Perfect Winter Walking in the Mamores

November 3, 2008 on 10:42 am | In Scrambling, Hillwalking, Uncategorized | No Comments

 
Days like today are rare in November and should be made the most of. Warm sunshine, crisp air, pristine snow and amazing colours in the hills made it a brilliant day to be out in the hills. The snow is down to 600m and has been for a week now with sub-zero temperatures. Christine, Davie and I went for a walk up the North Ridge of Stob Ban in the Mamores. Where the snow was in the shade and had been walked on it was compacted and icy so we wore the crampons on the steep, scrambling section going up to the North Top of Stob Ban. This is beyond simple walking and a very good head for heights is required plus some ability in basic scrambling.

After a Forfar Bridie on top we carried on around to the Devil’s Ridge and up to Sgurr a’Mhaim. This is a very narrow and exposed section of ridge with a really tricky step at the narrowest bit. Again, great care is needed but in the perfect conditions we found with no wind we were able to take our time. We made it up Sgurr a’Mhaim to see the brilliant light on Ben Nevis from the afternoon sun before facing the unrelenting walk down back to the Lower Falls in Glen Nevis. Altogether, a fantastic day out.

Mike Pescod
http://www.abacusmountaineering.com
Mountain Guide and Instructor with a passion for the hills. Scottish winter climbing is my favourite but scrambling, rock climbing, walking and ice climbing here and in the Alps are pretty good too!