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Taming Torridon

Taming Torridon


Postby jupe1407 » Tue May 09, 2017 10:05 pm

Route description: Beinn Dàmh (or Ben Damph)

Munros included on this walk: Beinn Liath Mhòr, Ben Wyvis, Moruisg, Mullach an Rathain (Liathach), Ruadh-stac Mòr (Beinn Eighe), Sgòrr Ruadh, Sgùrr Mòr (Beinn Alligin), Spidean a' Choire Lèith (Liathach), Spidean Coire nan Clach (Beinn Eighe), Tom na Gruagaich (Beinn Alligin)

Corbetts included on this walk: Beinn Damh, Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean

Date walked: 29/04/2017

Time taken: 45 hours

Distance: 95.5 km

Ascent: 8816m

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Apologies in advance for what will almost certainly be a LONG report :lol:

My friends and I always have a full week of hillwalking somewhere in Scotland every May, and usually start planning next year's trip literally as soon as the current week comes to and end :lol: After a mixed, but mostly good week in Fort William last year, we were set on Torridon this year, probably coerced by me somewhat as I absolutely love the place and find almost any excuse possible to go back there. I would eventually book the Grampian Club's well-appointed cottage near Annat for the occasion. The trip grew arms and legs as I'd also entered the Etape Loch Ness Cycling event the preceding Sunday and just to top it off Jaxter organised the WH Meet at Kinlochleven for the Friday before that. A fortnight off work it was then :lol:

After driving through to Kinlochleven to meet some familiar and not so familiar faces at Kinlochleven (and also somehow end up feeling rough after two beers and a handful of drams) I had to head reluctantly up to Inverness to register for the Etape and find Anne and I's accommodation near Beauly. Both done successfully, all i had left to do was ensure I woke up at 4am :shock: for the Etape, which I did in 4.5 hours exactly, bang on what I'd hoped for. This meant I could spend the rest of the week relaxing with Anne and if the weather allowed, get a few hills done.

It then snowed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday :lol: We therefore spent most of the week chilling out and watching the entertaining squirrels at the wonderful Tsitika holiday apartment.

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Our neighbours

With Glen Strathfarrar only a few miles down the road, I was champing at the bit to do the circuit there and with a hint of an at least reasonable spell of afternoon weather I headed down there on Thursday, dumping a bike at the far end, then starting from the east. After nearly three miles of constant bog, worsened by snow melt and driving rain, I finally sacked this ridiculous idea at about 750m on Sgurr na Ruaidhe when I could barely stand, and returned to the apartment to dry off.

Friday 28th April
Ben Wyvis
974m ascent
8.9 miles
4h 55m


Friday promised a good forecast after a wet start so Anne and I decided to attempt the relatively close Ben Wyvis (we'd been beaten back by atrocious weather on it in 2014). True to form, the weather was pretty poor for most of the ascent, windy, showery or both. Anne's knee started to bother her around the 700m mark and she decided to head back down. I decided to push on quickly to the summit and meet her back at the car. There's not much to really say about Wyvis. A Good path all the way to the summit, and a long, LONG summit ridge, during which it snowed all the way to summit and most of the way until returning to An Cabar where it stopped and the sun briefly made an appearance. This is the only photo I could be bothered taking just before the descent proper.

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Descending Wyvis

I made it back to the car fairly quickly and we headed back to pack, Anne to head home and me to head to Torridon 8)

The Torridon Week

My history with Torridon stretches back a few short years to April 2013, my first WH meet. Prior to that I'd only seen a few photos on walk reports, and been fascinated by the seemingly other-wordly sights of 3000 foot mountains rearing up almost illogically from their desolate surrounds. Nothing prepares you for it in the flesh though. On that memorable weekend I climbed Slioch and Beinn Alligin in perfect conditions and have loved the place ever since, so a solid week to spend in amongst them was going to be something else, especially when armed with a very promising forecast. I arrived late on Saturday morning, and with no one else due to arrive until late PM I decided to climb nearby Beinn Damh, having read a few reports on it, but especially Annie McD's inspirational effort.

Saturday 29th April
Beinn Damh
1008m ascent
7.5 miles
4h 30m


For a walk that I had intended to use to hopefully get a couple of decent snaps and aid my week's hill fitness, Beinn Damh ended up being one of my favourites. The route is easy to follow. I parked up at the Torridon Inn, then head behind the buildings to pick up the signposted hill path with soon crosses the Sheildaig road to gain height at a reasonable gradient. The walk through the woods was lovely, and very warm as I was sheltered from the strong winds.

