The Liathach Horseshoe

A couple of weeks ago just after we were released from lock down I headed out west with a plan to complete a scramble on Meall Dearg and continue round and walk Liathach.

all looking rather nice on the drive in!

I guess it was obvious from the start this was going to be memorable as I couldn't find any information online about the scramble up the buttress of Meall Dearg, it just said there is one!

poop shovel by the rocks!

Just turning West round the back of Liathach Meall Dearg comes into view

I headed over early and was surprised that the carpark was full of camper vans and folk who had pitched a tent by their car - nuts!

Frogs everywhere!

The walk nearly didn't get far as it seems that having wholewheat wraps the night before was about to have explosive results on the initial Beinn Eighe path, luckily a path maintenance team had left a crow bar and shovel next to a section of the path that they were repairing pre-covid I presume. Well I certainly didn't need the crow bar, but the shovel was extensively used!

Looking back to Beinn Eighe

Meall Dearg..

Back on track I headed off track (!) as I got behind Liathach and traversed West passing all the impressive Northern corries of the mountain/s. Loz was right when he said it's an impressive place. Pathless and wild with hundreds of frogs!

Well I've no idea where the scramble is!

Finally on the ridge of Meall Dearg looking back West

Reaching Glass-toll lochan and seeing the big broad East ridge of Meall Dearg rise up it wasn't at all obvious where a scramble might be. There were grassy rakes, and the rock facing me looked too steep and wet to be enticing. So with no idea I skirted round on it's East side hoping to find inspiration...

Looking across to Liathach - lots of up/down

Zoomed in on someone on Meall Dearg's Northern Pinnacles

I certainly didn't find that.. I made 2 attempts at climbing up from just around the corner, the second had me nearly stuck and boxed in with a harrowing down climb on wet steep grass. Being on my own deliberately with no rope/means to abseil/escape I had to be sensible and safe so I continued West because I knew I could safely get up further round.

looking back West from where I'd come

same as last time, Beinn Eighe in back ground

This worked out well because I got up onto the ridge of Meall Dearg via a series of grassy shelves and easy gully which was obviously used by deer as a crossing point. The ridge of Meall Dearg was airy and my nerves were a little jangled after nearly getting stuck so I had lunch on the top which was about 1.5m x 1.5m.

Looking West to Rassay etc from just after Mull..

Meall Dearg and my route looking quite spikey

Between Meal Dearg and Mullach an Rathain on the Liathach ridge are the Northern Pinnacles and they looked horrendous so I didn't linger long at my lunch stop wanting to get to easier ground. They were actually fine, easy grade 1 scrambling some loose bits, mostly solid - phew.

Most of the horseshoe I'd travelled

I relaxed on Mullach, but for got to take a picture looking West to Rassay etc. Now on the main ridge but going against the flow I met quite a few folk coming the conventional way. The ridge seemed long with lots of up and down with the odd easy scrambly bit.

through a notch the Eastern Buttress of Meall Dearg where there is a scramble somewhere!

At one point I heard a drone flying over head. Really I thought! Why here.. But on Spidean a' Choire Leith I met it's owner! A friendly guy in a football shirt from Aberdeen who explained that he lives in Thailand, is an off shore worker but has got stranded back in Aberdeen due to covid so he decided he would walk some of Scotland's hills! He had been up here 6 weeks ago (when he should of been in lock down) and lost a drone.. He was back with his new drone trying to recover his first drone! Initially I assumed he had crashed it off a side of the hill.. but no. Landing it on this rocky top it had fallen down a crevice and he could see it maybe 4 feet down. He had given up and was heading off. Even though I hate drones in the hills I felt sorry for him and thought I could get it out by moving a couple of big stones. So we got it out and he seemed moderately pleased! Weird I know off-shore workers have loads of money so maybe it didn't matter that much... but at least it got some litter off the hill.

Beinn Alligin

I continued on! Next I met Murdo Jamieson just coming up. I bump into this really nice guy and hard climber all over the NW. We had a long chat before he continued. He runs Liathach often in 3+ hours road to road!

my route again..!

I started my decent of the Eastern Summit and noticed I kept nearly tripping up over everything. I then realised I couldn't really control my legs very well. I did wonder if I was having some form of neurological issue before realising that my legs (quads) had just left the building! I literally couldn't walk down with any control. I had to sort of side step lots and stop every few meters! I've never experienced this before. Not sure how accurate but my phone route log said after I'd done 1700m of

ascent/decent which is quite a lot.

the car parks resident stag

I was lying down at this point having finally finished!

I was broken by the time I'd walked the 2 miles or so along the road to the van and had to lie down for 45 minutes before heading home. An epic day for sure. The following day at work by the afternoon I could go up the stairs, but had to use the lift to come back down still unable to control my quads! The Physio's all thought this highly amusing :-).

The Glenshee 6

It seemed a good idea to have a hill day so the plan was hatched to meet Jack and Jen at Glenshee on Sunday am. 6 munro's seemed ambitious but they were all quite closely spaced and we arranged a car shuttle to save 3 + miles of road walking.

other walkers.. very yorkshire dales like (but not limestone!)

The drive over past the Llecht is long and beautiful. It was certainly popular and I'm not sure whether I've seen as many camper vans as this day up here! It was even more surprising seeing approx 20+ tents spaced out from car campers between Braemar and Glenshee. I don't know if this beautiful valley is normally like this in summer but it was crazy. I just really hope they were careful and considerate with their waste, judging by some of the vehicles, fire pits and pop up tents I'm not sure! It would be tragic if the river became polluted from all of these folk.

