Sometimes we come across a picture that captures the atmosphere of Wester Ross better than any words can convey. Here’s one of them. Thanks to our good friend Jim Buchanan who runs Wild West Topos for the image.

The picture looks south east across part of the Fisherfield Wilderness over to Torridon in the background.

Tags: torridon

go further has had one of its busiest summer seasons so far and here is a selection of some of our best shots from recent trips.


In May Zoe and friends (pictured below) took a break from their running holiday to tackle a tough traverse of Ben More Assynt and Conival in the Inchnadamph area. This route starts at Inchnadamph and reaches Conival via the beautiful and narrow Gleann Dubh. From Conival there is a rough ridge walk (pictured here) to Ben More. From there we took the exciting south ridge that includes some exposed scrambling before dropping down to the spectacular Dubh Loch Mor.





We rested by Dubh Loch Mor for a long spell before tackling the long walk back to Inchnadamph. This long traverse is one of the most challenging in the area but variety and complexity of the scenery makes the long day worthwhile. This picture shows the burn running from Dubh Loch Mor with the imposing South Ridge of Ben More Assynt behind.



As we keep finding out, some of the best mountain days in the North West are to be found on the ‘Corbett’ tops - those mountains between 2,500 and 3,000 feet in height. Several are to be found on the fabulous Coigach Peninsula just north of Ullapool. In May, we had several long spells of bright and cool weather and one of those coincided with this visit to one of the most accessible of Coigach’s mountains - Cul Mor. This picture is taken from the summit ridge looking south west to one of the most visited mountains in the North West - Stac Pollaidh.



This picture is also taken from the north west top of Cul Mor looking north towards Suilven - one of the most spectacular and remote of all Scotlands ‘Corbett’ tops.


Despite some brilliant weather in May and June, we did see some very late snow and one of those flurries coincided with a complete traverse of An Teallach by Jill and friends (pictured).


Here, two of our group can be seen nearing the end of the pinnacled ridge a short distance before one of the main Munro tops which was in cloud.


The day started brightly but became overcast as the party reached the main ridge where we took this stunning picture of the full ridge.

Tags: Ben More Assynt, An Teallach, Conival, Coigach, Assynt, Suilven, Stac Pollaidh, Ullapool

Here are a few more pictures from Phil Packer’s El Capitan ascent.

Paul leading the route on the first day:



Phil Packer ascending the first part of the route.

Tags: paul tattersall, el capitan, phil packer

Go Further’s Paul Tattersall is currently on the Phil Packer expedition trip to El Capitan. After being injured in Iraq Phil is campaigning to raise £1 million for injured service personnell and the wider disabled community. The trip is being covered by ITN and a host of other news sources in the UK and US. You can follow Phil’s updates on Twitter here.

The team is making steady progress on the 1800ft route with Paul, Andy Kirkpatrick and Ian Parnell making up the climbing team. Latest news is that they have completed the ninth pitch and are aiming to settle down for another night on the route.

The picture below shows Paul (right) and the team preparing for another pitch earlier today. More pictures soon.

Tags: paul tattersall, el capitan, phil packer

Go Further’s Paul and Angela (left) organised a unique triathlon last Saturday at the west end of Loch Maree at Tollie Farm between Gairloch and Poolewe. The event combined a gruelling 10km hill run with a 22km bike ride. After that, all the entrants had to complete at least one roped climb at Creag Nan Luch - one of Scotland’s best sport climbing venues. Combined personal times for the run and cycle were reduced depending on the hardest grade climbed by the competitor in under 5 minutes.


Local and not-so-local climbers, runners and cyclists turned out to compete or to enjoy the atmosphere at the crag. Although the wet conditions the night before didn’t make it perfect for climbing, at least there was no rain and the craic was awesome.


The difficult run from Tollaidh to Slattadale was made even more strenuous by the overnight rain. The route climbs around 250m over a very rough and rocky path before descending to the banks of Loch Maree and the Slattadale Forest.




First back by some margin was Graham Bee (pictured left) who finished the run and cycle with a time of 1 hour 27 minutes. The cycle route climbs out of Slattadale before following the River Kerry back to Gairloch. From here, there are two strength-sapping hills before the road drops steeply down back to Tollaidh. Unfortunately, the wind was head on for most of the route.







