Hillwalking Thread

[invergowrie arab]

A cracking day out yesterday to bag munro 200, and the rest, on the Ullapool Beinn Dearg round. 

I was worried about the size of the day but getting to ascend/descend a chunk of it over 6 miles meant it was a piece of piss. Still 4 hours to reach the lochan and 12 hours in total but never felt at all tired or jelly legged.

I'll probably do it again as didn't get any views off Eididh nan Clach Geala and the Fannichs, Fisherfield etc were in the cloud so no views south/west of Ben Dearg

But what I did see was outstanding. Right up into top 5 days out for me.

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by invergowrie arab

[Swello]

19 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

A cracking day out yesterday to bag munro 200, and the rest, on the Ullapool Beinn Dearg round. 

I was worried about the size of the day but getting to ascend/descend a chunk of it over 6 miles meant it was a piece of piss. Still 4 hours to reach the lochan and 12 hours in total but never felt at all tired or jelly legged.

I'll probably do it again as didn't get any views off Eididh nan Clach Geala and the Fannichs, Fisherfield etc were in the cloud so no views south/west of Ben Dearg

But what I did see was outstanding. Right up into top 5 days out for me.

 

Congrats on 200! Only 82 to go

Love those hills too - I split that into 2 different walks, Cona Mheall and Beinn Dearg from the south with lunch in Coire Ghranda (in my personal top 10 walks) and the other 2 from Inverleal. These hills manage the trick of feeling really wild and remote despite being close enough to the road.

[Swello]

2 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Aye I'd say if you're getting right into your hillwalking, at least a basic hardtail mountain bike is a great idea. There are a good few hills with estate tracks that get in close to the starts of the ascents and having a bike is a total godsend at time. 

If I hadn't had a mountain bike to get into Derry Lodge and beyond, the Cairngorms would never have been done - worth the money for that alone

[Loonytoons]

Headed out to scout a possible loch for next season.
Never made the loch but it gave me an indication of time and difficulty.

[Swello]

1 hour ago, Loonytoons said:

Headed out to scout a possible loch for next season.
Never made the loch but it gave me an indication of time and difficulty.

Got a bit of a Highland Perthshire feel to it, looks to rocky for the Uplands I think - can't say I recognise the view though.  

[Chinatoon Bairn]

14 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

The distance between the start and end points has put me off a few munros. Might need to invest in a couple of bikes as my friend doesn’t drive. Think Aonach Eagach was the same, you finish miles away from where you’ve parked the motor. 

The return to the car park isn't actually as bad as I first thought it would be for Aonach Eagach. I ended up stopping at the Clachaig Inn on the Old Glencoe Road which ended up being near enough half way into the walk back. Great wee place by the way.

From the route end point back to the car park you'll probably be looking at about an hour and ten minutes tops. I'll say this as well that the walkhighlands estimate for the route is an absolute mile off. I was 6 hours in total despite sitting in the pub for half an hour and sitting at the top of Sgòrr nam Fiannaidh for another half hour.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Chinatoon Bairn

[Loonytoons]

Got a bit of a Highland Perthshire feel to it, looks to rocky for the Uplands I think - can't say I recognise the view though.  

Burn is the Callater. View looking over to Braemar.
Guessing the caterpillar is a fox moth caterpillar.

[Swello]

53 minutes ago, Loonytoons said:

Burn is the Callater. View looking over to Braemar.
Guessing the caterpillar is a fox moth caterpillar.

I wasn't far out then - although I should have recognised that view...

ETA - I should really have recognised that view - from January this year

Edited August 22, 2022 by Swello

[microdave]

When folk are using bikes to get to/from start/finish spots, do you just leave them and hope nobody steals them? I realise the chances are slim but has it ever happened to anyone?

[Swello]

8 minutes ago, microdave said:

When folk are using bikes to get to/from start/finish spots, do you just leave them and hope nobody steals them? I realise the chances are slim but has it ever happened to anyone?

Yep - stick it in the heather - I've never really locked them despite having had some decent bikes over the years. My rationale is that someone wants to head 20-odd kilometres from the road to steal a bike, fair play to them  Only exception is where it's a through route or really busy spot - but that doesn't often happen - and in any case, there is usually nothing to lock it to, so you're relying on locking the back wheel up.

