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This is the first of two (or maybe three) reports covering some of Arran's classic climbs/scrambles: the A'Chir Ridge, the Witch's Step, and Mullach Buidhe's northwest ridge. I was greatly looking forward to giving these routes a try but was a little nervous. I was going to be walking solo and was not completely sure about their difficulty. Online accounts seem to vary. And while there are many photographs online of the supposed "crux" points of these climbs, there is very little information about what the rest of each route is like. My reports will not have a complete description and photo-books of the entirety of each climb, but I hope I can fill a bit of the gap in the online information available.
I arrived on Arran on the 14th May (a day late, as sea fog had led to the cancellation of all the ferries on the afternoon of the 13th). The weather forecast for most of the week looked promising. However, as it had been changing quite a bit over the past few days, I decided to try the longest of my planned walks on the first clear day -- the 15th May, my first full day on Arran. The weather turned out to be sunny, clear and dry, but windy. My aim was to climb Goatfell from Brodick and then complete a loop of Glen Rosa, including the A'Chir ridge.
I set out a bit after 10 am. With the Arran Mountain Festival approaching and the sunny weather, there were a fair few people on the path up from Brodick (although nothing like the numbers you might see on e.g. Ben Lomond). The ascent is relatively gentle, at least until the top of the Meall Breac shoulder, and I made swift progress. Weirdly, however, I had a moment of dizziness/light-headedness just as I was reaching the top of the shoulder and had to stop for fear of stumbling. Possibly it was lack of water, or tiredness from the day before, or I had been pushing too hard on the ascent. In any case, the dizziness passed, and I made slow progress up the steep final portion of the climb, taking a route around the right of the ridge for some optional minor scrambling.
- Looking back to Brodick from the path
- Approaching Goat Fell
At the peak of Goat Fell, the views of Arran's mountains open up. I also stepped into the wind from the sheltered side of the mountain and it was not light. It was going to make the scrambling interesting. For an easy half-day climb, the views from Goat Fell on a clear day are hard to beat (although I think the views from Caisteal Abhail are perhaps even finer). Goat Fell is a magnificent mountain.
- Cìr Mhòr with Caisteal Abhail behind
- Brodick and southern Arran
It was going to be a long day, so I didn't linger on the summit. The next challenge was the traverse across to North Goat Fell, climbing the optional towers of granite en route. These were surprisingly tricky, especially some of the downclimbs. And the wind was fierce. On the first tower, it caught my Oban Distillery cap and flung it over the cliff out into the void, a sacrifice to the mountain gods. (It has now been replaced by an excellent Arran Distillery cap.)
- The ridge to North Goat Fell
- Approaching the first tower
The descent to the saddle with Cìr Mhòr is quite steep and loose, but gives spectacular views of the next peak. I passed a couple of walkers coming the other way, but those were the last people I met on the circuit.
- Looking down Goat Fell's northwest ridge
- Further down the ridge, with some optional scrambling.
- The third and fourth peaks: A'Chir and Beinn Tarsuinn
- Cìr Mhòr's impressive ramparts. The path up is barely visible.
Highland Scrambles South describes a possible scrambling route up Cìr Mhòr as an alternative to the path. The ascent looked fairly heathery to me and I was wearing trail shoes rather than boots. Also, there was plenty of scrambling yet to come. So I opted for the path, and made heavy going of the extremely steep climb, stopping frequently to enjoy the views of Goat Fell. Near the top, I diverted right and climbed the small buttress just before the main summit buttress of Cìr Mhòr (and met a small, squeaking, mountain mouse on a rock). It is supposed to be possible to scramble up the summit buttress from this side as well (see the photo below), but I wasn't sure of the correct route and thought I would save any further climbing for the A'Chir ridge. I opted to rejoin the path, which cuts between the summit and Rosa's pinnacle's under overhanging cliffs, and then climbs the easy slopes on the other side of Cìr Mhòr.
- Goat Fell from the back
- Surprised mouse
- The summit of Cìr Mhòr
The top of Cìr Mhòr was an excellent place for a late lunch, shared with a friendly crow. The views are good in all directions, but it is Goat Fell that steals the show from this angle.
