Most of you will remember last year Steve and I climbed Liathac during a blizzard and in strong winds. The climb to the top of the ridge was fairly easy going although the snow was falling and the wind speed increasing. Towards the top of the start of the ridge the pathway disappeared and we decided to scramble. This turned out to be an epic, finally breaking out onto the ridge in very high winds. The traverse varied in conditions from easy to moderate until near the end. The wind speed had picked up and was now blowing us off the ridge. The snow developed into a fully fledged blizzard, blinding our every step.

We decided to drop down onto a pathway identified in the guide, but this turned out to be a big mistake. The pathway was only 2 to 3 feet wide with a thousand foot drop off and was heavily banked up with snow making the route difficult to follow. Feeling exhausted we both decided to take cover, have a sip of tepid hot chocolate and a snack, and to take stock of our predicament. Up on the crest of the ridge the conditions were very difficult, but down here was even more dangerous. As anyone who has done anything like this will know if you stop moving you soon start to feel the cold, so I knew a decision had to be made.

We decided to make our way back onto the ridge as the route, although treacherous, offered rocks to grab hold of unlike the pathway. We reached the final summit along the ridge, gritting our teeth and using our sense of touch as the visibility was nearly zero. We both shook hands and looked at each other, no words; we both knew today was our day.

We then made our way down which was fairly easy going although my over-confidence put me on my back falling through snow covering a stream, which then filled my boots. We came down rapidly with a great sense of achievement which once again only those that have experienced those conditions will understand, and were met by the smiling faces of our peers who had covered the route a couple of days previous.

By Tracey Bigwood (below)

We arrived at our log cabin full of enthusiasm and we weren’t going to let the weather stop us from climbing something on our first day. We set off for Beinn Alligan, clockwise, there was a windy scramble to start with layers of clothes being added as we ascended... As we got higher the visibility was getting worse so we decided to shorten the route and head for the trig point we were a bit worried that we may not be able to find it but we did! The descent was easy and the sun even started to shine lower down, we started to wonder why we hadn’t finished the route!

The next day we thought we’d try it again but in an anti-clockwise direction, this time we completed the route bagging both munroes. Up on the top it was very windy, knocking us off our feet in places, and maybe we could have roped up here. We went around The Horns as the weather conditions were not very good. The notch was amazing with the wind howling up it. The descent again was fine over heather and moorland.

The rest of the week the weather was not really very good so a couple of easy walking routes were tackled, the first one we did was Beinn Bhan which had quite a long walk in, with no snow. Then we found a nice steep, sheltered snowy slope to walk/scramble up. Once we got to the top it got quite snowy and layers, balaclavas etc were quickly added. The route down was not difficult but had lots of streams and mini waterfalls to negotiate.

The second easy route we opted for was very close to the cabin and called Beinn Damh,, the route starts on a hill path through rhododendrons with an amazing waterfall to the left. The path continues up through moorland and gets rockier as you ascend. From here the stony ridge narrows but presents no difficulties and rewards with excellent views across the whole of Torridon. The final climb to the summit cairn is very rocky but straightforward.

Socially we were quite remote but did find a pub to go to on a few evenings, so our darts skills increased dramatically. Andy also kept us entertained with his traverse of the log cabin!