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Ascending gently through the forest

I soon came across a spectacular and un-named waterfall, though it needed a slightly iffy walk down some steep grass/earth to get a view of it.

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Waterfall

Before long the route exits the trees and onto open ground. Again, this is a reasonably easy ascent on a still fine path. Even better, looking back views of Beinn Alligin and Liathach start to open up. I stopped for a much needed bite to eat to enjoy them.

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Liathach

I continued up the now steeper and rougher path to gain the bealach, still turning round frequently to enjoy the views.

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Glen Torridon

The bealach now reached I headed over to the ascent path to eventually take in the summit, opting to take the bypass route to the summit and take in the "viewpoint" top on the way back. The views were absolutely wonderful all round. To my right I had Lochcarron, looking moody and to my left I had to glorious views of Glen Torridon and it's mountain giants.

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Lochcarron

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Alligin, Dearg and Liathach

Before long I reached the large boulderfield and made the fairly easy ascent to the cold summit. Beinn Damh certainly lives up to it's billing. The views all round are simply wonderful, with the Achnashellach hills looking particularly stunning.

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Maol Cheann-Dearg & An Ruadh Stac

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More mountain porn!

As I had already scoffed what would have been my summit snack I started to head down, turning round to get a last look at the Achnashellach hills I noticed some rainbow light to the left of Beinn Liath Mor.

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Beinn Liath Mor, Sgorr Ruadh and the stunted rainbow

I headed up the intermediate 868m top but this was quickly curtailed when it clouded over and I got the week's only rain shower. On the plus side, it didn't last long and gave me some moody and dramatic light looking over to Lochcarron and Shieldaig.

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Lochcarron

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Towards Shieldaig

Thankfully these passed quickly and after descending a mildy awkward boulderfield to reach the path, I continued my descent. Luckily I stopped to tighten my boot laces just in time to notice a rainbow in front of Liathach. One of my favourite sights of the week.

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Liathach and a Rainbow

The rest of the descent was fairly uneventful and I made reasonably good time, arriving back at the car almost exactly four and a half hours after leaving it. A quick day then, but a hugely memorable one and a hill I will definitely revisit, hopefully later this year. I drove the short distance back to the cottage and met up with Graham and Mat, before absolutely demolishing a chicken curry.

A perfect start to what would be a memorable week.

Sunday 30th April
Beinn Alligin
1110m Ascent
6.25 miles
5h 35m


This was to be my third time on Alligin, however it's a mountain I will probably never tire of. It's a wonderful mix of gentle scrambling, high level walking and wonderful views. And it's a short day. Mat hadn't done it before, Graham needed it for his second round and as our fourth companion Rob wasn't coming up until Monday and had already done it, this seemed the ideal choice for Saturday. For the third time I also tackled it horns-first. For the second time I would be tackling the traverse in very strong winds.

The walk in the busy car to Coire Mhic Nobhuil is a lovely one, and it follows the river on a good path, before crossing a bridge and gaining height. Soon the cairn marking the cut off for Alligin's routes is reached and it's time to start gaining height.

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The Horns and Eag Dubh

The initial climb up to the base of the first horn is extremely steep and bordering on scrambling in places, but completely straightforward on a dry, if very windy day. It looks quite intimidating from the bottom...

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Steep stuff

At the top of the this section the wind really hit us again so we sought some shelter behind a huge boulder to get a quick bite to eat before progressing up to the first horn, an easy bit of scrambling with a slightly awkward descent down a wee chimney. There was a heart in mouth moment as Mat's Jack Russell, Flash, decided to jump 15 feet off a rock, before wandering on as if nothing had happened :lol:

We looked back just as another walker stood on top.

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A walker atop the first horn

We soon pushed on up the second horn, where the sun broke through and both Beinn Dearg and Baos-bheinn looked magnificent. I really will have to make the effort to climb that sometime.

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Beinn Dearg

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Baos-bheinn

We pushed on and got over the final horn pretty quickly and started up the short, steep ascent to the day's first munro, Sgurr Mhor, making the summit pretty quickly and getting that awesome view back down to the horns and beyond.

