weedavie wrote:Didn't you do a watershed walk and fall off Mhanach
I did - well remembered. It was on the 'shed in 1987 - I was coming down the northern slope of Beinn a' Chuirn, the west top of Mhanach, when I strayed on to some horrible mushy wet scree stuff and lost my footing. Had a big rucksack so wasn't very nimble, and went down a fair way before stopping. No major injuries but a fair few scrapes and bruises and it shook me up a bit. Shortly after that I bumped into Andy Dempster - this was before he was a well-known guidebook writer, and we'd never met before - and he very kindly stayed with me over the next stretch across Achaladair and Chreachain before I spent a rather sore night at Gorton. Took the low-level option next day out to Felix Aitken's place at Achallader farm, where I was well looked after and spent a day recovering. Then rather surprised myself by getting right round the Blackmount horseshoe the day after that (including the direct watershed start over Meall Mor etc) and was fine after that. But it was a good example of how if you let your concentration slip the rest of you can quickly follow, even on very innocuous-looking ground.
I like those hills - have been on them quite a bit over the years, both before and after the watershed. Funnily enough I've never been round all five Munros in a day thus far, although I have done the five Corbetts together - again on the 'shed. Re the Munros, there are lots of nonstandard good ways up, eg the obvious S ridge of Dorain is worth a visit, as is - especially in winter - the big open corrie just to its E. And the N ridge of Achaladair, much photographed from Crannach Wood but hardly ever climbed, is a great day out. Quite steep at the top but you can zigzag about and suddenly pop out on to the flat ridge very close to the summit.