Magical Mullach delivers a Brocken Spectre

[Gordie12]

Brilliant as always, looked like a great day in a part of the world I have only driven in

[dooterbang]

WOW!! That walk had it all

Great photos of a stunning area.

Cheers

[AnnieMacD]

I've just been watching a couple of episodes of Muriel Gray's munro show including an interview with Tom Weir in which he talks about approaching the same munro in different ways and in different seasons. Similar in a way to your approach which means you cover it from various angles and enjoy the experiences even more - nice one, Annie, I enjoyed your report (and you saw so much more than I did on a rather claggy day ) - cheers

Thanks, rockhopper, I just got the DVDs so look forward to watching them. Now that you have compleated you can have the luxury of messing about with routes too! I actually prefer to climb just one hill at a time (if possible) and get to 'know' it. Definitely keep this one for a clearish day. I wouldn't have seen the Brocken Spectre if it had been totally clear though

[AnnieMacD]

Glé mhath

I ve yet to do Liathaich and hope to take An Cu with me over the Pinnacles

Oh dear, I hope An Cu can manage the Pinnacles. I suppose you can carry him if necessary.

[AnnieMacD]

We descended via your ascent route and I can confirm it is horrible on the way down... especially the upper part of it

BP, it will be much easier to descend this way once the path-builders have finished. They are making a great job of improving the path. I don't think they are going above 800m though so the top sandy/scree bit will still be tricky on the descent. I think this is a much easier ascent that the Spidean a'Choire Leith end though. The latter is more persistently steeper, I think.

[AnnieMacD]

Lovely stuff, Annie.
Am booked onto a winter mountaineering course in feb and hoping to re-visit Liathach then in her white coat, maybe even get up onto the northern pinnacles with a bit of luck. Have not seen any of the Torridon hills in winter conditions and excited at the prospects of seeing them transformed. I do envy you your proximity to these places

Thanks, wm. If you are into snow, then I think Liathach must be the ultimate in winter climbs/traverses in Scotland. As for the Northern Pinnacles, I'm intrigued as to how the deer got up. I'm planning a trip into Coire na Caime from the north hopefully when there's snow on the tops but not too much in the corrie. There must be tracks up there. It would be great to do a north to south traverse via the N. Pinnacles - as long as you had transport arranged!

[AnnieMacD]

Fantastic report.
What a simply stunning day.
How lucky are we to live in such a beautiful country?

First 'Brocken spectre', perfect. It's almost electrifying watching it, isn't it.
A BIG fat tick on the 'bucket list'.

Chris

I'm still on a high from the Brocken Spectre - and it's Thursday And yes, we are so lucky - especially when the hill is only an hours drive away.

[AnnieMacD]

Nice . Got a couple of possibilities planned on Liathach - Northern pinnacles are one, with a full circuit of Coire na Caime, but your descent route has also long interested me. Great photos as ever.

I'm planning a trip into Coire na Caime too when there's snow on the tops. I'm assuming that the 'normal' route to the Pinnacles is from the summit, but I'm sure one can get up to them from the north as the deer were there on the ridge. My descent was good other than the very last bit - it may have made more sense to intersect the Beinn Alligin path but the views were much better the way I did it, I believe. You would romp down there, Malky!

[JimboJim]

Great report, Annie. Wonderful photies and commentary to match. You don't seem to do 'ordinary,' very often !
Jimmy

[AnnieMacD]

Johnkaysleftleg, Fife Flyer, neilist, Johnny Corbett, Silverhill, tweedledog - thanks all for your kind comments. I'm sure the reverse route would be great too especially if you started from the Bein Alligin path.

[AnnieMacD]

This is another lovely report from you - photos are fab, and you capture the light beautifully as always.

Glad our write-up was useful!

We've been meaning to post to you for ages - sorry it's taken so long. The day you were on Beinn na h-Eaglaise, we were walking round the base of it (through from Strathcarron station - Coulags - Bealach na Lice to Annat): we even saw the same hill cloud on Maol Chean-Dearg and the same rainbows in Glen Torridon! Sadly we've only been back to Torridon once since then - hoping to return soon... and hoping to post something more here although not sure we got anything really up to it.

Thanks again - lovely to be reminded of the Mullach (perhaps our best ever day out) with your great images...

All the best,

Daniel and Clare (Torridon_snails)

Thanks - and thanks for your great report too. I read it a few times before deciding what to do.

I may have seen you from Beinn a h-Eaglaise - on the north path round the base, right? It was a great day that and the best hill for viewing Maol Chean-dearg.

Hope you'll be back in the area soon - we may meet on the hills!

[AnnieMacD]

Your photos are as usual spectacularly good and the route so attractive sounding I decided then and there I wanted to do it. Only negative the final descent which sounds a bit like the overgrown one off Sgritheall - or is it worse than that one?

You would love this route, dogplodder! If you look at the report from Torridon_snails, they descended to the Coire Mhic Nobuil path and it's straight sailing all the way. There's a bealach just east of the 701m point and you can go north-west from there to intersect the path. Much easier (but longer) than my route. The nasty bit was much shorter but more rugged than the Beinn Sgritheall descent. I was just on deer paths and then not all the time. At one point I grabbed some undergrowth to stop myself from falling and it was a bramble bush - aaaargh! I was very glad to reach the road.

If you had two cars you could park one at the Beinn Alligin car park and that would probably make the walk approx. the same length as mine.

[AnnieMacD]

Brilliant as always, looked like a great day in a part of the world I have only driven in

Thanks, gordie, what treats await you!!!

[AnnieMacD]

WOW!! That walk had it all

Great photos of a stunning area.

Cheers

Thanks, db, it was the best hill day!

[AnnieMacD]

Great report, Annie. Wonderful photies and commentary to match. You don't seem to do 'ordinary,' very often !
Jimmy

Thanks, JimboJim - I like doing circular routes when possible. But route planning is part of the fun