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This is my first ever walk report, and it was such an awesome walk I just can't avoid putting it up any longer.
I was in Torridon over Easter with a couple of very experienced mountaineers and Beinn Alligin was one of the chosen walks.
Staying at the SYHA meant a very short drive up to the car park and we quickly got going. The weather was terrific - I've rarely had more sun and I cannot remember clearer conditions than those that day.
With the tops of the hills still very much snow-covered it was feeling a little alpine.
Looking up at the ridge where we were heading:
After an uneventful trudge up to the "horns of Alligin" we donned our crampons and got out the axes as it felt right - they would give us extra options if we needed them. Turns out it was the right decision. We met someone who works at an outdoor centre in Aviemore and she was significantly quicker than we were, although she did avoid all the horns and shot off up to the Munro ahead of us!
I was regretting forgetting my shades with the sun reflecting in the snow.
We came to one part of the ridge we were not sure how to get down so we took a detour around:
Looking back on the first "horn" of Alligin it became clear that we were in for a treat:
Having not had much scrambling experience in winter this was quite fun and a bit of a challenge. It was nothing compared to Liathach the following day but enough of one to put a smile on our faces:
When we got up to the Munro it was stunning. The view was the best I've ever seen. Beinn Dearg looked pretty mighty behind the ridge:
Liathach was looking pretty tasty and we had designs on that one the following day:
We carried on up to the second Munro and I had a good look out to sea. The hills in the background are the Outer Hebrides about 45 miles away, and you can see the end of Skye on the left. Rona was a bit out of shot:
We passed the scene of an ancient rock fall, which now has nice photgenic properties:
I then went a bit mad with my panorama shots. This one shows Sgurr Mor on Beinn Alligin, with Beinn Dearg, Beinn Eighe and Liathach going from left to right:
...and then headed back down to the car.
Someone had obviously been here before us as they slid down here:
It felt awful coming off the mountain as I wanted to stay up there forever just wallowing in the views. After the previous day on Slioch had seen only broken sun, this was the Real Deal. Top area, top conditions, top mountain.
