The Torridonian Alps

 

Well, it may have been the NW of Scotland in February, but with blue skies, sunshine and snowy mountains, it felt more like the Alps...

 

Slioch

The week started with a great hillwalk, going clockwise round the horseshoe ridge of Slioch.

   

                                            

     

                       

 

Lawson, Ling & Glover's route (II), Sail Mhor, Beinn Eighe

A great mountaineering route, 400m long, starting with an easy snow gully, then veering right up some steeper mixed ground (this would have been easier with more snow) before joining a rocky ridge (coated with a reasonable amount of ice) up to the summit of Sail Mhor.

 

        

         

We then walked round the ridge to Coinneach Mhor, enjoying a bit of scrambling on the way, as well as getting great views of a golden eagle. We had intended to visit both Munros on Beinn Eighe after doing the climb, but after heading out to Ruadh-stac Mor and back, our tired legs suggested a walk back down might be more appropriate than another couple of km of ridge walking round to Spidean Coire nan Clach.

         

 

Post Box Gully (II), Sgorr Ruadh

It was pretty clear where this route got its name from, as the first pitch involved climbing into an icy cave below a large chockstone, up some ice, then pulling up through a narrow slot (the post box I assume) to emerge on top of the chockstone. Entertaining stuff!

    

 

Thereafter it was a fairly typical grade II gully, with a couple of steep steps plus some easier angled snow. Sgorr Ruadh was a new summit for both me and Maria, and it's a great viewpoint north to the Torridon hills and south to Fuar Tholl and beyond.

 

Beag Pardon (III), Coire Dubh Beag, Liathach

      

The northern side of Liathach is home to a huge array of impressive ice climbs, and it had been on our list of places to climb for some time but conditions had always been against us on previous visits. It's a remote place though, so after 3 big days in a row we chose the coire with the shortest walk-in (only 2 hrs 30 mins according to the guidebook) and selected a route called Beag Pardon, the crux of which apparently involved chimneying on steep ice in a narrow cleft... The climb started with an easy snow slope, then went past 'The Snotter' (an insane-looking grade VI Andy Nisbet route) into a narrow gully, with some pretty steep ice on the back wall. This 20m high wall of ice provided some entertainment, and was followed by some easier ground that led on to join the second half of Hidden Gully (II).

   

As we topped out we were greeted by some brilliant views of the ridge up to Liathach's highest summit, Spidean a' Coire Leith. On the way down we saw our second golden eagle of the week - have a look on Maria's facebook page for a video.

 

       

 

With warmer & wetter weather forecast for the rest of the week, this was our last climb of the trip, and we spent the last couple of days hillwalking.

 

Spidean Coire nan Clach, Beinn Eighe

After a lie-in, a fry-up and several mugs of tea, we finally set off at about midday to walk up Spidean Coire nan Clach, on the opposite side of Beinn Eighe to Monday's climb on Sail Mhor. The weather wasn't great, but it was nice to stretch the legs and not to have to carry a big climbing rucksack.

              

                                 

 

Moruisg & Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

Our last day started with a relentless slog up the grassy slopes of Moruisg's NW flank, and then we had a nice ridge walk over to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean. Unfortunately the cloud started at about 800m, so we didn't really get any views from the tops, but it was a nice hillwalk anyway.