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Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!


Postby Fife Flyer » Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:40 pm

Route description: Liathach, Glen Torridon

Munros included on this walk: Mullach an Rathain (Liathach), Spidean a' Choire Lèith (Liathach)

Date walked: 30/08/2020

Time taken: 7.4 hours

Distance: 9.65 km

Ascent: 1426m

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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.

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Here we go, dressed up for ?

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Looking along the single track road towards Kinlochewe

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The way up

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Leaving our gaiters in the car probably wasn't the smartest move, but we would soon dry out

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Low level look towards Torridon village

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It's almost a "guess who is behind the mask"?

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George feeling really good and doing a few stretching exercises

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Gaining height

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Kind of shows how low the cloud is

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First bit of easy ‘hands on’

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Not convinced George can see, as it looks like he is groping for the rock

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Parminder getting himself prepared

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Plenty of ascending still to be tackled

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Water feature, not much more higher up apart from what fell out of the sky

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Not sure what was being discussed?

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Well spread out

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In and out of cloud now

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Gradient has eased a bit now

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Impressive or what?

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Parminder’s camera making a rare appearance, he had to blow the dust off it first

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Love these sort of days, looking south

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Wispy cloud really adds to the drama

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The hills to the south peeking out again

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The face of concentration

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A wee hole in the cloud

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Looking back down, more walkers heading up

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Looking SE ish

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Typical Torridon

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Still heading up

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Pair of posers

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Here he comes

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Typical Torridon again

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Nearing the end of the long ascent

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View SE again, won’t be long before you get to see what lies to the north

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Parminder demonstrating the “4 points of contact”

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Arty shot

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And at long last a view to the north, it will get better

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We started heading east in the “hope” of seeing Beinn Eighe, but we abandoned that idea after about 10mins

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So we are now on our way to the first summit of Spidean a’Choire Leith

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Following the path

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Looking back

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Tommy waiting patiently

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If looks could kill

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Never seen this colour before on rocks

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Tommy taking in the view

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This was when it rained/drizzled for about 20mins or so

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A proper action shot, not sure what is going on?

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Who could this be?

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The western end of Beinn Eighe appearing

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Slightly clearer shot, you can see the track way down below that takes you in or out of Beinn Eighe

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The view to the north again, plenty of small lochans

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View north from the first summit

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The way ahead, looks very intimidating

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View to the west to other end of the ridge

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Descending off Spidean

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There are plenty of gully’s along the ridge all offering spectacular views

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Following the path

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Tommy leading the way

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Another gully

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Tommy wanting his photo taken

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Arty shot

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Tommy wanting his photo taken again

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Cloud coming and going

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The way ahead

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Still quite a bit of scrambling left, another couple of walkers in the shot

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Bit of descending to tackle

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The way ahead, you can see a couple of walkers on the left hand side

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George demonstrating the bum shuffle descent

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North

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This shot gives you some idea of the terrain, not much flat stuff

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Sleeves getting rolled up, must be getting serious

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On all fours again

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Looking back, path fairly obvious

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Looking back again, you can see the ‘interesting’ descent off the first summit

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This guy went whizzing past, I did say I would give him a mention

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Parminder trying to smile whilst holding on

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North again

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George head down and concentrating

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Loch Torridon now coming into view

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Another guy who loosely tagged along with us

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Some backdrop

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Undulating is the word I think

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View to the south for a change

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North again

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Spot the walkers?

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Yes that is the way up

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Kind of shows how steep the drop must be

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Loch Torridon and the final walk trudge up to the summit

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Looking back

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The northern pinnacles

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Looking back all the way along the ridge

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Loch Torridon looking calm and picturesque

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Stunning

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Northern pinnacles again from a different angle

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The initial final descent route

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Mind and wash your trousers Tommy

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Demon descender

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The way down

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Still a long way down yet

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The descent route ahead

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Looking back uphill

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Not far now

A few camera photo's, always take my camera as the zoom facility on my phone is pants.

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This was a point, zoom and shoot, only saw it's head as it was so far away

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The way ahead

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That is Gairloch basking in the sunshine through the gap in the cloud

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Above shot zoomed

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Nice gully, we met another walker who told us he skied down the gully, looks rather steep!!

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Same shot as above but zoomed and raised a bit

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The ridge with the northern pinnacles on the right

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Tommy wanting his photo taken again

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Zoomed

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Torridon Hotel zoomed a wee bit

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Zoomed a bit more

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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.
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby PeteR » Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:08 am

Looked good fun Martin. You seem to be cracking through your second round now. I remember a great day on this hill, although the decent off the second Munro wasn't particularly pleasant as I recall.
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby BlackPanther » Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:44 am

Fantastic. Great report of a very scary mountain! I must go back to Liathach - missed the pinnacles when we did it, Kevin wouldn't let me do the scrambling (overprotective husband!).

We were on Ben Mor Coigach that day and also practiced scrambling :D The initially thick mist lifted later in the day and slowly revealed the views. Midges were bad though - I must invest in the right headgear :lol:
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby dibs » Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:48 pm

Thanks for the write up Martin, it was a good day and I did find it a bit mentally taxing than my last visit for some reason . Maybe the damp conditions played with my head. Funny though, we did it in a quicker time than my last visit which I didnt expect as I was trying to take my time other than on the final descent.
Great company again on a great outing.
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby parminder » Wed Sep 02, 2020 4:20 pm

Excellent report and photo's MB Thanks for your company on a tough shift Guys, thanks for driving MB and G for the double whopper... :
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby tommyatr » Sat Sep 05, 2020 12:00 am

Cheers guys for a great day,thoroughly enjoyed it.
5 days later and my legs are still tender, suppose mondays walk didnt help though.
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Re: Liathach - The return, seemed much tougher!

Postby Mouse1903 » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:46 am

Great report, plenty photos giving you an idea what it is like :clap:
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