I took a walk up Beinn a’ Bheithir yesterday, linking the three main peaks by the scrambling routes of Sgorr Bhan’s ENE Ridge (aka the Schoolhouse Ridge) and Sgorr a’ Chaolais. It’s the first time I’ve descended by Sgorr a’ Chaolais (the so-called Dragon’s Tooth) although I’d done it in ascent twice before. (more…)
17 July 2018
8 July 2016
East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust
Something potentially huge for this area, so please try to get to one of the meetings, folks! (more…)
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5 October 2015
Surprising solitude on Sron, Stob and Sgorr
So I managed to go over a Glen Coe Munro and still meet no-one… on a Saturday! Then repeat the experience (if spotting a few walkers at distances beyond practical communication is still admissible?) on Beinn a’ Bheithir on the Sunday, bringing my run of ‘lonely’ days to ten. So perhaps it’s all in the timing? Or the routes? Who knows, but you’d have thought the combination of Munros, Glen Coe and the weekend meant sure-fire ‘company’ when it’s all been Corbetts and Grahams since my last on-hill encounters on the Mamores on 11 August… (more…)
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17 May 2015
Balancing act
Something I posted to Facebook a few hours ago that really deserves a more ‘permanent’ place here where anyone can read it. Facebook ‘friends’ can also read some nice responses over there. :-)
A strange tale of work/life balance, life/life balance, running, racing and depression… (more…)
19 April 2015
In Pinn revisited
Last time I did the Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgurr Dearg (with Noel Williams in October 2007) it was wet, windy and absolutely hairy enough to remain temporarily unmoved by the charms of its topping ‘Bolster Stone’ where my feet were never going to follow my hands on the day. But, despite guessing a significant proportion of satisfied recent ‘Munroists’ to have stood (or even sat?) no higher than the top of the pinnacle ‘proper’, I just couldn’t head for Slioch on 30 May without first topping this highest point left since the lightning strike of Spring 2007. (more…)
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29 March 2015
Munros, Tops and ‘Munro-lite’
A bit late in the day with just 12 of my 601 all-time Munro Tops left to do and Slioch waiting for 30 May but, prompted by Robin Campbell’s receipt of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture at last month’s Fort William Mountain Festival, I’ve finally bought and read The Munroist’s Companion. (more…)
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13 December 2014
eTrex 20
It’s not my first GPS device. I’ve got half a dozen now counting this new eTrex, two running watches (Forerunner 305 and 310XT), a nüvi 1390T for driving, a chart plotter on the boat and an old 8-channel GPS 45XL (which was my first), but most were bought for different purposes and only that old 45XL is truly superfluous now. (more…)
15 September 2014
Northern Pinnacles
Meall Dearg and the Northern Pinnacles of Liathach have been calling me ever since I first set eyes on them on a conventional east-west traverse of Liathach 29 years ago. But now I really needed Meall Dearg with the Munro/Top quest not complete without this ‘most difficult top’ (to quote Irvine Butterfield’s somewhat debatable description), so thought I’d go take a look yesterday… (more…)
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23 July 2014
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Totted up my Munros after Monday’s not-exactly-Cluanie Horseshoe and came to 243, which means (discounting the Tops and Deletions I won’t finish without) I have 39 full Ms to go. So what an excuse for a silly blog title, and here (after a Facebook dry run) we go… (more…)
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10 April 2013
Up Two down Four
As a good-looking, deeply-recessed line (described by the guidebook as ‘the finest of the easy gullies on the mountain’), Number Two Gully (II) on Ben Nevis had long been on my wishlist for a solo day out and I finally got to do it today, with my descent by Number Four (I) inspiring a blog title with a nod to Dougal Haston’s immortal ‘Hut [was] full of steadfast English muttering earnestly, up Three down Four, up Two down Five, and other Nevis Gully permutations’. (more…)
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