Hi. I'm faily new to the board/site, must say it's quite impressive, have read alot of posts already.
Me and my grilfriend have been to Scotland in april, planning to walk the hills a bit.
The weather was still very cold and the hills were covered with snow, so we decided to stick to lower simple routes (no scrambling), since we have no experience in snow at al.
Anyway, we are returning this september and we really want to get into scrambling a bit.
We have no exprience until now, so we want to take 2 weeks to build some experience.
We planned some simpler routes, without scrambling, like Mam Sodhail, the Five Sisters, Loch Quioch, but next to that 2 or 3 scrambling routes.
We thought about:
Ladhar Bheinn,
The Saddle and
Torridon/Liathach
I would like to know from your guys if you think these are good routes to start with, and do we need a guide/more experience person to show us the route/skills with some of these?
Or maybe some of you know a good alternative in that area.
We like a challenge, but we're not the kind that doesnt know when to stop and turn around, if we feel uncertain. Rather be save then sorry because of naive eagerness.
If both of you haven't done any scrambling before, then i would go out with a confident scrambler first. I've seen people panic and freeze and you need someone with a cool head to talk them through it. If both of you are confident and have no problems with heights, then it's up to you. I definately recommend an experienced person with you at first.
From the list it looks like you're planning on going to the far north west. However another option might be Lochaber...loads of easyish scrambling options in Glencoe, the Mamores, Nevis etc eg Devils Ridge, CMD arete - certainly a bit easier than Liathach. And as with Arran, plenty of easier routes if the weather's not great.
If you are heading to Glen Shiel to do the Forcan Ridge up onto the Saddle, drop me an email. I don't live far from there, have crossed it many times, and don't need much of an excuse to do it again. I'd be happy to 'show you the ropes', (if you know what I mean), and September is a great time to do it. No midges.
Your other routes,
Ladhar Bheinn, a hell of a long walk, and is best enjoyed with a wild camp overnight near the foot of it.
Torridon/Liathach, quite a difficult route for a beginner, but I don't live far from here too, and could be talked into it. You could try Ben Alligin, over the 'Horns' however. This is a great route, and certainly 'do able' with limited experience.
Would second snowie's advice re Beinn Alligin. Definitely the easiest of the Torridon Munro's but still challenging enough! Here it is in May, also a relatively midge free month...
Wow, thanks guys, didnt expect so many replies in just one day!
Arran sounds like a good start, but a bit off our route unfortunately. Though thanks for the advice. It's good to hear your opinions on this, it gives us a new perspective on things and food for thought.
Indeed, we wanted to camp at barrisdale to do Ladhar Bheinn, but that wild camp at the foot of it sounds even better... we'll see what we do.
We'll also dive into the Glenn Coe area and the Beinn Alligin routes in the books to check them out.
That invitation to do the Saddle sounds very inviting Snowie, we'll definately drop you a mail by the time we're going there, or know more clearly wich days we will spend there.
Hey everyone, just to round of this topic; We went for 2 weeks, had a great time.
Did Mam Sodhail and Carn Eighe, wich was quite exhausting, also because we couldnt find the right path down, so that ended up beeing time consuming and tiring. Got back to the car after dark. Thank god for my Fenix.
After some easy days and camping in Glen Shiel, did Beinn Sgrittheal. Interesting route down through the forest...
Some more driving and camping. Saw Torridon but tidnt go up, we wanted to be sure we had enough energy for The Saddle, where Snowie was going to join us.
So we ended doing the Saddle, wich was very nice, found out I love the challenge of keeping your mind focussed with the heights and using your hands for a change.
We really appreciate snowie coming along, we wouldnt have gotten through the difficult bits this easy with him, and him having the rope was excellent, wich i gladly accepted when doing the 20 meter drop down. Probably wouldnt have done that bit without the rope.
Thanks again for your efforts!
and thanks everyone for taking the time to advice us.
Below: Forcan Ridge, and one of our camps, at Glen Shiel, with the start of Forcan in the background.
I definately recommend an experienced person with you at first.
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