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From Sgurr Mhor

It was windswept up here and absolutely freezing and we decided to make for the bealach and then up to Tom na Gruagaich. This section was quite sheltered and we were enjoying the warmth for a change. Again we seemed to make reasonable time and quickly arrived at the summit cairn.

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Tom na Gruagaich

We chatted to a few others up here before making our way down Coire nan Laogh on what is for the most part an excellent built path. The sun again came out and I got a nice view of tomorrow's walk, Beinn Eighe.

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A Distant Beinn Eighe

We made it back to an extremely full car park and headed back to the cottage to again stuff our faces :lol: I feel pretty lucky to have had three excellent walks on my three visits to Alligin. A fantastic mountain.

Monday 1st May
Beinn Eighe
1282m ascent
9.35 miles
7h 31m


With an increasingly fantastic forecast, and the prospect of walking a ridge I'd drive past many times and wanted to climb, it's pretty safe to say I was looking forward to this outing, even if i was feeling a bit "leggy" after four days of continuous walking. It's an awesome day and my report/photos won't even come close to doing it justice. We decided to go west to east, and I left my car at the sump & exhaust-rippingly bad car park in the east. Of course I somehow missed the larger and excellent car park immediately across the road :lol:

The Beinn Eighe Car Park was filling up, not surprisingly given it was a Mayday Holiday. We sorted ourselves out and duly set off in bright sunshine and a stiff breeze/wind. The walk in is wonderful as an excellent path slowly gains height between the eastern cliffs of Liathach and the steep slopes of Coinneach Mhor.

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The very enjoyable walk in

As we progressed down Coire Dubh Mor, the spiky-looking ridge of Liathach began to show itself. We'd be tackling this later in the week 8)

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Liathach

As we rounded the head of the coire great views of the desolation of Shieldaig Forest opened up. This is a truly Torridonian landscape, a wilderness with spectacular mountains like Beinn Dearg appearing to suddenly rise in improbably steep fashion from the desolation around them. It's simply stunning.

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The wilds of Torridon

As we started to climb into Coire Mhic Fhearchair we were treated to a large waterfall and an early view of the first munro, Ruadh-Stac Mor. We were also treated to a ferocious and cold wind.

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Ruadh-Stac Mor

Once up into the Coire proper, we sought shelter behind one of many huge boulders and enjoyed lunch. I had hoped for a calm day to get a photo of triple buttress reflected in the Loch, but not today! A far more disturbing shot of "Triple Buttress" can be found on a Facebook group with a fairly similar name to this site :lol: :lol:

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Triple Buttress

The route to the red sandstone "chute" seen to the left of the above photo is deceptively long, but interesting. We passed the wreckage of the 1951 crash here on a path which passed some interesting rock formations, waterfalls and tiny lochans. Eventually we reached the boulderfield which became a deeply annoying stone chute as we gained height. Still, the views were awesome.

We stuck to the left side of the sandstone chute, which almost acts as a rocky staircase for the most part. Tough going in parts but not much of a problem overall. I'd rather ascend than descend it though.

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Looking down the ascent route

Once on the ridge, the walk to the first munro summit is an easy daunder up a gentle slope. Although conditions were bright, it was a tad hazy so not ideal for photos, but still a fantastic place to site and take in the views.

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View from Ruadh-stac Mor

After a long and enjoyable lunch stop here, we headed back down to the bealach before ascending to the rest of the ridge. Once on top of Coinneach Mor, the ridge changes character and becomes a narrower (but not exposed) affair, meandering between the great expanses of quartz and sandstone, passing a couple of intermediate tops before a gentle short scramble gives up the narrow summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach. It's a stunning section of ridge to get there.

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Coinneach Mor and Ruadh-stac Mor

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Graham and Flash photobombing :lol:

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Beinn Eighe and Glen Torridon

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The summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach

After a brief snack stop here, we decided it was probably time to head for what I expected to be a fairly unpleasant descent, given the height we needed to lose over not a lot of distance. We retraced to the trig point, where I managed the impressive achievement of getting a Jack Russell to sit still enough for a photo.

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Flash

The descent from here is actually quite reasonable in places, the first section zig-zags down steep quartzite scree, before becoming a much rougher affair in the upper coire. Lower down it vastly improves and eventually the dodgy car park is reached. I've waited quite a long time to get up onto this mountain and it was definitely worth the wait. A near-perfect mountain day and one that will live long in the memory.

