Blog Posts in Category: Winter Walking

With tired legs and a less good forecast we decided to climb Beinn Sgulaird, a single munro above Glen Etive. Despite being a single Munro it was still a fairly long day, as the climb followed a long ridge line with plenty of undulation. The morning was beautiful which provided us with great views towards the Glen Coe hills, and south towards the Cruachan range. The ridge itself would have been very enjoyable had it not been so cold in the wind, and my legs not having been so tired. Unfortunately as we approached the summit bad weather started to come in, and despite our summit not being in the cloud our views were restricted due to the Glen Coe hills and Glen Etive being in a snow shower. After quick stop at the summit, we made a hasty retreat to get off the high ground before the weather deteriorated. As were were descending the weather progressively got worse, but we mostly stayed out of the precipitation.

Chasing the elusive Scottish sunshine, we headed over to the west to climb Beinn a’Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich which are two Munros next to the Cruachan range. Trail magazine used the following two phrases in the description of the walk: These descriptions made the views from the tops sound outstanding, and a perfect pair to climb on a beautiful sunny morning. As the night was clear it was very cold, so we woke up to a very cold van with ice on the inside of the windows, but with beautiful sunny morning outside the van. On the walk in we discovered that it was calving season for the local highland cows, which delighted Becky. The initial walk up the valley was up a track which was fairly painless, but we soon arrived at the base of the proper climb up to the summit ridge. This was very abrupt and made the climb up to Am Bodach on Aonach Eagach seem like a gentle stroll! We soon got to the top to be greeted by a strong wind, but stunning views in every direction. The ridge up to the summit of Beinn a’Chochuill. Read the full article…

To make the most of the weather forecast we decided to head south east with the aim of completing the Tarmachan Ridge, which is the ridge high above Killin at the end of Loch Tay. The conditions were generally pretty good, with snow from around 550m. We had plenty of sunshine which meant that we had fantastic views for most of the ridge. The snow meant that we made quick progress once we were on the ridge, and we were privileged to have the ridge to ourselves after the initial Munro. Despite the easy access, we felt fairly remote while on the ridge, which combined with the weather made for a very enjoyable day. There was a slightly unexpected arete leaving the second top which was very exposed which was very enjoyable, as we decided from the second top the forecast bad weather came and and the conditions reverted to snowy, windy and cloudy. The descent from the final col took a lot longer than expected due to the soft snow, combined with the track being covered in yet more soft snow until we were within 2km of the car.

With another day of cold weather and strong winds we decided to have a short walk up Sgurr na Bana-Mhoraire, which is a stunning viewpoint overlooking Loch Torridon on the shoulder of Beinn Damh. The walk up was on an excellent track, so we made good time to the summit. The views from the top did not disappoint, and we were glad that we didn’t need to spend too long in the winds on the summit ridge!    

After three days of walking and seven Munros our legs were starting to feel fairly tired. As the weather for the rest of the week is looking somewhat more unsettled we decided to have a short day and climb our local Munro, Moruisg. We woke up in the morning to a surprise covering of snow, which made the walk into the mountain very attractive. The walk is very short, but with lots of ascent over a short distance. As we finished the steep section of the ascent we were greeted by a very strong and cold wind, this combined with the intermittent low cloud cover felt far more like Scottish winter than the last few days! The summit was very cold, so other than a brief photo we didn’t spend much time there before heading back down as quickly as possible. On the way down the cloud lifted and provided us with some stunning views of the local mountains, we could even see the grand Glencarron estate house which we are staying in on the descent.

With yet another stunning forecast we decided to make the most of it in Torridon by getting up high and doing a long walk. As we had previously done the classic ridges of An Teallach, Liathach and Beinn Alligin we elected to do a horseshoe involving Beinn Liath Mhòr and Sgorr Ruadh. It ended up being a longer day than we expected, but it was absolutely amazing. We made quick progress up the valley to the ascent up to the ridge on Beinn Liath Mhòr. The ascent was very steep and felt like very hard work after the previous few days. Once we were on the ridge it was fairly cold in the wind, but we had stunning views of the hills above Torridon. We made fairly slow progress along the ridge as there was a mixture of rock and snow and we had to take our crampons on and off a few times. The final ridge up to the summit was amazing with stunning views of all of the mountains above Torridon. The descent to the col before Sgorr Ruadh took a while and we considered our options as we. Read the full article…