the Grey Corries. 

[invergowrie arab]

Ben Lomond is a funny one. Doesn't get much credit because of how popular it is and the hill itself is a bit of a lump but stick those views in Wester Ross and you are talking a mountain classic.