Tuesday 2nd May
DAY OFF!


I was feeling pretty knackered after Beinn Eighe and the cumulative effects of 5 straight days of hills so myself and Mat decided to take it easy and went for a drive up to Ullapool where I spent money in the outdoor shop, had a fairly average Steak Pie and Chips and generally took it easy. We drove back via Dundonnell, Poolewe and Gairloch, a truly stunning part of the coast. The rest did me the world of good and I was feeling fairly fresh for the next days efforts...

Wednesday 3rd May
Beinn Liath Mor & Sgorr Ruadh
1388m ascent
10.4 miles
7h 8m


I'd kind of "forgotten" about these two mountains in amongst the drama of the peaks above Glen Torridon, however I ended up enjoying this walk as much, if not moreso than any of the others. Feeling refreshed after a day off, myself and Mat joined Graham (Rob was suffering due to climbing Slioch with manflu on a scorcher the previous day) for the 30 mile drive round to Achnashellach Station to start what would be a bit of an epic (for me) walk. These are two hard-earned summits, with a hefty loss in height and some tricky terrain between the two, not to mention a long ridgewalk on BLM and a spirit-crushing false summit on SR :lol:

Anyhow, we started off past the station and down the forestry tracks. We were immediately met with a view of the spectacular Fuar Tholl, which I considered adding to the round later on.

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Fuar Tholl

At the end of the track proper, we ignored a diversion down to the riverside path and took a shortcut through the woods. This made absolutely no difference at all :lol: After crossing a deer fence, we joined the fine path up into Coire Lair. Before long we had a glorious view of the day that was ahead of us.

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A bit of a scene

From here it's a simple case of following the path which after some easy ascent soon reaches the much steeper ascent to gain the ridge. Although fairly demanding in terms of gradient the path was pretty good and we made the large cairn at the 876m point around 2 hours after starting out. From here the views are absolutely wonderful.

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Upper Coire Lair

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Beinn Liath Mor's ridge, Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine and Torridon

The ridgewalk, although long and over a couple of tops is hugely enjoyable and this was turning out to be an even better day than Beinn Eighe.

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Mat with a reasonable backdrop

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Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine with it's lovely series of lochans

There are no difficulties on this broad ridge and no a huge amount of height loss either and it seemed all too short a time until we reached the summit of Beinn Liath Mor itself.

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Final approach to the summit of BLM

We stopped for quite some time as the huge cairn here. It was absolutely roasting out of the breeze, and frankly I was beginning to wonder what on earth the payback for 5 days of good weather was going to be.

Eventually though it was time to move on. We descended the quartzite scree of BLM (this was to become a bit of a theme) before coming to the steep descent section which i've seen referred to as a scramble. I wouldn't go quite that far but care is needed. This drops down by an un-named Lochan which then loses even more height, joining the through route to Annat etc.

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The lengthy and awkward descent

We were now faced with a 300m+ ascent, after what had seemed an arduous and time-consuming descent from BLM. So we had a long rest. Even the dog was tired.

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We tired out a Jack Russell again!

After a much-needed break we began the longish ascent to Sgorr Ruadh, mostly on a good path which took us up to a large quartz boulderfield (shock). However the ascent didn't look too bad and I felt quite encouraged.

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Boulderfield below Sgorr Ruadh

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Back to Beinn Liath Mor

You can imagine my delight when having ascended this stuff, I was faced with the reality of a false summit and having another 70m or so to climb :lol: Thankfully it was steep which meant quick height gain and I was quickly at the summit.

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Summit view of Torridon from Sgorr Ruadh

The descent from here is quite interesting. There's a faint trail down to Bealach Mor which is easily lost (on several occasions). I spent most of it wondering whether I should take the opportunity to also climb Fuar Tholl. It looked spectacular, however common sense won in the end, as I wanted to save my energy for Liathach the next day. The bealach itself is a huge jumble of massive boulders and fine wee lochans, though navigating it in poor conditions would probably make it a bit tedious :lol: It was lovely though and we were soon on the descent path proper, feeling like we were almost underneath the Mainreachan Buttress of Fuar Tholl.

