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 :-).