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This little outing was suggested by Tommy who had the weekend off, our original plan was to pick off one of Parminders Glencoe hills but the chance to visit the mighty Liathach again was too good to turn down. The final decision would be made on Thu/Fri depending on the forecast. The last thing we wanted to do was spend 7 hours on the road to get a good soaking. As the week progressed the forecast improved but as with all forecasts we are very sceptical.
I knew for a fact that the weather couldn't be any better than my last visit 5 years ago as that was a total one off and very special. Another reason for agreeing to volunteer for such a long day is that autumn is just around the corner and we won't get another chance this year to visit Torridon.
Decision made, now to sort out the finer details. Tommy was heading up the night before and staying in his van. We arranged to meet him at the finishing parking area and pick him up and then park my car at the start. As the journey is about 200 miles each way, I suggested we breakfast at McDonalds in Inverness, but they don't open until 7am. I guestimated that it would take us about 2 & half hours to reach Inverness so we met at our usual spot at 4.30am.
The journey north was a breeze with the only roadworks still ongoing north of Perth and very little traffic - for obvious reasons.
We arrived outside Tommy's van shortly after 8am and opted to stay in the car as the midges were ready for their breakfast. Tommy jumped in the car along with a few of his little friends and once we parked up a couple of miles along the road we were soon on our way in full protective equipment.
Here we go, dressed up for ?
Looking along the single track road towards Kinlochewe
The way up
Leaving our gaiters in the car probably wasn't the smartest move, but we would soon dry out
Low level look towards Torridon village
It's almost a "guess who is behind the mask"?
George feeling really good and doing a few stretching exercises
Gaining height
Kind of shows how low the cloud is
First bit of easy ‘hands on’
Not convinced George can see, as it looks like he is groping for the rock
Parminder getting himself prepared
Plenty of ascending still to be tackled
Water feature, not much more higher up apart from what fell out of the sky
Not sure what was being discussed?
Well spread out
In and out of cloud now
Gradient has eased a bit now
Impressive or what?
Parminder’s camera making a rare appearance, he had to blow the dust off it first
Love these sort of days, looking south
Wispy cloud really adds to the drama
The hills to the south peeking out again
The face of concentration
A wee hole in the cloud
Looking back down, more walkers heading up
Looking SE ish
Typical Torridon
Still heading up
Pair of posers
Here he comes
Typical Torridon again
Nearing the end of the long ascent
View SE again, won’t be long before you get to see what lies to the north
Parminder demonstrating the “4 points of contact”
Arty shot
And at long last a view to the north, it will get better
We started heading east in the “hope” of seeing Beinn Eighe, but we abandoned that idea after about 10mins
So we are now on our way to the first summit of Spidean a’Choire Leith
Following the path
Looking back
Tommy waiting patiently
If looks could kill
Never seen this colour before on rocks
Tommy taking in the view
This was when it rained/drizzled for about 20mins or so
A proper action shot, not sure what is going on?
Who could this be?
The western end of Beinn Eighe appearing
Slightly clearer shot, you can see the track way down below that takes you in or out of Beinn Eighe
The view to the north again, plenty of small lochans
View north from the first summit
The way ahead, looks very intimidating
View to the west to other end of the ridge
Descending off Spidean
There are plenty of gully’s along the ridge all offering spectacular views
Following the path
Tommy leading the way
Another gully
Tommy wanting his photo taken
Arty shot
Tommy wanting his photo taken again
Cloud coming and going
The way ahead
Still quite a bit of scrambling left, another couple of walkers in the shot
Bit of descending to tackle
The way ahead, you can see a couple of walkers on the left hand side
George demonstrating the bum shuffle descent
North
This shot gives you some idea of the terrain, not much flat stuff
Sleeves getting rolled up, must be getting serious
On all fours again
Looking back, path fairly obvious
Looking back again, you can see the ‘interesting’ descent off the first summit
This guy went whizzing past, I did say I would give him a mention
Parminder trying to smile whilst holding on
North again
George head down and concentrating
Loch Torridon now coming into view
Another guy who loosely tagged along with us
Some backdrop
Undulating is the word I think
View to the south for a change
North again
Spot the walkers?
Yes that is the way up
Kind of shows how steep the drop must be
Loch Torridon and the final walk trudge up to the summit
Looking back
The northern pinnacles
Looking back all the way along the ridge
Loch Torridon looking calm and picturesque
Stunning
Northern pinnacles again from a different angle
The initial final descent route
Mind and wash your trousers Tommy
Demon descender
The way down
Still a long way down yet
The descent route ahead
Looking back uphill
Not far now
A few camera photo's, always take my camera as the zoom facility on my phone is pants.
This was a point, zoom and shoot, only saw it's head as it was so far away
The way ahead
That is Gairloch basking in the sunshine through the gap in the cloud
Above shot zoomed
Nice gully, we met another walker who told us he skied down the gully, looks rather steep!!
Same shot as above but zoomed and raised a bit
The ridge with the northern pinnacles on the right
Tommy wanting his photo taken again
Zoomed
Torridon Hotel zoomed a wee bit
Zoomed a bit more
Sun still shining on Gairloch, love the break in the cloud
What a fantastic day, long but enjoyable from the time we left Fife. Having looked at my previous report one of the reasons I maybe found this traverse harder were the underfoot conditions. Wet rocks and rubber soled boots don't really inspire one with confidence, even new boots with plenty of tread. We arrived back in Fife shortly after 8pm all pretty exhausted but so glad we changed our plan. I took almost 300 photo's and was determined to try and photo as much of the traverse as I could.
Next on the agenda for us is a trip to Ailsa Craig, also weather permitting.