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Mainreachan Buttress, Fuar Tholl

What remains is a lengthy walk out, during which we decided to follow the riverside path, which, hilariously took us through a load of bushes and to a locked gate at the railway. Obviously we didn't cross the railways and retraced our steps to the proper path. Back at the car a bit over 7 hours after starting was reasonably good time and after a quick chat with another walker, we headed back to Torridon where the log burner was lit, and a couple of beers enjoyed while we looked forward to the main event of the week.

Thursday 4th May
Liathach
1326m ascent
7.25 miles
6h 30m

So, to what we all felt would be the week's main event. I'm sure everyone who's climbed Liathach had that moment of driving through Glen Torridon and almost crashing the car as they see Liathach for the first time, almost instantly filling the windscreen. It's an incredible mountain from every conceivable angle. Accessing it looks ridiculously difficult from afar, as do traversing and descending it :lol:

As an added bonus, the start point for this is literally 3 minutes drive from our cottage. It will come as no surprise that the ascent is steep. VERY steep. However I was surprised by how good the path was, it's been excellently constructed almost all the way to the main ridge and certainly helped us make good and quick progress.

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This might be steep

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A waterfall and somewhere up there is the first munro summit

The ascent up to the ridge at around 850m is relentless, steep and under a warm sun in a corrie, fairly punishing, but it gets you there quickly. We made the ridge just over an hour after starting. This shot from near the crest should give you an idea of the steepness.

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Yeah, it's definitely steep

Having done the hard work, it was time to enjoy the views. We could see the two minor tops to traverse before the Spidean a'Choire Leith itself ahead of us.

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Looking along the summit ridge

At the first top, there's an extremely well-constructed stone shelter which makes for an excellent rest and viewpoint. The vista to the north was fantastic. I could have stayed there for hours.

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Looking into a wilderness

We continued over the tops, with the views all around a very enjoyable distraction.

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Looking back along the ridge with Beinn Eighe behind

After the last sub-top there was annoyingly large height loss, however given that this was a magnificent mountain, I was prepared to let that slide. A few minutes of boulder-hopping later and we were on the spectacular summit of Spidean a'Choire Leith, our eyes of course drawn to the Am Fasarinen pinnacles, which were already busy with walkers and a guided group.

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Am Fasarinen Pinnacles

After a well-earned break, we very carefully descended the steep, loose boulderfield to reach the pinnacles. If anything there seems greater danger here than on the pinnacles themselves. One slip on loose scree and there's not much to stop you falling a long way down. After carefully picking our way down, we reached the start of the fun. Stopping to enjoy the views down some very steep looking gullies :lol:

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Gully views

The scrambling was pretty pleasant, with plenty of holds and nice dry and grippy rock, and could be as difficult or as easy as you wanted it to be. I throughly enjoyed it, as did Rob who hadn't been hugely looking forward to this part of the day. Even Flash enjoyed it, although he was being carried in a backpack :lol:

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Scrambling

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About to descend a pinnacle

After what seemed like no time at all the scrambling was over and we were at the base of the ascent to Mullach an Rathain. We stopped again to enjoy the sun and the views.

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Ridge to Mullach an Rathain

After a fairly easy pull along a gentle ridge, we made the airy-ish summit perch, again enjoying fantastic views. Also by a bit of a coincidence met up with one of the lads we'd met at the Coire Fionnaraich bothy back in January. After a short break here I took a couple of photos then it was time for what I expected to be a fairly horrendous descent.

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View over the Northern Pinnacles

The descent, as with Beinn Eighe is much better than expected, although steep there's a decent path almost all the way to the car park, though Rob may not agree as went knee deep in a tiny patch of bog literally 20 yards from the car :lol:

Nothing could put a dampener on a mountain day like that, undoubtedly one of my most enjoyable mountain days yet (most of these seem to have happened in Torridon :lol: ) It only seemed right that we celebrate by walking to the Torridon Inn to demolish a Steak Pie and have a couple of well earned pints.

Friday 5th May - The Final Day
Moruisg & Sgurr nan Ceannaichean
978m ascent
7.5 miles
4h 45m

Anything after Liathach is bound to be an anti-climax, but in looking for a fairly easy final day, the only real candidate was another trip to Achnashellach and the grassy lump of Moruisg. This was probably the ideal time to climb it as several days of wind and warm weather would surely have dried out the boggy approach. Graham and Mat had left to get back to Carlisle in decent time so Rob and I would finish off the week.