- Crow friend, with Glen Sannox behind
- Wide shot of Goat Fell
Then it was time for the A'Chir ridge. The route down to the next saddle and the first part of the ascent is straightforward. The bypass path leaves on the right, and a cliff edge starts on the left, with a few bits of minor scrambling. The views back to Rosa's pinnacle on Cìr Mhòr are good, but the angle isn't quite right to appreciate it's full size and steepness. It looks better later on.
- Looking back at Cìr Mhòr and Goat Fell
Progress up A'Chir is easy, until you reach the downclimb to the bad step -- and you will
know when you you've arrived. The initial problem is not the bad step, but the downclimb. It takes some careful route-finding when doing the circuit in this direction (anti-clockwise). The hardest point is near the top, where I had to sit on a ledge and push out onto a slab below. The slab isn't far away (and it's large, so makes a secure landing) but it's slightly off to the left. Directly below is a drop of a few meters, so it feels a little insecure. The rest of the downclimb is easier (but not easy). I've provide a photograph of the route below (taken from half-way up the ramp on the bad step), plus a zoomed photograph marking the trickier move at the top (shown by the red arrow). Note that the green line I've drawn would be 3 meters high (plus), so it would not be pleasant to fall. There may be other possible routes down as well, but they seemed more dangerous, so I would opt for mine.
- The bad step appears
- The downclimb
- Zoomed with markings
That got me to the bottom of the bad step. I didn't see any obvious direct routes for climbing the step, but I did not explore in much detail. If you reach this point and you decide to leave the ridge, you can escape onto the grass to the left at the saddle (either to walk down steeply into Glen Rosa, or to traverse round to an alternative gully ascent, or to avoid the rest of the A'Chir Ridge altogether and gain the lower slopes of Beinn Tarsuinn up steep grass. I provide a photograph looking down the gully later -- it is only 30 meters or so further on and leads up to Le Mauvais Pas (also the bad step??), a small crack in the ridge that you can step across. I think you could also escape down rough ground to the right to join the bypass path. In fact, I think you can escape to the right at many points on the ridge, but the terrain looks tricky and it is hard to see if there are hidden cliffs from above.
The usual route up the Bad Step is well-known. There are many online photos, but the best guide is a sequence of photos in Highland Scrambles South, which shows a climber descending the end of the bad step solo. The route ascends the block that pokes out (with a narrow crack) from the bottom of the cliffs and then ascends the ramp above. At the top of the ramp, the route zigzags up steep slabs, using the dykes for purchase. The ramp is easy to climb (it can be walked), but the zigzags take a bit of effort. I am not sure I would want to do them with no rope in the wet.
Climbing the block at the end of the ramp is rated "Moderate" in descent (because you can straddle the block, slide down, and then jump down the last couple of feet). In ascent, it is rated "Very Difficult" (although obviously not exposed because this is virtually the first move of the climb). I agree. Climbing the block is quite strenuous. In fact, I might give the one move a Severe. I first tried climbing straight up the side of the block, which worked to a point. I could stand in the little groove that cuts across it half way up. But I could not quite swing my leg over the top -- it was just a bit too high and insecure. So I opted instead to start at the lowest edge of the block, wedge a leg into the crack between the block and the cliff, and with quite a bit of effort managed to slug up on top, moving my leg up to another wedge point. Breathing a sigh of relief that my walk was not going to be cut short, I made quick progress to the top.
- The base of the bad step. The ramp is visible on the left.
- Closer to the tricky block move (see the crack at the base of the cliff in the middle of the picture).
- The ramp. No problem in the dry.
There's a large flat area to sit and rest at the top of the bad step. The ridge then narrows, with a step across a small gap, and then a sequence of slabs and shelves. There's quite a lot of choice of route. Descending, I might have taken a direct route, hopping down the shelves. Ascending is possibly a bit harder -- the shelves are too high to step up, and while there are many footholds, there aren't a lot of handholds. They are quite smooth. I diverted a bit to the right, then traversed back (carefully, on steep slabs). The scariest move came right at the top, when I had to climb the last shelf. It's maybe around 4 feet high with a smaller block you can stand on at the base, but there's no handhold. I had to press on the rock flat-handed, which would be fine in other circumstances, but felt insecure with a 200 foot drop directly behind me. I've marked my approximate route in red on the photograph below and shown the scary move at the top with an arrow. Note, it is hard to tell the scale from the photograph -- a lot of the bands of rock are about the size of a person, so not readily climbable without some effort.
