Stunning day on Liathach
Sometimes mixed conditions can make mountain day unforgettable. Liathach in Torridon is a great castellated ridge that jumps to well over 3,000 feet from sea level inside 1.5 kilometres. Its steepness is given even more drama by its sandstone tiers and pinnacled ridge. On Wednesday last week the day started cold and misty with the cloud base at about 700m. After making it onto the summit ridge we traversed west and by midday we could sense the cloud getting thinner and breaking in gusts. By 1pm the sun was occasionally slicing through the mist and, when the wind dropped, conditions became warm and humid. As we tackled the scrambling on the pinnacles (left) the cloud was tumbling over the summit ridge in great white waves. It was an exhilarating spectacle as we climbed over the last section of Am Fasarinen towards the second munro.
This is the view of Meall Dearg – Liathach’s northern pinnacled ridge – taken from the main ridge about one kilometre East of Mullach an Rathain.
Here you can see the cloud breaking over the Eastern section of the main ridge. On the right of the picture you can just make out another party emerging from the mist onto the summit ridge.
This picture looks north down to the floor of Coire na Caime some 400m below.
Check our our pages on Torridon and Scrambling for options for guiding. Janet (pictured above) and Stuart chose our ‘Torridon Munros’ course – six munros and eight ‘tops’ over three days including Liathach.