I did once read that someone had left their bike on the way into a hill (I seem to remember it was Suilven)and they came back and it was gone. When they eventually got back to the car park it was there, with a polite note explaining that the person/cheeky bastart in question was exhausted and couldn't resist it

[Florentine_Pogen]

Heading up to Glencoe on Wednesday to (hopefully) do Aonach Eagach, which I last did about 40 years ago. Mrs. F_P coming along also. Been asked to do this with another couple in order to scatter a friend's ashes on the ridge. (Big Lebowski gif not req'd......)

Just hope the wife isn't back up again in a couple of weeks to scatter my own.

Any practical advice / tips gratefully received.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Florentine_Pogen

[Dunfermline Don]

Up on the hill by Glenshee ski centre on Saturday. Did 4 Munro’s, but met some folk that managed 6.

realised it was my first Munro since breaking my ankle a year and a half ago.

went up Mount Blair today as camping nearby but couldn’t see a thing from the top as the clouds came down. 

[Swello]

Back from a nice weekend's adventuring in the NW Highlands. Before this weekend, I only had one hill of any sort to do in Knoydart - the Corbett Beinn na Caillich, which is either a pretty tough 3 day round trip from the nearest road or involves the boat from Mallaig to Inverie and a full weekend. I decided to go for hidden option 3 and use a kayak to cross Loch Hourn from Corran on the Glenelg pennisula. 

I've had this trip in mind for a while - but as Hourn is a pretty narrow and wild sea loch, it was going to take a very good forecast to tempt me. Corran is my favourite road end in Scotland but getting there involves the road over the Rattigan pass, which is not one for the nervous driver. I arrived at the wee community centre car park on Friday evening and the conditions were perfect for a beer and a car kip.

 

I've used my packraft for reaching a number of remote hills but never used the kayak this way - inflatable kayaks may be easy to transport but it feels like it takes for ever to set it up - I did most of the work on Friday night and so was ready to go in perfect conditions by 7:30am (midges were at Fucking Apocalypse level)

The Loch was at high tide and was bizarrely calm - so the paddle was a doddle. The views of Beinn Sgritheall above Arnisdale were outstanding.

I headed straight across the loch and then hugged the far shore west for a few Km's to reach what I had assumed to be the most likely way to escape the shore and get on to the hill itself. I've never had one day in Knoydart where I would call it "easy" - it's properly rough country and the next few km's on foot were pretty horrible - first there was a wall of ferns, bracken and bog to get through (a lot of loud swearing) and then a hard climb through some very deep heather and bog. I was delighted to get on to the rockier stuff eventually and the walk was much nicer - I had a break and watched 2 Golden Eagles circling low over me.

There is no "guidebook" route for this type of walk as very few people will have ever climbed the hill from this side but the Northern spur of the hill was a nice way to climb - a little scrambling and a steep gully later, I was on the summit.  It was massively disorientating suddenly looking over Lhadar Bheinn and other Knoydart hills that normally take a huge effort to even see - and it was only 11:30am. 

For one crazy minute, I thought about heading down the other side of the hill and walking into Inverie for a pint at the Old Forge - but good sense made me head back down the way I came. The paddle back was different as the tide was coming in pretty quickly and the current was going the same way as me - so I surfed the waves and then headed quickly across. I was back at Corran by 2:30pm - so the quickest trip into Knoydart that I'll ever do. Classic day.

After an unbelievable amount of faff with the Kayak, I headed off to Torridon for the night and yesterday climbed Beinn Dearg - forgotten mountain of the area because it's 50cm short of being a Munro (I saw no-one on the hill on a busy day in the area). The ridge was in clag, so no great photos but I will say it's probably the steepest b*****ding climb in the Scottish mountains, although views on a good day would make it worth it I suppose. Summit ridge is good fun, plenty of mild scrambling and one *horrible* bypass path that I couldn't see how to avoid.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Swello

[Florentine_Pogen]

Tremendous post Swello...........Love that kayak.

[Big Rider]

Stunning pictures Swello. Sounds like some trip.

