Ladhar Bheinn from Barisdale
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:55 pm
So I was off to Knoydart on Friday evening hoping to do Ladhar Bheinn, supposedly one of the finer hills in Scotland. We parked at Kinloch Hourn on Friday night and walked in to Barisdale bothy, arriving there just after 2am. The walk in is only about 8km but the path is very very boggy and can make for a tiring trip, especially if you are carrying a lot of stuff (as I was ).
In the morning we set off to do Ladhar Bheinn, first following the path and then breaking off and going up a steep, pathless slope.
The terrain seems to level off a bit at around 650m, but the final push to reach Stob a Chearcaill does involve some scrambling. However, once up, views of loch Hourn, Knoydart, and Coire Dhorrcaill are fantastic.
Continue along the ridge (which is very flat at this point) until you reach 849m point and then turn northwest. Descend into the cull and follow the path up again (easy scrambling) and down again, a couple of times . There is a good path all the way and the going isn't very tough.
From the final saddle before Ladhar Bheinn, the final push is quite steep and the path seems to run out (or was covered in snow). This goes on for about 190m of ascent and was probably the toughest part, at least for me. Once up on the ridge, there is one branch that goes to Ladhar Bheinn (and the trig point) and one that goes to Stob a Choire Odhair. Do Ladhar Bheinn, retrace your steps, and go down over Stob a Choire Odhair. Note that there is already lots of frozen snow
on the hill and ice axes and possibly crampons would be most welcome. We didn't have any, and we did the descent in the dark, so this made our going fairly slow. The descent is exposed so care should be taken.
Once down, find the path and go back to the bothy. A quick note about the bothy: it costs 3 pounds per person per night, and there is no fire so it gets quite cold inside. There is electricity (just for lights), and a toilet with running water. There is room for about 12 people inside.