Category: Hiking and Hillwalking

Corrour Gold Reccy

On By alastairewenIn All Blogs, Hiking and Hillwalking, History, LandcapeLeave a comment

Aspen Outdoors Ltd

For the team at Aspen, winter is a time for planning and doing reccies. A reccy (reconnoitre) is my favoured term for the joyous pastime of exploring a new area for the purposes of checking its suitability for clients, customers, and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants. To this end, foremost in mind are considerations like: Can we cross the rivers safely? What are the campsites like? What’s the ground like? Are the paths even there? Is it too difficult, or too easy for our intended groups?

Josiah Spong, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Officer for Renfrewshire Officer, approached me in November with the idea of checking out a new 45km Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award route in Lochaber, an exciting loop starting and finishing at Corrour train station, taking in Loch Treig, Kinlochleven and Blackwater reservoir. A Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition route is undertaken over four days, by a…

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Meall nan Tarmachan

On By alastairewenIn All Blogs, Hiking and Hillwalking, LandcapeLeave a comment

Aspen Outdoors Ltd

The Meall nan Tarmachan ridge is a fine venue for a winter’s day hill walk. Twice now this season, I’ve been up there with groups, navigating on its intricate and complex terrain and practicing steep group movement skills, with ice axe and crampons.

Being based in Glasgow, finding a good winter venue not too far from home can be tricky, particularly in recent years when snow conditions have been lean. Meall nan Tarmachan however, meaning Rounded hill of the Ptarmigan, has a number of benefits. It has a high car park, at 450m. As long as it’s clear of snow, you can start high and save a good amount of time in getting to snowy slopes. The hill also has lots of interesting ridges and corries with different slope aspects, meaning you can find slopes that are less prone to avalanche risk.

This winter the prevailing westerly winds have…

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Hallival and Askival

On By alastairewenIn All Blogs, Flora and Fauna, Hiking and HillwalkingLeave a comment

Aspen Outdoors Ltd

It was time for a holiday. I’d worked pretty much every day in May and June and was looking forward to a short break out west, to the Isle of Rum.

Rum is in the Inner Hebrides, one of four islands that make up the Small Isles; with Eigg, Muck and Canna. Rum is the largest, highest, wildest and least populated of the Small Isles. At one time it was a sporting estate owned by the hugely wealthy George Bullough, but in 1957 it was sold to the Government and is currently in the care of Scottish Natural Heritage, protected and managed as a National Nature Reserve.

Our ferry journey was choppy. I’ve done this trip before and seen passengers, initially excited by the roller-coaster motion, slowly succumb to seasickness. Positioned in the middle of the boat we faired not to bad, but it was tiring nonetheless. The highlight of…

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Sgurr na Banachdich

Aspen Outdoors Ltd

Sgurr na Banachdaich is a 965m mountain on the Cuillin Ridge, the most dramatic, precipitous, technically difficult range of mountains in Scotland. Along its 12km length there are 11 prominent mountains (munros) and a further 26 separate peaks. Almost all involve scrambling on steep and exposed terrain to reach their summits.

Sgurr na Banachdaich, peak of the milkmaid or smallpox peak, is exactly halfway along the ridge and is perhaps the easiest mountain on ridge to do and a great introduction to the Cuillin.

This Friday, me and Shree – a client from Chicago – headed up from the Glen Brittle Youth Hostel, ascending via good path by a mountain stream called Allt a’ Choire Ghreadaidh. It was a warm sunny day with little wind and the beautiful clear pools in the stream looked very enticing. I spotted a bathtub shaped pool that would be great for a cooling dip…

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On By alastairewenIn All Blogs, Flora and Fauna, Hiking and HillwalkingLeave a comment