go further has already seen Skye’s Cuillin mountains in a range of moods this year with full winter Munro weather lasting well into April. Our latest trip last weekend coincided with perfect conditions - dry, cool and with a slight breeze. Over four days we tackled nearly all of the Munro tops in the southern Cuillin including Bla’Bheinn (Blaven) - the dramatic outlyer of the Black Cuillin to the east of the main ridge (see picture below).

Over this weekend we reached three of the Cuillin’s 12 Munros on Saturday and Sunday. On the first day Gair and five of his friends tackled Sgurr a’ Mhadaith from the notch in the main ridge known as An Dorus. From here we scrambled south over the narrow and exposed summit of Sgurr a’ Ghreadaith pictured below. Here we are traversing the South Top from the main summit in the distance.



From this point, the ridge drops sharply down to the south east before a steep easy scramble up to the summit of Sgurr na Banachdich.

On Sunday we set out to reach the three most southerly Munros on the main ridge via the narrow and spectacular Corrie Ghrunnda. Once we gained the main summit ridge we travelled south to Sgurr nan Eag then north to the Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn top which offers extensive and easy scrambling to a dramatic summit with a view into three of the Cuillin’s corries. From here, a complex coll leads to the second Munro of the day - Sgurr Dubh Mor which is reached by a steep but easy scramble. From here, the main ridge goes north west where we traversed around the head of the Corrie Ghrunnda to tackle the Cuillin’s highest summit - Sgurr Alasdair - from the south west. This requires a long roped scramble over difficult ground to reach the famous summit.



Here, Pat and Rory are just arriving at the summit with Loch Brittle far below (go further’s Colin in red).



Gair - taking in the view on his last Munro.



The quickest way down from Sgurr Alasdair is the Great Stone Shoot (above). On May 10th, the day after our trip to Sgurr Alasdair, gofurther’s Paul took this picture (below) with a group from London tackling Sgurr Dearg and the Inaccessible Pinnacle. Fresh snow arrived overnight on a strong and cold north easterly. The highest peak is Sgurr Alasdair with Sgurr Mhic Choinnich on the left.



The best view of the whole Cuillin ridge is from Bla Bheinn (Blaven) which sits to the west of the main ridge on the Elgol peninsula. Although daunting to look at, Bla Bheinn has a relatively easy route to the top which requires almost no scrambling. From the summit you can see the entire main ridge from Gars-bheinn in the south to Sgurr nan Gillean in the north. Below, Maggie on the summit on Friday with the main ridge in the distance.

The whole ridge: 8 miles long with 10,000 feet of total ascent - a big expedition. More on that soon.

Tags: Cuillin, Black Cuillin, Bla’Bheinn, Blaven, Sgurr a’ Mhadaith, Corrie Ghrunnda, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, Great Stone Shoot, Sgurr Dubh Mor, Sgurr Alasdair, An Dorus, Sgurr nan Eag, Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn, Sgurr a’ Ghreadaith

After a couple of weeks of milder weather in March the winter returned with another long spell of calm high pressure and bitterly cold temperatures on the summits. This lasted well into April when these pictures were taken during a winter round of An Teallach.

Here the group is approaching the rounded summit ridge of Sail Liath - the beginning of the An Teallach ridge.



And this picture looks south-east to over the Fisherfield wilderness. Spring conditions have gradually won through in the North West and gofurther Scotland has been busy at the crag and on the summits throughout April and into May - perhaps these will be the last pictures of full winter conditions for some time.

Tags: Sail Liath, fisherfield, fisherfield munros, An Teallach

Go Further clients have experienced a series of special days on some of the north’s most famous peaks in perfect winter conditions.



In the first half of the month we found ourselves on Slioch - just north of Loch Maree (in the distance in the picture above with Torridon in the background). Here the group are just hitting the snow line at about 1500 feet.



Later that week we moved south to Torridon where this picture was taken of the the main Beinn Eighe ridge from the Liathach ridge. For more details on Torridon see here.



Liathach is a special mountain at any time of the year but, combined with An Teallach and Beinn Eighe, can there be a better series of winter summits to aim for on the Scottish mainland?

Another great day out is to tackle the Black Carls on the Beinn Eighe Ridge - one of the best Wester Ross scrambles and, in the winter, a great mountaineering adventure. Here the group is heading onto the main ridge...



...and here (below) we are heading towards the start of the Carls.

Tags: Liathach, Beinn Eighe, torridon, Slioch, Winter, mountaineering

There are many ways to tackle An Teallach but the best way to experience the scale of the massif is to start from Corrie Hallie and walk South West to the steep east-facing slopes of Sail Liath. From there, a long haul onto the main ridge means you can traverse both munros and most of the tops travelling north to Dundonnell.

In July this group (left) tackled the ridge in perfect conditions for the exposed scramble before the first munro. The roped scramble over the Corrag Bhuidhe pinnacles takes a direct line up three pitches of steep climbing. The climbing isn’t hard, but it takes a serious line in an exposed situation. From top of the first assent the route stays on the crest of the ridge for some excellent scrambling on perfect rock including an easy chimney and a sharp ridge traverse. This picture looks south from the top of the Corrag Bhuidhe into the Fisherfield Wilderness.

From this section of the ridge the scrambling eases over Lord Berkeley’s Seat (which overhangs Loch Toll an Lochain) and on to the first munro - Sgurr Fiona at 1059m. The ridge then turns to the North East towards Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill which overlooks the second of the two stunning corries.

This picture (left) shows the group on Bidein with the Corrag Bhuidhe in the distance. From Bidein, there are a number of options. Sometimes we drop down to the northern beallach and then north to Dundonnell Hotel. Alternatively, we can drop into the corrie and back to Corrie Hallie or traverse the central ridge east to Glas Mheall Liath and out to Corrie Hallie. On hot days a return to Corrie Hallie means we can dive into a beautiful pool under a waterfall 15 minutes from the road.

See our page on An Teallach for more information or call us if you would like to discuss route options.

Tags: An Teallach, Dundonnell, Corrag Bhuidhe

April has brought some of the best mountaineering and climbing conditions we've seen for a few years. The month started cold and dry with a few frosts down to sea level. As the days turned increasingly sunny, a sharp easterly breeze with very low humidity meant the North West Highlands had the best weather in the UK. All of these pictures were taken in the last two weeks. The first shows the snow-capped Torridon mountains taken from the Melvaig peninsula; the second is action at the sheltered south-facing Kuhjo Crag near Gairloch; the third is An Teallach taken on a guided day out to the summits.

Tags: Kuhjo Crag, An Teallach, Wester Ross

Although forecast for broken sunshine, December 29th brought a long spell of miserable horizontal hail and sleet. Winter days like this present their own challenges such as difficult navigation while staying out of the worst winds. For example, on Thursday Helen, Simon and Tom were undaunted by the early conditions and wanted to stick to our plan of a winter skills day on An Teallach. After reaching the top of Mac is Mathair in a howling gale we crossed the plateau north of the main summits well above the cloud level to the coll just north of Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill - one of the two An Teallach munros. The wind was far less fierce here and the cloud broke for us long enough to get a view of the vast Glass Tholl corrie. As the weather eased we reached that top before descending back to the coll (pictured). After practising some ice axe arrests, we then dropped down the long path North East to Dundonnell. The whole day took about nine hours. Check out our winter pages for more options.

Tags: An Teallach, Winter