TARMACHAN MOUNTAINEERING: TORRIDON & MY LAST ALPINE GUIDING OF 2023

Trekking on the Haute Route

It's been a busy few weeks for Tarmachan Mountaineering. Towards the end of August I had the pleasure to guide a bespoke Torridon trip for Darren & Shelley. This remarkable couple from Canada make regular visits to the UK and especially the Scottish Highlands. For the last few years they have been bagging the Munro summits. No mean feat when you have to travel across the Atlantic on every foray! They were super keen for me to guide them on the spectacular Torridon Munros.

The weather forecast for their 5 days in Torridon wasn't looking too good. An unsettled period towards the end of August, with cooler temperatures on the tops. But these hardy folk are made of strong stuff. We kicked off on Beinn Alligin.

Tackling the Horns of Alligin

Some views, occasional

Darren and Shelley on Sgor Mor

It started off dry but by midday we got cloud and some drizzle. The views appeared now and again. By the time we reached The Horns, the rain made a more concerted effort to get us wet. Always fun tackling the horns, even when there is no views to be had. We were quite amazed by a group of young folk, one of which was carrying a very young baby. The baby was being carried in a correct and quality made baby carrier rucksack. I wouldn't have dreamed of scrambling over the horns which are Grade 1. The group were obviously very inexperienced as they asked 'which way is it'? Judging by their own attire and the lack of navigation/planning I was quite concerned for their baby and them! Thankfully they had a think and sidled around the scrambling. Even on this traverse path I was quite concerned. By the time we got back to the carpark there were no other cars so thankfully they made it down in one group.

Shelly and Darren had a great day and a good intro to the Torridon giants. We were based in Broadford on Skye for the week. Yes, Skye! Obviously in Canada a 3 hour round drive to Torridon and back is a piece of cake and no big deal! We were very well catered for at the excellent cafe at Broadford. Open until 9pm and very friendly staff with fantastic pizzas, the best on Skye!

Coire Lair and Sgorr Ruadh

Decent views today

Day 2 saw us on Sgorr Ruadh. This is one of my favourite mountains (there are many in the NW that go with this label!). We had some great weather and we got views!

Looking across to Mol Chean Dearg from the summit

Liathach almost peeping out of the clouds

We ad a great day and were contemplating a second Munro, Beinn Liath Mor but decided that the long trip back to Skye with the possibility of missing out on the pizza and beer too much to risk! These mountains need to be enjoyed and savoured, not just figures on your Strava records!

Day 3 looked a dodgy day with thunder and lightening forecast, so it was a leisurely bimble on Skye. Ironically there were some good sunny spells between the heavy showers on Skye. Looking across to the mainland it looked very black though.

Day 4

Back to Torridon and with another forecast of cloud and rain we decided on Beinn Eighe. It was much colder and we did get some views lower down the hill but unfortunately we were in the clag most of the day.

The final steps up to

No views, but another one in the bag

We decided that Beinn Eighe and Coire Mhic Fearchair needed a fair weather day to appreciate it's grandeur and stunning scenery, so only 1 summit today. We saw very few folk out on the hill. The ones we did see were clad in shorts and one couple asking 'where is the summit? Is it this way' We were on a ridge. Although we gave them the answer, one of them whipped out their phone just to confirm we weren't conning them!

Day 5

A beautiful day! At last! Darren and Shelley deserved this. But unfortunately we had some car troubles! Never mind, theyhad quite a few Munros that they had yet to tick in the Glen Shiel area. So we used the excellent Citylink bus service that has regular and well timed service between Skye and Glen Shiel. We chose Beinn Attow for todays final trip.

Glorious sunshine and views!

A well deserved summit, we saw no one all day!

Beinn Attow is quite unique in this area of narrow ridges. The summit area is more reminiscent of the Cairngorm plateau. It is a beautiful and long approach on excellent stalkers paths to gain this big, bulky summit. Amazingly we saw no one all the way up! A stunningly beautiful day.

A top 5 days with Shelley and Darren. They've already booked me for some winter Munros in March and another summer trip next year. Winter in Torridon here we come!

Lac Louvie and Grand Combin

A quick turnaround and early September I was guiding my last Walkers Haute Route for 2023. Here's a few images from 10 days of guiding on one of the finest treks in The Alps.

Descending into Zinal

Dent Blanche

Ibex in golden light

Balcony view at Arolla

The Haute Route is like walking several Munros every day, except it's mostly in t-shirt and shorts weather! And on excellent trails! I was guiding for the excellent Mont Blanc Treks again. Watch out soon for dates of my own Walkers Haute Route for 2024.