Walkhighlands

Beinn Chabhair. A mild existing knee injury became abject pain and misery, miles of bog, false summits and an atrocious descent, and that was on a clear sunny day. One reason I'll never do a second round.

Favourite is tough to call, do many amazing hills. Blaven by the south ridge is magnificent, also Slioch, Alligin and Stac Pollaidh are right up there. My summit camp on Sgurr na Stri probably just edges it. A sensational mountain and viewpoint.

SO many favourite hills, it is hard to list them all. Most of them?

I don't really 'do' least favourite hills because it is so subjective and dependent on route, weather, company, time of year etc. I never understood people not liking a mountain due to a boring track going up it. Then don't go up by the boring track! If a hill is rounded and not very dramatic, I tend to focus on the wildness surrounding, the emptiness, the wildlife, and the views at the top. No such thing as a boring hill!

Some of my favourites so far have been An Stuc, Lochnagar, Beinn Alligin. I liked Mayar but that was more for the Corrie of Fee than the actual hill!

Least favourite are typically because of weather conditions. Ben Klibreck and Ben Vane stand out for being misty, wet and miserable slogs. As others have said, The Cairnwell for the ski apparatus and Ben Nevis for the crowds.

Favourite for the moment is BEM via Curved Ridge.
Least favourite is Ben Vorlich (Loch Earn) via usual path up.

I don't tend to do hills. I prefer to do routes rather than hills. So I keep doing the same hills, but by different routes. And not always to the summit. I'm a weirdo

I'm not a very experienced hillwalker, so don't have a vast array of mountains to choose a fav and "least enjoyed", but I concur with the comments re Beinn Chabhair. I did this with my grandson last year and at one point on the descent (he was supposed to be following me) I turned round to find him, sunk, both legs, to mid thigh level in boggy ground. Mild panic swept over me, but fortunately I found enough solid ground near him to hoist him out. What a mess!!! Was so relieved his boots didn't remain underground. Funny in retrospect, but not so at the time
Fav so far, BEM in less the perfect autumn weather.

my current favourite has to be Beinn Eighe after the magical day we had on it last summer. But it was not always my fav, the first time I went up it was vertical rain and saw diddly-squat. and it is a long walk to see nothing.

Great thread.

I tend to agree with what a number of others have already said; people tend to remember their best days out rather than favourite hills per se.

One of my best ever days on the hills was when I bagged Ben Nevis via the CMD arete; but I certainly wouldn't claim either as my favourite hill.

I have a great fondness for Bens Alder, Klibreck and Hope. But, again, largely as a result of the experiences I had on those hills.

I should have added as my favourites Quiniag and Foinaven, the latter done on a guided walking holiday on a rare hot summer day, a complete traverse of the ridge in blazing sunshine with fantastic views. Sutherland is like another world in places, I frequently wonder what shaped the different topgraphic features of the Scottish hills, there is so much variety in what is a small country. The heathery smooth rolling Drummochter hills, for example, are so different to the rugged sharp ridges of Torridon.

My favourite is Bla Bheinn for a few reasons but mainly because it's such a beautiful hill. In England I'll go for Pillar from the Emmerdale side, simply magnificent and with such a wild feel for Lakeland. In Wales it's Tryfan because it's such an amazing mountain to look at and climb.

I don't really think I have least favourite hills, more least favourite walks. The Ben via the pony track was tourture 8 hours needing a wee tromping up and down with hundreds of others was no fun, neither was Snowden in constant rain wind and clag made even worse thanks to a badly leaking boot. In England High Tove and Armboth are fairly pointless especially when approached from High Seat via a truly horrible 'path'

I never really understand why people grumble about Beinn Chabhair - there's been quite a history of this, on several sites - when they've chosen to go by the boggiest and arguably least pleasant route. There are various much better ways up - and in my experience (14 ascents thus far) it's a lovely hill, especially in winter.

Re least favourite hills generally, a sideline could be hills that you don't particularly like but still climb quite often. My main one for that would be Dumyat, which is handy for where I live and which I've been up over 200 times. It would be wrong to say I actually don't like it, and there's no doubt that it's a fine-looking thing in the landscape around Stirling and the Hillfoots, but I don't like it anywhere near as much as the higher Ochils further east, plus Dumyat is one of those hills which maybe 80% of people (possibly more) climb and then descend by the same route. I occasionally use that route (or more often part of it before veering off) in descent, but much prefer the quieter approaches from the Lossburn side or from Menstrie/Blairlogie. Even then, though, give me Ben Cleuch or Colsnaur or Craighorn any day.

al78 wrote:I should have added as my favourites Quiniag and Foinaven, the latter done on a guided walking holiday on a rare hot summer day, a complete traverse of the ridge in blazing sunshine with fantastic views. Sutherland is like another world in places, I frequently wonder what shaped the different topgraphic features of the Scottish hills, there is so much variety in what is a small country. The heathery smooth rolling Drummochter hills, for example, are so different to the rugged sharp ridges of Torridon.

About time somebody mentioned Foinaven!! Absolutely loved it - did it in slightly dodgy conditions (the circuit walk described on this site) when it was blowing a gale, but the gods smiled on me and it eased off just long enough for me to get along the ridge to Gul Mor and back in one piece. Truly stunning hill in the most beautiful corner of Scotland.

And I'd agree about Ben Loyal too.

In the Far North you have not only sublime scenery but the likelihood of having the entire place to yourself, as happened to me on both the above...

(Sadly my trips up Bens Klibreck and Hope were afflicted by my curse of 700m - i.e. clag above that level - so I can't fairly judge them... must go back; what a shame!)

Worst? Try Whernside on a Bank Holiday Monday for a truly rancid experience! Rammed with nuclear families and their dogs, a path akin to an A-road all the way up, and the endless roar of motorbikes racing through Ribblehead to provide a soundtrack! Enough to make The Cairnwell and Carn Aosda feel like havens of tranquility......