LIATHACH TRAVERSE & OVERNIGHT BIVVY

Am Fasarinen (The Pinnacles) on Liathach

Glorious sunrise onto Spidean a' Choire Leith

 Upper Loch Torridon & Beinn Alligin from Mullach an Rathain

Am Fasarinen

Looking east toward Beinn Eighe

The Northern Pinnacles & Beinn Eighe

The final ridge onto Spidean a' Choire Leith

First light onto Liathach

Am Fasarinen

Corrie na Caime

Looking back east to Spidean a' Choire Leith

The beautiful flowerdale Forest, Beinn Eighe & Fisherfield Forest

Beinn Alligin

Sunrise on Liathach

Upper Loch Torridon in glorious sunshine

The bike in along Glen Torridon the evening before

Liathach is second on my list of top 10 mountains after An Teallach. Every time I traverse this wonderful ridge in the Torridon area I change my mind! Today was probably my most stunning outing under summer conditions. With another high pressure drifting over The Highlands, I took the opportunity of an overnight bivvy high up on the mountain. To make the trip even more memorable I cycled to the foot of the hill from Achnasheen in glorious late afternoon Autumn light, absolutely beautiful. There was a lot of high level cloud as I walked up to the ridge line of Stuc a' Choire Dhubh Bhig, the eastern most top of Liathach. I found a nice perch in some grass for my traditional' bivvy. No sleeping bag, mat, stove. Just a pertex bivvy bag, group shelter and the spare clothing in my sack. A proper bivvy! The cloud cleared and it was a brilliantly clear, star studded night with the stags roaring far below me in the corries. A 6.30am start and onto the first summit as the sun very slowly peeped up on the horizon. A cold start and an absolutely glorious early morning traverse. There was the first ice of the season on the quartz rocks which made for a careful clamber on the boulders of the first Munro, Spidean a' Choire Leith. Then comes the best bit of the traverse, Am Fasarinen - The Pinnacles. Lovely scrambling in a stunningly beautiful setting with the stags still roaring below and the sun just starting to warm the rocks.. Before you know it its over and a final stroll up to the second Munro summit of Mullach an Rathain, the western summit with those super views looking down on Upper Loch Torridon and across to Skye. It was hot on the descent back down to the glen. I didn't see another soul all day! On the bike again to Kinlochewe and what must be one of the finest 10 miles of road cycling in the Highlands. Then another 10 miles from Kinlochewe and I got to Achnasheen with 5 minutes to spare for the train back to Aviemore. One of the best 24 hours you could ever wish for!

FIACAILL RIDGE & THE MIDGE

Simon & Karen on the Fiacaill Ridge

Cloud & midgy today

Some simple ropework

More scrambling

Having fun

The steep bit

Goat Track down

Karen & Simon were up from the NE of England for a day of scrambling and some basic rope skills to give them more confidence on challenging, fun,scrambling routes. We had a great day out on The Fiacaill Ridge up to the Cairngorm plateau. A lovely calm day and dry but very midgy! What? on 10th October at 1000m! Yes and all the way up! Kept us moving swiftly. Great day out and great company, both naturals at scrambling.

SNOW PATCH EXPLORATION

Ready made snow cave with agrand views of Loch Avon

The snow tunnel

The Feithe Buidhe snow patch and Hells Lum

Loch Avon in beautiful light

Welcome to the cave

Ptarmigan in full croak

Shelter Stone & Loch Avon

Carn Toul & Braeriach

Lots of headroom in the cave

This one was a bit of a tight squeeze

Another high pressure system is over the Highlands again. Bringing fine, warm and clear weather. Yesterday & today I was booked to do some guiding work for a BBC production of 'The Travel Show' but unfortunately the presenterh as gone down with a bug. So rescheduled for a later date. That left me to have a great day out locally. I went over to the Loch Avon basin and checked out the latest condition of the big snow patch still lingering on the Feithe Buidhe. Despite the recent heatwave there is still a huge amount of snow and two fabulous snow caves. They look like they have been man made, of course they aren't! The cave is over 3 metres high so an easy walk in to investigate. The snow patch further over on the Garbh Uisge Beag is still holding on to the 'bergschrund'. Here it is more of a narrow slit, but still interesting. A lovely wander back over the plateau and down the Goat Track in glorious Autumn warmth and light.

THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER?

Winter is coming, the patarmigan getting their winter coats ready

Fiacaill Ridge in profile

This place wont see the sun for a long time now

Another glorious day in Strathspey

Ptarmigan staying low in todays stiff breeze

Bags of sun and blue skies for yet another day. A week of fine, unseasonably hot weather in The Highlands. It was a lot colder and strong winds above 800m today and definitely a hat and gloves day on the tops. Even the ptarmigan were nestling out of the wind in the boulders of Coire an Lochain. Their winter plumage just starting to show now so not long before the winter then? A fine day to be out with plenty of folk in Glenmore and out on the Cairngorm mountains. I think the waterproofs may be coming out of the rucksack next week :(

BEINN A GHLO

Beinn a Ghlo is a fine massive comprising of 3 Munro summits (Carn Liath, Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain and Can nan Gabhar). Lying in Highland Perthshire and just on the border of the Cairngorm National Park. Its a long day out with 22km of walking and over 1200m ascent. We set off in purist style from the village of Blair Atholl, adding an extra 9km onto the day, why not? It was another lovely day, although some high level cloud rather than wall to wall blue skies. This burned off by early afternoon and we enjoyed long spells of sunshine again. A fair amount of folk on the hill, I guess enjoying the last weekend of 'summer' weather before the temperatures drop and 'normality' resumes. Of course October usually brings the first dusting of snow. Grand day out and finished off nicely with a pint in the Atholl Arms.

.....AND ANOTHER SCORCHER IN THE CAIRNGORMS

It was another unreal hot, sunny day with wall to wall blue skies in The Cairngorms. Hardly a breath of wind on the tops and t-shirt weather all day. A lovely romp over the Fiacaill Ridge with views to savour. What a week it's been!