Also at the head of the pack at the end of the cycle were Paul Tattersall, Steve Hammond, Alf Chammings (pictured left), and Ray Wilby (pictured finishing the cycle leg, below).










After the cycle the focus then shifted to the crag where the damp conditions on some of the routes made it tough going. Quick draws were pre-placed in routes graded from 6a to 7b+. Competitors could choose to finish the event by top-roping an easier route or going for time deductions by choosing a harder lead climb.






The Macrae family surprised everyone by bringing along a barbeque which kept the chill from the crag and gave people some sorely needed energy to try the harder routes. The slippy conditions and the strict time limit of 5 minutes for each lead climb attempted proved to be a real challenge. Despite the pressure, all but two of the competitors completed at least one route.



After adjusting the times to take account of the climbs completed, the award winners included Kirsty Noble (first Veteran), Megan Macrae (first female) and winner of this year’s Golden Carabiner was Paul Tattersall with an adjusted time of 1 hour, 31 minutes. Steve Hammond came in second (1.39) overall and Colin Meek third (1.41).



Plans for another Golden Carabiner are already underway. Go Further’s Colin Meek (pictured swimming, below) tested the water during this event with a 700 meter swim in Loch Maree before the run. He had hoped to make it 1km but was driven from the water by the cold. Given the freshwater temperature in April, any future event that includes a swim will have to be held in summer or early autumn.



Thanks to everyone who took part and helped organise the day and special thanks to: Jim Buchanan, Terry Doe and the gang from Gairloch climbing wall for all their time and effort on the day; Helen Meek (pictured on the fiddle below) for these pictures; and, of course - to Paul and Angela for the inspiration and slick organisation.

Special mention here as well to Rich Betts (pictured climbing left) who, after completing the whole event, still had enough energy left to cruise the tough 7b Shotabeena - one of the best routes at the crag.

A few more pictures from the day (and the evening) below.

Tags: poolewe, sport Climbing, running, Cycling, A832, tollaidh, tollie, paul tattersall, Creag Nan Luch, Shotabeena, Colin Meek

Here’s another picture of Beinn Eighe’s Black Carls with Stuart looking back east from the main ridge. This picture was taken on Easter weekend when there turned out to be good walking conditions, flurries of snow, but mostly dry and breezy with lovely spells of sunshine. The air was very clear giving spectacular vistas as far north as Foinaven and south to Ben Nevis.
The forecast for the week ahead looks good for Wester Ross and the North-West. Easterly winds, the Spring spell we all wait for, dry,dry,dry...

Tags: Beinn Eighe, Black Carls

test
Scrambling in the North West is normally associated with mountains such as An Teallach, Liathach and Stac Pollaidh but there are many other venues where the scrambling is just as good or better. Torridon’s Beinn Eighe for example has some great scrambling on the Eastern end of the main ridge. These pictures show Sara and Paul practising their scrambling skills on the Bodaich Dubh (Black Carls) in fresh, windy weather in mid-april.

Tags: Beinn Eighe, torridon, Scrambling

Whilst the crags on the coast were bathed in sunshine giving pleasant, dry rock climbing, challenging walking conditions were to be had yesterday 1000 meters up on An Teallach. Gair, David and Jonathon carefully negotiating the goat path below the famous Corrag Bhuidhe buttress on their way to Sgurr Fiona which is one of An Teallach's Munros. Not much to be seen but a very satisfying day all the same.

Tags: An Teallach

Here are a couple of images from our our early season so far. The official start of Spring 2009 brought with it a few days of warm, sunny and calm weather. Wonderful hill walking conditions. The first picture looks north east from Beinn Airigh Charr (791 meters) over the beautiful Fionn Loch towards the remote Fisherfield Munros. The second is a picture of the two famous Munro peaks on the An Teallach ridge: Sgurr Fiona on the left and Bidein a Ghlas Thuill on the right.

We’re gearing up for the start of the Spring and Summer season 2009 with new pages to our website, new pricing arrangements and more information about sea stack climbing.

Check here for more pages about activities on Skye.
We revamped our page on sea stack climbing with more information due soon.

For the coming season we’ve also reduced our prices for groups. For example, our group rate for mountain walking for three people is now £60 each and for four people £50 each. For groups rates for other activities check the individual pages.