Glen Shiel April

Thursday 13th April
Arrival in Ratagan Youth Hostel from Torridon, via Fort William. Only Anthony was tempted to walk but even he joined us in Fort William for a little r&r and shopping for the week's supplies.



Friday 14th April
Two groups were on the hills today, both doing big walks. The first traversed the Five Sisters from the east. Ascending first to the Bealach an Lapain the group continued along the ridge in patchy sun. With Anthony tiring himself out kicking steps in deep snowdrifts for the rest of the group the final sister was reached at 4:30. The other group decided to attempt the South Glen Shiel ridge. Setting off from the Cluanie Inn and 9am we ascended the first of seven Munro's and two tops within two hours, but from then on the pace only got slower. The going was easy, mostly on grass or what remained of the snow although there is the odd rocky section. The views were unlimited in all directions, even Ben Nevis was without it's usual cloud cap. As we reached Aonach air Crith, the third of the Munro's we could see a group on the first following us. They slowly got closer to us all day and we were finally shamed as they caught us on Creag nan Damh the last summit of the day. A quick drink in the Cluanie Inn was just what we needed at the end of that sort of day.

Saturday 15th April
Two groups set out today with the same objectives. Chris, Katherine and Phil climbed the Saddle via the Forcan ridge. Those of us with a greater respect for heights (Agnes, Anders, Anthony and Tim) first ascended Scur na Scine. The direct ascent is a little rough so we traversed below the crags of the eastern face of the mountain before doubling back and reaching the summit from the south. From the summit we could the other group on the Forcan ridge. Their exploits on the ridge amused us as we descended to the bealach below the Saddle and finally ascended to the summit, arriving to find the other group finishing off lunch. A little rearranging of groups took place at this point. Phil and Katherine set off to find a scramble on Scur Na Scine that turned out to be little more than an exposed walk. Chris and Tim elected to return to the minibus, taking advantage of a snow chute and sledging the first 300m of the descent. Agnes, Anders and Anthony descended via the west ridge of the saddle to Shiel Bridge.

Sunday 16th April
Don’t know why these two were chosen for today, I was just in the mood for following other people up mountains. Starting from the car park at in Glen Croe (977224) we set of through the forest and then followed a broad ridge up the western slopes of Ben A Glas (grass?) Bheinn. Lunch on the top was followed by the long descent over a ridge of unending undulations and false tops. We descended down below 400m before beginning to climb up the stalkers path in Coire an Sgairne on Ben Fhada. It’s a really well laid out path and we gained height without really noticing. The summit was at the far end of a tilted plateau unseen from below. We dropped down the same way as we’d climbed.

Monday 17th April
For the last walking day of the trip we finally bowed to Anthony’s whingeing at drove round the coast to Ben Sgritheall, his last unclimbed munro south of Torridon. The south side of the hill is described in the Munro’s book as a 3000’ scree slope. Guess which side we started on. Broke out onto the western ridge higher up and made it to the top in a little over two hours. Not bad from a sea level start. Dropped off into a Coire Min on the north eastern side before traversing back round and down to the road. Spent the rest of the afternoon skimming stones into Loch Hourn.

All in a very good trip. Very little rain, enough snow to make things look pretty and to make the walking that bit easier, 2 good youth hostels (the pub (or lack of!) issue aside) and good company (honest).

The people: Agnes, Anders, Anthony, Chris(S) and Chris(W), Julia, Katherine, Phil(E), and Tim.

Take a look at the reprt for the first half of this trip in Torridon Check out Anthony Dyer's trip report for his walks on this trip in more detail