[derrybiy]

Sunday was my first munro since last November. When I first started making my way through the list of munros about 5 years ago I'd do about 20-30 a year but due to so many health problems and other commitments it's became about 5 a year at best for the last few years. If you feel like you've read this before then find my last post in here (because I don't know how to) and it's probably much the same.

This is pretty much the only decent excercise I get so it means I'm usually struggling for the first few until I get into the swing of it again. From the easier options out of the 215 I've still to do I went for Sgòr Gaoith. I was awake at 4am, left the house at 5am and was walking by around 7am. This meant by the time I got everything ready the night before I only had about 4 hours sleep. I thought this and the lack of fitness would make me struggle but luckily I think Sgòr Gaoith really must be one of the easiest ascents there is. Unfortunately once I crossed the last stream the midges appeared and stayed the rest of the way. They were nowhere near as bad as I've had them before so I ploughed on and wore a midge hat instead of probably taking the more sensible approach and trying midge spray. I was at the top without much of a break or feeling too tired. The views were great but I didn't stick around because of the midges.

Now was the decision of either taking the easiest route retracing my steps back down or taking the slightly longer route on walkhighlands to make a round of the smaller tops. I knew there was midges one way and I'd really not tested myself much so I went the longer way. Althought there wasn't much more to see this was definitely the right decision because there was a lot less midges and judging by the specks in the distance less people too. Also coming down pathless and sometimes knee high heather on Geal Charn was definitely more of a challenge than the easiest way so now I'm confident that if I have the time and good health I can start getting into longer more difficult munros again.

For me the benefit is a lot about getting away from people so if I can not see anyone for most of the walk I'm happy. I only passed three people the whole day and I was happy and suprised at that. If anyone knows of any  jobs that involve being outdoors and remote on your own then let me know

[derrybiy]

[Florentine_Pogen]

15 minutes ago, derrybiy said:

 If anyone knows of any  jobs that involve being outdoors and remote on your own then let me know

https://www.pluscardenabbey.org/becoming-a-monk

[Swello]

31 minutes ago, derrybiy said:

Sunday was my first munro since last November. When I first started making my way through the list of munros about 5 years ago I'd do about 20-30 a year but due to so many health problems and other commitments it's became about 5 a year at best for the last few years. If you feel like you've read this before then find my last post in here (because I don't know how to) and it's probably much the same.

This is pretty much the only decent excercise I get so it means I'm usually struggling for the first few until I get into the swing of it again. From the easier options out of the 215 I've still to do I went for Sgòr Gaoith. I was awake at 4am, left the house at 5am and was walking by around 7am. This meant by the time I got everything ready the night before I only had about 4 hours sleep. I thought this and the lack of fitness would make me struggle but luckily I think Sgòr Gaoith really must be one of the easiest ascents there is. Unfortunately once I crossed the last stream the midges appeared and stayed the rest of the way. They were nowhere near as bad as I've had them before so I ploughed on and wore a midge hat instead of probably taking the more sensible approach and trying midge spray. I was at the top without much of a break or feeling too tired. The views were great but I didn't stick around because of the midges.

Now was the decision of either taking the easiest route retracing my steps back down or taking the slightly longer route on walkhighlands to make a round of the smaller tops. I knew there was midges one way and I'd really not tested myself much so I went the longer way. Althought there wasn't much more to see this was definitely the right decision because there was a lot less midges and judging by the specks in the distance less people too. Also coming down pathless and sometimes knee high heather on Geal Charn was definitely more of a challenge than the easiest way so now I'm confident that if I have the time and good health I can start getting into longer more difficult munros again.

For me the benefit is a lot about getting away from people so if I can not see anyone for most of the walk I'm happy. I only passed three people the whole day and I was happy and suprised at that. If anyone knows of any  jobs that involve being outdoors and remote on your own then let me know

Sgurr Gaoith is the best hill in the Cairngorms for me - good choice

[invergowrie arab]

I have been up Sgurr Gaoith three times and seen f**k all so ill need to go back again.

The mist was so bad once I was walking towards a field of boulders and I got to within about 12 feet and the "boulders" all stood up. 

Shat myself as as 30 massive rocks transformed into the Cairngorm reindeer herd.