Thanks to all for the very helpful answers. We are very much leaning towards car/minibus hire at the airport. Inverness airport is an option too, although flight times are not quite as good.
Simply stunning. Would you mind if I saved this image with a possible view to sketching it someday (when time allows!)? I'm an amateur pencil artist (https://www.facebook.com/markeversonpencilart) and I'm inspired a lot by the work of Jamie Hageman! I'll probably never get round to it as I have a list of things as long as my arm that I want to draw, and I am the worlds slowest artist!
I think we'll be spoilt for routes, its just transport that is frustrating. Geting a train from Glasgow airport to Fort William is extortionate, we may as well chip in and pay the pilot to detour to FW for us!! It would be cheaper! Looks like minibus hire from the airport is our best option, even though its not that cheap, we have the freedom to roam.
a group of us are looking at a long weekend in Fort William in early September and I'd like to pick brains regarding routes and advice on transport.
We will definitely do BN via the CMD arete on one of the three days (weather dependent of course) and would like any recommendations for similarly classic routes for the toher two days. We are competent walkers/scramblers with much experience in Snowdonia, Beacons, Lakes, but first timers to Scotland.
Concerning transport, we are looking at flights to either Glasgow or Inverness. Then we have options of hiring a minibus/people carrier or public transport. Anyone any experience of the best ioption for this? We want to keep costs down but also want to be able to get to the start of the walk each day in good time etc, which is why hiring a vehicle sounds a good option.
The drive from South Wales is just too long for a weekend.
There is a gully on the north east face you can clamber up, it's the far right hand side of the face as you look at it. We did so last boxing day and it made for a fun route up. There's plenty of loose rock but no real danger. You emerge right near the summit on the north ridge. The Goat track is also fun (Kate put me onto to that one on this forum a few years back!)
I came down it with 4 mates 3 weeks ago and I also had no idea of its significance. It's steep but nothing too taxing or especially dangerous - nowhere near as steep as it looks from the far side of the valley... Here's a video...
Brilliant fun in the cloud and very atmospheric. Halfway down a path traverses off to the east so we presumed it must be a well used route. We went slowly and one mate even twisted a knee near the bottom. The old sign at the top had completely worn away so we were unaware of the archaeological aspect.
The Dog
