OK, now it’s commitment time. The problem is obvious, a step up left onto a steepish slab, with bulging rock up right pushing you out of balance and a huge amount of fresh air below and left. The holds are good, but wet, and although the move isn’t hard in itself, the space below nags at you and it would be tricky to reverse. There is a strong temptation to go back down a few feet to where an easy ramp leads up and round the obstacle, but once the next move is made that isn’t going to be an option. Eventually after much dithering around on the tiny ledge you go for it, swing up and left and follow the line of holds up and around the corner to a big grassy ledge. Unexpectedly this isn’t the top. A short vertical wall turns out to be quite hard, but now there is no choice. Persuading yourself that the ledge would stop a fall a quick pull up gains a jug, then a grovel onto the top of the step leads to relief.
Northern Pinnacles, Liathach
All this is the common currency of scrambling in the North West Highlands, where the inherent seriousness always present in scrambling is given more bite by remoteness from roads and lack of nearby people. The adrenaline factor is often higher than on popular routes in the Lakes or Snowdonia, but the rewards are correspondingly greater. At the top of many scrambles are rocky ridges on an almost Alpine scale, with views over hundreds of square miles of wild country, and often out over a jagged coast to mountainous islands. Sometimes, of course, the view is of twenty feet of mist, but then the rocky towers loom out even more impressively.
Noel Williams on An Teallach
I have had the enormous fun of compiling a scrambling guide to this amazing area. The variety of routes is endless. There are gigantic plates of slab, of both rough patterned gneiss and smooth quartzite; there are routes which find an intricate route amidst vast tiers of Torridon sandstone; there are narrow jagged ridges, often crowned with tottering pinnacles, and there are routes which string together outcrops on more open slopes, looking for difficulty in non-serious situations. There are even a few long stream scrambles, although a lot fewer than found in, say, the Lake District, as the greater scale (and amount of water!) means that many of the likely candidates have “stopper” falls hidden somewhere about them.
Mullach an Rathain, Liathach. Probably the best scrambling hill in the North-West.
Each of these types of route brings it's own problems. While checking out the slabs of the upper corrie behind Creag Urbhard on Foinaven I got caught out by a thunderstorm while in the middle of the slabs. Within a couple of minutes the fine-grained quartzite became horribly slippery and insecure. It was perhaps three hundred feet to the top, rather more to retreat and about the same to the easy ground off to the right. Few places in the North West are more remote and an accident didn’t bear thinking about. I eventually found a winding route to the top, meandering around between the widely spaced positive holds, but it was a scary experience.
Creag Urbhard, Foinaven, with the Upper Slabs above it catching the sun.
I had ended up on these slabs after investigating a historical puzzle. Old SMC District Guides mentioned the “South Ridge” of Creag Urbhard as a recommended Moderate route, put up by Ling and Glover back in the 1890s. It has usually been assumed that they followed the crest above the 1000 foot wall of the main crag, but this turns out to be basically a walk, albeit a spectacular one. My suspicion is that Ling and Glover actually climbed the next buttress left, slanting up Second Dionard Buttress and emerging in an exposed position on the nose above the overhangs of First Dionard. The description fits better, and as virtually no features were named on the maps of the time confusion would not be surprising. I later discussed this puzzle with the late Andy Nisbet and he had come to the same conclusion.
Coire Ghrannda, Foinaven, with Ganu Mor Slabs right of centre
Further along the Foinaven Ridge, the Ganu Mor Slabs above the upper lochan in Coire Duail produced a piece of slapstick. The slabs themselves give lovely scrambling on rough gneiss patterned with coloured swirls, not too difficult but very sustained. Higher up the ground breaks up into short steeper tiers, mostly quite juggy. Having climbed the slabs I tried a direct route up the most imposing bit of the first tier. About 20 feet up I reached a small ledge with just a couple of delicate and exposed steps to easy ground. I didn’t fancy them in walking boots so changed into rock boots. The inevitable happened and I sent a boot bouncing off downwards onto the slabs. Luckily it stopped on one of the very few ledges and I was able to traverse in to retrieve it without descending 500 feet to the corrie!
