Area: Liathach, Torridon
The finest mountain in the British Isles in my opinion, but although I'd driven past it a couple of times in the past, I'd never actually done the full Liathach ridge. It made an obvious early target as it was only 15 minutes drive from the cottage in Kinlochewe, but as ever on these holidays I didn't want to cut into family time, so took an ultra-lightweight running approach (as far as that's possible on a peak like this) while they had lunch. There's certainly no tedious walk-in, as the steep ascent begins immediately from Glen Torridon. A well-constructed path up the side of the Allt an Doire Gharbh leads to a broader upper amphitheatre, the Coire Liath Mhor. The angle eases for a while before steepening as the path curves east to weave up through a series of sandstone walls: nice scrambling, and I enjoyed selecting the most interesting lines up several chimneys to gain the ridge below the sub-peak of Stob a'Coire Liath Mhor. Superb views across the deep trough of the Coire Dubh Mhor to the superb massif of Beinn Eighe (the eastern end of which dominated the view from our cottage window). Beinn Dearg also impressed: for me, this is the best landscape in the UK and, as I had so little previous experience in Torridon (just Alligin and Slioch in 2005) it was a mouth-watering prospect to get to grips with the hills this week. The ridge narrowed immediately, giving exciting jogging to gain the sub-peak. Then the mist rolled away from the main summit of Spidean as I scrambled up snow fields and steep scree to the summit in just over an hour from the road after a 1000m climb. An impressive dominant peak, with superb views over the rest of the ridge. Exposed rubble slopes then led down to a little col and grassy traverse before the famous scrambling section over the Am Fasarinen pinnacles. The sun came out as I began the traverse, warming my hands to perfection at exactly the right time. I stuck to the crest, which gives excellent solid scrambling in a great position above two deep glens: fairly exposed in a few places initially. Some interesting down-climbing led to a gentler section then superb easy scrambling to the top of the highest pinnacle. A little more rock work on the crest leads to a small col then grassy slopes to the top of the second munro, Mullach an Rathain. Superb views from this peak, as the sun broke through even more impressively. Alligin, Dearg, Bhaosbeinn, Ben Damh all sunlit to perfection, as was beautiful Loch Torridon a vertical kilometre below. It had taken two hours to this point, so I had a quick banana and pelted down the screes above Tuill Bhan. This gives a very steep initial descent to good running with numerous tiring twists and turns down to the road: 2:45 road to road, so plenty of time left that afternoon to walk the upper ridge trail from the cottage with K and E. A great start to the holiday.
The finest mountain in the British Isles in my opinion, but although I'd driven past it a couple of times in the past, I'd never actually done the full Liathach ridge. It made an obvious early target as it was only 15 minutes drive from the cottage in Kinlochewe, but as ever on these holidays I didn't want to cut into family time, so took an ultra-lightweight running approach (as far as that's possible on a peak like this) while they had lunch. There's certainly no tedious walk-in, as the steep ascent begins immediately from Glen Torridon. A well-constructed path up the side of the Allt an Doire Gharbh leads to a broader upper amphitheatre, the Coire Liath Mhor. The angle eases for a while before steepening as the path curves east to weave up through a series of sandstone walls: nice scrambling, and I enjoyed selecting the most interesting lines up several chimneys to gain the ridge below the sub-peak of Stob a'Coire Liath Mhor. Superb views across the deep trough of the Coire Dubh Mhor to the superb massif of Beinn Eighe (the eastern end of which dominated the view from our cottage window). Beinn Dearg also impressed: for me, this is the best landscape in the UK and, as I had so little previous experience in Torridon (just Alligin and Slioch in 2005) it was a mouth-watering prospect to get to grips with the hills this week. The ridge narrowed immediately, giving exciting jogging to gain the sub-peak. Then the mist rolled away from the main summit of Spidean as I scrambled up snow fields and steep scree to the summit in just over an hour from the road after a 1000m climb. An impressive dominant peak, with superb views over the rest of the ridge. Exposed rubble slopes then led down to a little col and grassy traverse before the famous scrambling section over the Am Fasarinen pinnacles. The sun came out as I began the traverse, warming my hands to perfection at exactly the right time. I stuck to the crest, which gives excellent solid scrambling in a great position above two deep glens: fairly exposed in a few places initially. Some interesting down-climbing led to a gentler section then superb easy scrambling to the top of the highest pinnacle. A little more rock work on the crest leads to a small col then grassy slopes to the top of the second munro, Mullach an Rathain. Superb views from this peak, as the sun broke through even more impressively. Alligin, Dearg, Bhaosbeinn, Ben Damh all sunlit to perfection, as was beautiful Loch Torridon a vertical kilometre below. It had taken two hours to this point, so I had a quick banana and pelted down the screes above Tuill Bhan. This gives a very steep initial descent to good running with numerous tiring twists and turns down to the road: 2:45 road to road, so plenty of time left that afternoon to walk the upper ridge trail from the cottage with K and E. A great start to the holiday.
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