Fortunately this proved to be the case, although a combination of tired legs and anti-climax after the previous day's exploits made this more of a plod than it probably would have been. Moruisg itself isn't that exciting, however the view back from it are certainly excellent and we could see all of the Torridon Mountains and Fisherfield, An Teallach etc.

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Loch Sgamhain

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Fuar Tholl & Sgorr Ruadh

From about 500m height the slop steepens considerably and turns a bit stony which makes for easier going, before easing off and becoming a grassy plod again. Both Rob and I were pretty knackered and looking forward to getting to the top at this point. After what seemed an eternity (90 odd minutes) we made the wide summit ridge and were met with a strong wind. We took a brief snack stop at the cairn before heading off to the bealach with Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, a much rockier and to be honest, much more interesting peak.

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Distant Fisherfield, definitely on the list for this year

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Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

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Back to Moruisg

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Torridon from the bealach

The re-ascent between the two, even when knackered seemed totally fine and it wasn't long before we were on top of the ex-munro, now-Corbett. We chatted to a couple who'd been up in the area on holiday as well for a while, enjoying the sheltered side of the hill out of the stiff, cold breeze.

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Gleann Fhiodaig

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Beinn Tharsuinn and Cheesecake

Enjoying our final summit of the week, it was eventually time to head down. We eventually met the stalkers path running down by Allt na Feola which eventually took us back to the car, although because of the railway crossing at one point the path takes you further from the layby before doubling back, which was mildly annoying.

So that was it, the end of a fortnight in the NW highlands i'll probably never forget. Great company, strangely good weather and some absolutely jaw-dropping mountains. It's taken me three days to compose this report and my legs still hurt :lol:

TL;DR version - I climbed a bunch of mountains in and around Torridon :lol:
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jupe1407
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby roscoT » Tue May 09, 2017 10:48 pm

Woah, what a fortnight! Some stunning shots in there :clap: :clap: :clap: you've left me itching to go back there.

Might as well just hang up your boots now?! :lol:
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roscoT
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby jupe1407 » Tue May 09, 2017 11:10 pm

roscoT wrote:Woah, what a fortnight! Some stunning shots in there :clap: :clap: :clap: you've left me itching to go back there.

Might as well just hang up your boots now?! :lol:


I think you might be right. I don't know how I can ever top a week like that :lol: :lol:
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby Mal Grey » Tue May 09, 2017 11:11 pm

Any week with two steak pies must be good. :D


Seriously, what a week to pick to climb a host of THE best mountains in Scotland. Fantastic!
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby jupe1407 » Tue May 09, 2017 11:17 pm

Mal Grey wrote:Any week with two steak pies must be good. :D

Seriously, what a week to pick to climb a host of THE best mountains in Scotland. Fantastic!


The first one was a bit "meh". The Torridon Inn's offering was brilliant though :D

Aye, I was extraordinarily lucky with the weather, considering the previous week was largely spent in Beauly dodging snow showers and rain :lol:
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby Sunset tripper » Tue May 09, 2017 11:31 pm

Great pictures Jupe. You picked a good week for it. :D
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby Walk cycle » Wed May 10, 2017 8:26 am

Like all the great reports you have a mix of the sublime and the day to day (pies). What a fantastic week. A lot of these hills are on my itinerary for July with the Achnashellach hills becoming increasingly prominent too. Thanks for posting this, it's very helpful for me to read this. :)
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby jupe1407 » Wed May 10, 2017 8:33 am

Sunset tripper wrote:Great pictures Jupe. You picked a good week for it. :D


Thanks ST. I feel I have used up my good weather quota for the next five years now :lol:

Walk cycle wrote:Like all the great reports you have a mix of the sublime and the day to day (pies). What a fantastic week. A lot of these hills are on my itinerary for July with the Achnashellach hills becoming increasingly prominent too. Thanks for posting this, it's very helpful for me to read this. :)


Thanks :D

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Torridon really is a fantastic place.
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby BlackPanther » Wed May 10, 2017 10:03 am

Well, classic Torridon pornography, glad you had decent weather to enjoy them.
I started my hillwalking career in Torridon, immediately fell in love with this area... Beinn Eighe is my old favourite. Mountains don't come better than that! Also Beinn Damph is a wee cracker :D