This is the first munro summit!

Loads of walkers at Glenshee enjoying the day as we set off up our first hill. Amazing how many folk had shorts on given the blustery day which was quite fresh/cold up top when the rain came in, but I guess it takes a lot to get my legs out!

on to the grassy hills..

It was a perfect hill walking day with great views, intermittent rain, fresh, great light and good company. I have previously ski toured 2 of these hills and it was very different with no snow, but easy going walking.

With the heavy rain showers at times I didn't take many pictures but enjoyed the walk very much. For the geeks we started up Creag Leacach - Glas Maol - Carn of Claise. From here we didn't know whether to throw in the extra 2 (Tolmount and Tom Buidhe). To go up these hills separate to this walk involves quite a long trudge so we did. They were fairly indiscript bumps after the first hills but still good to explore.

The decent from the last hill

Heading back it took longer than expected to reach the last top of Carn an Tuirc but from it was a great step direct path back down the strath which was a joy to walk after the initial scree section. So there you have it, 6 hills in around 14 miles! This takes my munro count to 103 .... not that I'm counting! :-)

Local hills

This lockdown has been quite a challenge for one and all I'm sure. In phase 1, about to enter phase 2 there are lots of different shades of grey in the rules. I can cycle to some hills to walk in them, but I'm not supposed to drive to the same ones.. really it makes no sense.

Jack the lad

 I met Jack (travelling separately) in Glen Affric for a socially distanced hill walk. I was a little nervous going, but on seeing 4-5 cars and other walkers in the car park I felt happier with the plan.

On the ridge

looking back to the hydro/route in

We headed North on a new path (well maybe a year or so old) from the new walkers carpark near Chisholme Bridge. The weather was interesting, warm and foggy, but with the 50/50 chance that it would clear. Immediately it felt great to be out again in the hills.

misty snow patches

Following the hydro track we diligently used hand gel after opening/closing the 2 gates before arriving at the hydro intake. We saw a grumpy man heading out at this point...

down to the bealach we go. Loch Mullardoch behind

It was atmospheric and as the mist/cloud started to occasionally clear and give glimpses of far off hills I thought 'yep it's going to work out'.

Golden Plover

We picked up the path heading NW up the Allt Toll Easa and again got great glimpses of views always changing as the path split and we ended up on the SE ridge of Tom a' Choinnich. What a great path, not even a scramble, but dramatic with big drops to the left, and big snow slopes to the right coming into view through the cloud.

Onto the 2nd hill and it clears!

On the top we saw two walkers from Nairn and had a nice socially distanced chat before heading down to the bealach. I was tempted to head back at this point because the second hill was fully enclosed in cloud, but Jack was keen so we pressed on.

Looking back at the ridge we went up and the snow patches we passed

And I'm glad we did as we saw and heard quite a few Golden Plovers on the grassy rounded ground heading to the top of Toll Creagach the second munro of the day. Chatting on top the cloud cleared and we were treated to great views (that I forgot to photograph) as we headed down.

On the path out an adder sunning itself started us, and we saw lots of stone chats. A tonic of a day for me!

Pre lock down

Strange times for all, but just before we had to lock down and stay at home we headed out West for a walk. Being slightly under the weather (hoping it wasn't Covid - 19) we opted for a shortish walk.

Canisp

Meal Dearg/Cul Beag our objective

I'd maybe forgotten how beautiful the drive out West was as we headed to Ullapool and North from there. We parked just South of the Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve and headed off walking NW towards Lochan Fada on a rough track.

looking NE

Meal Dearg getting bigger

From here we veered West and walked a beautiful section on a mix of heathery scrub and rock slabs. The sun was out, no-one else was around and it was amazing. Before long we bypassed Creag Dhubh before the steep pull up Meal Dearg (657m).

looking back at the vast expanse

From here there were great views in all directions. Snow capped peaks inland and the sea and the Summer Isles to the West.

snow!

On the descent to the small lochan Uaine Abi somehow managed to do a somersault and land upside down.. but after gathering herself she was okay and we carried on thank goodness.

Fine views out West

We continued up the Corbet of Cul Beag passing snow patches along the way. On top the views of the sea and Stac Pollaidh were incredible and we lingered for half an hour taking it in.

Stac Polleidh

On the walk back we stopped by a pool and lay on the rocks enjoying the sun, fresh air and solitude before heading back out to the reality of our changing world. A restorative day for sure.

Heading down

the relaxing pool!

Self Isolation - well sort of!

Strange times... I met Des in the Aviemore area hoping to ski. The weather was meant to be okay, with a strengthening wind from lunch time onwards.

sailing in

Des holding onto his hat

Trying to get high quickly we met at the Cairngorm carpark. The winds in the carpark set the scene as I was buffeted around trying to find Des!

must isolate!

The lifts started to operate as we headed away from the ski centre. The initial walking was even tough  with ski's acting like sails on our packs.

When we hit the snow line skinning was a little easier, but pretty tough, but we kept going until we had to admit defeat. It simply wasn't viable with the 40-50mph wind and worsening visibility.

Des making it look great on the icy patch!

I nice boiler plate ski out made it sort of worthwhile. The photo's make it look much better than it actually was, probably Des's excellent ski technique!

abort!

Back at the ski centre it was basically shut due to the high winds, but we skinned half way up the hill to have a final run down, again on boiler plate snow (ice). It was eerie heading up a very bleak closed ski area until the wind meant it was impossible to stay upright.

I enjoyed the morning... not sure if Des felt the same!