C and D Buttresses, Gillaval Dubh
Another area where virtually no information was available was the Outer Hebrides. Harris in particular has vast amounts of scrambling-angle rock, much of it very accessible (once you’ve got to Harris, of course!). The outstanding spot is the North Face of Gillaval Dubh, a row of six buttresses, ten minutes from the road and up to 800 feet high. The only recorded mention is of a route high up on the left, reached by grovelling up a noxious looking gully. No wonder the pioneers never returned! C and D Buttresses, however, are gems, sustained, juggy and on excellent rock. Highly intimidating from below, they turn out to be covered in excellent holds, although difficult bits can be found if required. There is an ancient peg just below the steepest part of D Buttress, but no recorded ascents before 2000. Someone old enough to know told me that the peg is a 1960’s type, so the most likely culprit is George Scott Johnstone, who explored the crag with his wife at around that time.
A' Chioch, Beinn Bhan
Many of these routes feel completely untrodden, but once in a while you come across evidence of mysterious predecessors. Sometimes this is just crampon scratches, suspiciously cleaned-out cracks or marks where a hold has been pulled off. But what (winter?) epic resulted in the peg in the middle of the slabs on the North Ridge of Spidean Coire nan Clach on Beinn Eighe? Was the conveniently-jammed rock in the final chimney on A’ Chioch of Beinn Bhan in Applecross there before the 1890s pioneers Ling and Glover made its first recorded ascent? Who built the hut below the North Spur of Sgurr Mor Fannaich and why?
Red Slab, A' Mhaighdean. Difficult to believe it's a Diff from this angle.
Steepness, remoteness, wet or loose rock, lack of signs of human passage or just sheer scale give many North West routes a high intimidation factor. Some of the best of them have a thrilling element of tension and release as problems are solved. The looming crack at the top of the East Buttress of Fasarinen on Liathach is one example, where big holds arrive just as seriousness and exposure kick in. The unsuspected chimney that breaks through a blank vertical wall crossing the SW Rib on Tahabhal in Lewis is another. There are many more – steep ribs that turn out to be covered in good holds, slabby ramps to break through steep ground that are hidden until the last moment, an overlap overcome by a perfectly placed jug. My personal choice for “best nice surprise” is the high angle conglomerate of Red Slab on A’ Mhaighdean, which looks much too steep to be graded only Difficult but turns out to consist entirely of positive holds, leaving you grinning inanely, tiptoeing up the arête in a position of mind-blowing exposure.
Noel Williams on Long Stroll Slab, Ruadh Stac Beag
When it comes to selecting a favourite scramble I’m spoilt for choice. The classic traverses on Liathach, An Teallach and Stac Pollaidh are deservedly well known, as is the knife edge of the Forcan Ridge of the Saddle. A few easy rock climbs also demand consideration, notably the immense East Buttress of Coire Mhic Fhearchair on Beinn Eighe, the airily perched Lurgainn Edge on Cul Beag and the aforementioned Red Slab. At least as good as these, however, are half a dozen more obscure routes. C and D Buttresses on Gillaval Dubh were raved about above, and the sunny quartzite of Long Stroll Slab at the back of Beinn Eighe is another contender. Tucked away behind Gairloch is the spiky minor peak of An Groban, home to the superb rumpled gneiss of Right Hand Slabs, ideal for evenings. If I had to pick one route, though, then perhaps I would go for Ganu Mor Slabs, hidden away on the north side of Foinaven. Immaculate rock, a direct line, sustainedness, and above all the wildness of the situation give it the palm – for this week at least. Next week I might make a different choice, being a notorious ditherer, which of course is where this article began!
John Fleetwood on Ganu Mor Slabs
This was written after finishing the original version of Highland Scrambles North in 2006, although as photo technology has advanced rather a lot since then I've added quite a few more recent pictures.
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