But I have to say a word in defense of poor old Ben Wyvis (my local Munro). It may look boring, but it can make for an enjoyable trip. We did it in deep snow once and it was amazing. This year, we experienced great cloud inversion on the way up. Now, I'm thinking about alternative approach from Loch Glass via Fiaclach, to bag the outlying tops. I guess any mountain is as good as weather conditions on given day :D
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby BobMcBob » Wed May 10, 2017 2:21 pm

Good grief you sure pack 'em in :D I was up in Torridon end of April (in the snow) and the same week you were there in the sunshine and only managed 4 peaks :D I'm a supremely lazy oaf though, and I did spend 2 blissful days on the beach :D Some glorious photos there as well. You can't beat Torridon.
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby jupe1407 » Wed May 10, 2017 5:25 pm

BlackPanther wrote:Well, classic Torridon pornography, glad you had decent weather to enjoy them.
I started my hillwalking career in Torridon, immediately fell in love with this area... Beinn Eighe is my old favourite. Mountains don't come better than that! Also Beinn Damph is a wee cracker :D

But I have to say a word in defense of poor old Ben Wyvis (my local Munro). It may look boring, but it can make for an enjoyable trip. We did it in deep snow once and it was amazing. This year, we experienced great cloud inversion on the way up. Now, I'm thinking about alternative approach from Loch Glass via Fiaclach, to bag the outlying tops. I guess any mountain is as good as weather conditions on given day :D


I'm possibly a bit harsh on Wyvis because I've never had good weather on it :lol: It looks like it'd be a good winter hill.

BobMcBob wrote:Good grief you sure pack 'em in :D I was up in Torridon end of April (in the snow) and the same week you were there in the sunshine and only managed 4 peaks :D I'm a supremely lazy oaf though, and I did spend 2 blissful days on the beach :D Some glorious photos there as well. You can't beat Torridon.


It was quite a week Bob. Thankfully (for my knees) I only do a week like that once a year :lol:
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby Walk cycle » Wed May 10, 2017 9:38 pm

I enjoyed your report and you appear to have completed 7 walks in 8 days. I hope to have 6 days in the Torridon area and intend to walk 5 - Beinn Eighe/Beinn Alligin/Baosbheinn/two in the Achnashellach area but probably not Liathach. This is obviously all weather dependent. I have a good level of fitness but am just wondering how you felt after doing such a run of hills with one day off? Last year I climbed Ben Hope/Foinavon/Ben More Assynt with two rest days due to poor weather. I have transport. Thanks.
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby jupe1407 » Wed May 10, 2017 9:54 pm

Walk cycle wrote:I enjoyed your report and you appear to have completed 7 walks in 8 days. I hope to have 6 days in the Torridon area and intend to walk 5 - Beinn Eighe/Beinn Alligin/Baosbheinn/two in the Achnashellach area but probably not Liathach. This is obviously all weather dependent. I have a good level of fitness but am just wondering how you felt after doing such a run of hills with one day off? Last year I climbed Ben Hope/Foinavon/Ben More Assynt with two rest days due to poor weather. I have transport. Thanks.


I walked for 5 days (including a failed effort in Strathfarrar) then took a day off, much needed I might add :lol: then walked the following 3.

I didn't feel any pain or discomfort during that week beyond the usual tired legs/leg burn but I made sure I kept myself well fuelled with food and water - I was burning 2000-3000 calories on the hills each day.

Prior to the trip I'd only done one hill walk since the end of January, which was the pair above Loch an Daimh. I have however been doing a lot of cycling/spin classes which really helped my fitness.

If you're having a rest day, I'd have it after Beinn Eighe as it's a biggish day. I can't comment on Baosbheinn as I haven't done it yet, but Alligin is an easier and quicker day than Eighe. If the weather allows I'd probably tackle them Alligin-Eighe-REST-Baosbheinn-Achnashellach x 2
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby Walk cycle » Wed May 10, 2017 10:08 pm

Thanks for advice on the order. I'm probably going to stay in hostels too to keep the focus on the walking. :thumbup:
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Re: Taming Torridon

Postby malky_c » Wed May 10, 2017 10:38 pm

Possibly the best week of the year to have been in Torridon - fantastic 8) .

Decent time for the etape too. It took me a good 50 minutes longer (plus some breaks on top of that) to plod round the route on a quiet day back at the start of January...and I thought I was going quite fast!
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