Every now and then it does me good to have a day when the mountains remind me who is boss. I headed for the Fannichs again, parked at Lochdrum on the western edge of Loch Droma, crossed the dam and followed the hydro-board track that climbs slowly up the glen. I was running, so…
Category: Munros
Toll Creagach and Tom a’Choinich
10pm on a Wednesday night, standing on the summit of a Glen Affric mountain: this is how I want my life to be. Running up an easy path from Loch Affric, we gained the flat roof of Tom a’Choinich before dropping down the mountain’s east ridge to the small col between it and Toll Creagach….
Buachaille Etive Mor
I was heading back to Inverness and feeling weary after climbing the four Cruachan Munros over two days when I saw this – the magnificent Buachaille Etive Mor, standing sentinel at the head of Glencoe. I’m not going to waste my time exulting the merits of this hill with superlatives. It’s had enough compliments….
Slioch Hill Race
Twelve-and-a-half miles long and with a cumulative ascent of 1,400 metres, the Slioch Horseshoe is a brute of a hill race. Under Mediterranean skies, 50 hardy souls breezed along the banks of the Kinlochewe River and Loch Maree, before hitting the daunting base of Slioch. Much of the grind up the southeastern flank of Sgurr Dubh was unrunnable. The way…
Bynack More
The last time I ventured up Bynack More I turned back in whiteout conditions after reaching around 800 metres. Today was a total contrast: blue skies, light winds, a glorious mountain day. I was running by 8am, along the tracks east of Glenmore Lodge and up to Bynack Stable, and was on Bynack More’s impressie…
Ben Wyvis
I would make a rubbish polar explorer. For starters, I can’t even grow a convincing beard. But worse than that, I feel the cold acutely, particularly my hands. And yesterday on Ben Wyvis, the closest Munro to Inverness, was the worst I have experienced. The vile conditions on the plateau – horizontal snow showers, swirling…
Fannichs
I had no desire to prove the MWIS forecast correct. Despite all our foolish optimism, it was, obviously. High winds, poor visibility and zero per cent chance of cloud-free Munros, plus a weather warning for heavy rain from the Met Office. So, it was with some scepticism that Graham and I began running along the track to Loch…
Monadhliath
Today was my first proper long-distance mountain run, a 16-mile jaunt across three Monadhliath Munros above Newtonmore. It was also my first run with a bumbag – or beltpack as Inov8 like to jazzily call it – containing water, a little food, waterproof, Helly Hanson, map and compass. With the wind light, the temperature mild and…
Sgurr na Lapaich
Two Glen Cannich Munros – Carn nan Gobhar and Sgurr na Lapaich – and their respective tops. An exquisite March day – sunny, still, clear skies – with views as far as the Cairngorms plateau in the east and the Cuillins in the west.
Ben Hope
Ben Hope is like Muckle Flugga, Cape Horn or Vladivostock; places that are supremely appealing because they lie at geographic extremities. While Ben Hope may not mark the start or end of a continent, it has the honour of being the most northerly of Scotland’s 284 Munros. It’s not the hardest, highest or prettiest, while it is one of the most…
Ben Klibreck
It had all started so well. It was a great-to-be-alive day. For two hours, from the Crask Inn to the 808m summit of Creag an Lochain, the world had been sun-drenched and still. The view was astonishing. There was the deep blue of the Atlantic in the distance and the snow-capped Ben Hope, Ben Loyal and…
Heights of Madness 