Here are a few more pictures of our remarkable early winter. Temperatures plunged so low that most of the Ardessie Falls (Dundonnell) froze including most of this section not far from the road. The ice at the foot of this fall was about 14 inches thick, covering what is usually a beautiful deep pool.


This picture was taken when Colin was on a long traverse of Sail Mhor and part of the An Teallach ridge. This picture is taken looking south from Sail Mhor when the conditions were dry but incredibly cold. Two people were injured in an avalanche near here just days after this picture was taken after conditions changed.



Paul was on more film location duty this time with a crew from New York who needed to film some dramatic Highland scenery in the North West. Their timing couldn’t have been better when they chose to visit Coigach and Stac Pollaidh pictured above. Again, the weather was bitterly cold but the mist and blue skies made the pinnacles look even more magical.

Tags: Stac Pollaidh, An Teallach, Sail Mhor, Location Film Work, Wester Ross

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

Truly incredible winter conditions started early in Wester Ross and hardly changed through to mid-January. This picture looks directly south into the sun just after the shortest day of 2009 just after Christmas. In the middle is An Teallach’s Sgurr Fiona with the pinnacled ridge running to the left and the Western ridge on the right. Conditions were heavy going during this spell with a lot of fresh snow and little consolidation.

Tags: Winter, An Teallach

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

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

As the cold snap continues, these pictures were taken on the same day from the summit ridge of An Teallach in early december on a mountain rescue training exercise. The lower picture was taken at about 10am when we were near the summit of Sail Liath (945m) looking south East. The Top picture is from the Corrag Bhuidhe buttress looking south west over to the magnificent Beinn Dearg Mor. The sun is reflecting off Abhainn Gleann na Muice which runs into the stunning and remote Loch na Sealga - a 5km long loch with Beinn Daerg Mor rising on one side and An Teallach on the other.

Tags: An Teallach, Beinn Dearg Mor, Loch na Sealga, Abhainn Gleann na Muice

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

A very early Easter. Two weeks of bitterly cold northerly weather which has left the hills of Wester Ross plastered in snow. Forecast is for it to stay cold for a few more days. Views of Loch Toll an Lochain from the SE ridge of Bidean a' Ghlas Thuill, the highest summit of An Teallach at 1062m, taken on Wednesday 19th March.

Tags: An Teallach

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

This weekend saw some stormy cold weather sweep over the North West bringing some wild winter conditions to the higher tops. This picture, taken yesterday, is from the summit of Sgurr Fiona on An Teallach looking south to Gleann Na Muice.The strong south westerly brought significant snow showers that settled above 800 meters.

The picture below was taken from near the summit of Sgurr Creag an Eich along the North West Ridge of An Teallach. The furthest point on this ridge that you can see is the 760 meter summit - Sgurr Ruadh. Half way along the ridge you can make out the Coastguard Rescue helicopter which set down to drop off members of Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team. These pictures were taken during a training exercise with DMRT.

Tags: An Teallach, Winter