free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
This weekend, we had planned to finish off the Etive ridge, but it looked like the rain would be centred there, so a pretty dreichit day if we went ahead with it..
So we looked further north where the weather didn’t look so bad and decided on Torridon instead.. My Dad got wind of our plans and managed to wangle an invite too – Oh it was looking like it might just be a special weekend. Dougie’s 200th, Dad coming, Liatach – too much excitement to get any meaningful work done on a Friday afternoon
So I did the normal dash after work, chasing the sun westward, trying to make it before sunset so I could see what I was doing pitching the tent at the free campsite at Kinlochewe. It was breezy enough to disperse the midges to a large degree,
but I had a long wait before Dougie turned up at 10.15 and we finally got our dinner and some Friday cheer. Late to bed, and then we were awoken by thundering rain in the early hours
Dad turned up early, we had only just got conscious enough to get a brew on. No midges in the tent, but outside they were swarming.. That never happens!
So by 10, we had set out through the drizzle in 2 cars heading up the glen to Liatach. It was full waterproofs on for the steep ascent – boil in the bag hot
The rain went off, so did the waterproofs, then the rain came on again, the waterproofs went on again.. Tedious.
I had a cracker of a cold as well, which didn’t make breathing easy!
My Dad doesn’t stop for man nor beast though, so he was well ahead by the time we were up in the corrie, and it was an effort to catch him up, despite him stopping for biscuits. Quite fit for a 66 year old, with a pacemaker that isn’t working right!
Not far, and we finally hit the ridge. The rain was dwindling again, but unfortunately there was still some clag about.
Dougie and I had attempted Liatach at the Spring WH meet, but had to turn back due to a massive thaw being on, - huge plaques of snow were falling off the hillside at that time and we were both struck at how different things were today.
The well worn path went up over rocky ground, and over a couple of minor tops. The sun was trying really hard to break through that cloud – we could feel its radiating heat.
A few glimpses of afar were seen and we hoped it would clear properly before we got to the first munro of the day – Dougie’s 200th. A steep pull up a boulder field saw us there, but not any views.
We hunkered out of the wind, ate our pieces and talked about how it was supposed to be clearing soon..
We set off when we got cold, a steep scree path seemingly not going in the right direction, eventually traversing round to the bealach. We were at the pinnacles – Yaay!
The first is just a walk, but we were rewarded by the clag finally clearing when we got to the top.. More pinnacles were revealed in front – it looked amazing..
The next pinnacle saw a little more scrambling and a tricky descent.
By this time the weather was glorious, and we sat a while in the thick of it, just enjoying being there, picking out far off hills and regurgitating stories about them.
We carried on, none of the scrambling tricky at all. We skipped a couple of the pinnacles because they offered no upward scramble, but plenty downward.
I’ll definitely be doing this the other way next time. The jewel in the crown was Am Faserinen, which was a delightful easy scramble that just kept on going. The sun was shining, views stunning, spirits high, and grins wide.
We reluctantly moved on to the grassy ridge ahead that leads up to Mullach an Rathain.
I avoided the path, and went up all the wee tops along the way. Dad didn’t, so was well ahead again. Dougie waited for me while I messed about – I just wanted to get every view possible.
To the south was cloudy – in fact it felt like we were on the very edge of the good weather, but up north, the views to Fisherfields, Fannaichs and An Teallach were amazing. Made it to the summit, to join the rest of the party and we sat at the cairn for a long time.
So the descent was steep and slippy to begin with, a wee bit of care required, but we made it down to the corrie without any of us slipping bumward, so can’t have been so bad.
We heard a deafening crack of thunder, which had us all frozen in our tracks. Across in the Strathcarron hills, there was suddenly a big wall of cloud!
Luckily it headed out to sea, and after that the air cleared considerably, and the weather turned summer hot, and windy enough to blow waterfalls upward.
Out of the corrie we wandered over hot slabs, losing the path on a couple of occasions, so some bog was encountered.
Made it back to the car, not even feeling tired yet. It had taken 8 hours, but I think we could have done it in half the time. A cracking day for Dougie’s 200th
We went for a pint at Kinlochewe, and said farewell to Dad, who knew his knees wouldn’t take another day..
Sunday morning we awoke sweltering, sun beating down on the tent. Still took us a fair while to pack up, so it was well after 11 before we were round in Glen Carron. We parked up at the station, and due to my poor map reading skills, we ended up on a hunt for a fictitious path for 10 minutes, before we got on track..
So up the right track we eventually went, the shade of the trees welcome in the heat. Pretty soon, we saw the turn off for the path, which stuck close by to the river through the trees. It felt really summery.
Up above the tree line, the going got a bit steeper and slabbier. We reached melting point in the heat, and had to keep stopping to cool down.
We had planned Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl, but at this speed we wouldn’t make it back before dark, and I had to try and get back early this weekend
We reached the junction in the path and made our way down to the burn. It was still fairly hard to cross, despite the water levels being low, so on a rainy day I imagine the crossing would be difficult.
We dripped up to the bealach, the scenery getting better and better.
I love it round those parts, your jaw drops at every turn, and this walk was no exception.. When you suddenly turn the corner and see Mainreachan Buttress it takes your breath away.
The bealach was lumpy, but the far side looked flatter, so we continued for a while, hoping for a path to our right. We didn’t find one, so made our own way toward Sgorr Ruadh, over boulders, and round lochans. I thought I could see the scratchings of a path heading uphill, but it turned out not to be.. Didn’t really matter anyway, we made good progress up to the wide ridge, we were only hampered by the heat, and the abundance of blaeberries.
We headed to the far side, to ease the rest of the ascent a bit, and were on the summit surprisingly quickly. I can’t convey how good the views were from there, possibly the best views we have seen from any munro.
From the Ben, to Assynt, to the Cairngorms, to Harris, was all visible. We sat there a long time..
We had already ruled out the corbet as well, as time constraints meant we had to go.
besides, the weather eventually got cloudy and colder, so we reluctantly left the summit, and went back the way we came.
We took a bit more of a direct route back to the path, over steep boulder fields, and traversing round below the bealach to gain the path further down. Would have been a nightmare route in poor conditions, but I enjoyed that part of the walk over rugged ground.
The path back to the car seemed to pass beneath our feet very quickly as we got our stomp on..
What a beautiful day it had been. The scenery and the weather clubbing together to make it fantastic. Glad we changed our plans and went up there. Liatach was definitely a worthy mountain for Dougie’s double century.
