This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
eah, Scoiland is the place to be! To all those folk that write off walking in the UK as being low lying, damp and overrun with people — think again. Torridon, infamous for boasting Britain’s highest annual rainfall, manages to overcome that reputation amongst the climbing fraternity. A place “on my list” and never visited I jumped at the chance of joining the Leeds Mountaineering Club Easter trip. Driving up we were reminded how large Scotland actually is. From Manchester, Edinburgh is halfway and provides a good break in the 9-hour journey. It’s worth the journey. A fantastic place, really wild. Large bumpy mountains are widely spaced and loom up from desolate glacial U-shaped valleys. To Kiwi eyes it’s bald and barren: I loved hearing Sally’s description of Scottish mountains as tired and worn out. A fitting description but the resulting exposed rock is reassuringly solid and provides excellent ridge scrambling and quality rock climbing.
ad Phil enjoying the panorama
Ann Kendon
From our camping spot on the edge of Loch Torridon (a sea loch) terraced cliffs of sandstone rise up majestically. Britain’s mountains are not high and at Torridon only a few can claim the munro status (>915m) but you get more for your metres! Chop Fiordland off above the bushline and it gives you have some idea what Torridon is like. With expected frost, snow and rain the shorts were left out but I should have known better. Phil’s weather charm worked in our favour. Sunshine and mild temperatures made it remarkably warmer than Manchester and we were blessed with three brilliant days in which to knock off the significant munros — Beinn Eighe (pronounced Ben Eye), Liathach (Lee attack) Beinn Alligin and Beinn Dearg (Ben Jerag). Each mountain actually consists of several tops and one or two munros, linked by a series of narrow, rocky ridges. With a steep grunt up onto the ridge from sea level valleys, each mountain makes for a satisfying day trip from the tent.
Ann Kendon
WT&NC April 2001
o ¥ i Trip Reports I
The most notorious mountain is Liathach. In winter conditions there are ice routes on its north faces; in summer, multipitch rock routes. Or like we did, you can scramble up the end. Once on the ridge you are committed — it is narrow and exposed. Navigation is confusing and needs accuracy. In poor visibility many a party have tales to tell of wandering off route or round in circles! Unluckly ones have met their fate on the treacherous sandstone terraced cliffs. We were fortunate to have perfect calm conditions and so had no worries about traversing the crux — Pinnacle Ridge — by the direct route. The Pinnacles are literally fingers of rock to scramble along — very exposed with dramatic dark cliffs tumbling below us on either side. Memories of our Christmas trip on Dickie Ridge flooded back, only this time the rock was reassuringly solid and frictionful. I could feel my head for scrambling returning. It was so calm we spent one hour at lunch basking on the summit — map fully opened, trying to identify the surrounding mountains. Looking along the ridge to the next top or back in the previous direction the ridge looked complex with many false ridges; you could appreciate the difficulty of navigating in a mist. Something Phil especially appreciates is the birdlife found in the Scottish highlands. There’s never a dull moment out in the hills with Phil who can identify most distant specs as a bird of interest. P’ll never forget stumbling across two tarmagon. They are grouse-like birds, perhaps most renowned for their ability to change the colour of their plumage depending on whether there’s snow underfoot or not. We were iucky to stand and watch them for some time. Perhaps the highlight was the descent off the western end of Liathach. Loch Torridon sparkled below us — we could see its route out to the sea and make out the distant Hebridean Islands on the horizon — a fabulous backdrop. Driving home from the long weekend we were satisfyingly worn out and uplifted. Only a couple of weeks back from New Zealand it was good to find a piece of wilderness in Britain.