Torridon-tastic (October’s Kinlochewe meet)

A week before it was due to happen you would have been forgiven for thinking that going on the meet was crazy. The remnants of Hurricane Rafael were forecast to hit, bringing strong winds and torrential rain. As often happens, those that kept the faith were rewarded by two days of light winds and blue skies as the storm seemed to lose interest in the middle of the Atlantic.

The venue was the Kinlochewe Hotel bunkhouse, improved and much cleaner than our last visit there but still of fairly questionable value for the price. Four nice real ales at the hotel though.

Saturday saw the early birds of Kathryn, John, Ann & The Edge tackle the Horns-first traverse of Beinn Alligin. The early morning vapours evaporated during the ascent to leave a stunning day with crystal clear views. I had trouble convincing people that the things we could see really were the Outer Isles as they looked far too close.

Approach to the Horns

On the first Horn

Atmospheric conditions on the third Horn

Looking back at the Horns from the summit of Beinn Alligin

Approaching Tom na Gruagaich, northern Skye behind

View east to Beinn Dearg and Liathach

Malcolm and Susan, after a long lie in, set off for Slioch. Susan bailed out after the long walk in but Malcolm carried on at what must have been a blistering pace to get back not long after the rest of us. Meanwhile Denis had a solo ascent of the fine Graham of Beinn na-h-Eaglaise.

The forecast for Sunday was even better so the same four early birds were off in time to see the sunrise lighting up the summits as they drove back down the glen for the E-W traverse of the mighty Liathach. As always the steep ascent was brutal but we managed to make it a bit more interesting by using altimeters to maintain a constant Naismith rate of ascent from glen to ridge. Phew! By this time the cloud had unexpectedly thickened and the views were not as clear as the previous day, but couldn’t really complain for mid-October in the NW. The summit was a bit cold and windy so we carried on and ended up traversing to the end of the pinnacles before a well-earned first lunch in the much improved weather. On the final summit we were greeted by an eagle having an unusually close inspection of us before heading off north in the characteristic shallow power dive that made it a distant speck in no time. Our descent by the long tramp down the west ridge was considerably slower, but very pleasant in warm autumn sunshine. 

Looking west along the Liathach ridge

Approaching the pinnacles

Airy scrambling on the pinnacles

The summit and pinnacles behind us

Beinn Alligin and Beinn Dearg from the western top

Descending the west ridge