- The continuation after the bad step
- Route photo
- The grassy gully. Looks loose.
Beyond this point, the ridge is a little gentler, but there are still continual obstacles. Shortly afterwards come a 3-meter, flat, vertical wall (avoidable to the left up some blocks). After that, three points on the ridge stand out.
First, there is straightforward scrambling up towards the summit. The summit itself is a huge boulder, climbed from its south side. There is a smaller boulder you can stand on next to it (but with a sizable drop in between). I stepped up and over the gap, put my left foot on a ledge/groove on the left of the summit boulder, and belly-flopped onto the rock. Getting down is easier -- you just jump.
- Back along the ridge to Cìr Mhòr.
- Here comes the summit
- Summit block
- Downclimb from the summit (I descended the gully in the middle)
Secondly, shortly after the summit comes the next challenge: a slope down to a small saddle (with an escape route down to the right) and a vertical wall beyond. I played around trying to climb a ramp and hang off the rock above, clearly shown in the second picture below. I made some progress (and it might have been climbable with a bit more effort), but I wasn't confident I wouldn't fall. I was about to give up, when I thought I would try to direct route up the nose of the shelf (immediately to the left of the ramp, staying on the cusp of the ridge). This looked harder, but was actually much easier. There are plentiful handholds hidden on the side of nose. (The routes further round on the left side of the ridge looked harder.)
- Approaching the next obstacle
- The nose (center left) and the ramp (center)
Thirdly, there is a difficult downclimb (probably much easier in ascent, if doing the ridge clockwise). The path follows the top of the ridge, with few obstacles, until you come to a drop. It starts with some shelves and boulders, but then the direct route is blocked by a vertical drop and you need to move off diagonally to the right, where there are steep slabs. I ended up sitting at the top, planting both feet flat on the slab, and pushing off, hoping that friction would save me. It did, but not initially. I started to slide, before my left foot caught. Then I could pick out rougher patches of the slab to keep placing my feet (and wedged one foot against the cliff on my right) to get down. But this (surprisingly) was probably the hairiest part of the round. I could easily have slipped down, which would probably not have resulted in a fall, but would have left me some definite scrapes. I am not sure if there is an easier descent further right, but it would be worth exploring.
My pictures from directly above and below the slabs don't really capture their steepness and situation, but I have taken a photograph looking back from further along the ridge which shows it more clearly. I have marked my descent with a red arrow.
- A difficult descent
The rest of the ridge has some optional lumps to climb, but they are relatively easy. (In most cases, the direct descent is blocked by cliffs, but there is easier ground to the right.)
- Optional lump
- Impressive cliff edge
- Looking back at the A'Chir Ridge, Cìr Mhòr behind
The bypass path soon joined from the right and it was time to tackle Beinn Tarsuinn. I was surprised to find that the climb involved quite a bit of easy (and enjoyable) scrambling. And the top of Beinn Tarsuinn and the continuation of the route over Beinn Nuis is spectacular, with stunning cliffs to the left and the Pirnmill Hills and Kintyre Peninsula to the right.
- The Pirnmill Hills
- The cliffs of Beinn Tarsuinn and Beinn Nuis
The descent from Beinn Nuis is not too steep, with an obvious path. The path disappears in bog, however, when it reaches the Garbh Allt. I lost a shoe and had to retrieve it, swearing loudly as my sock soaked up bog water. At least an obvious path appears later on, passing the waterfalls down into Glen Rosa. I was briefly treated to views of Cìr Mhòr, illuminated by the setting sun, then walked the easy track back to Brodick to rendezvous with my lift.
- Glen Rosa and Cìr Mhòr
- Glen Rosa again
