Liathach Traverse

Torridon is a small village, some 10 miles west of Loch Maree in Scotland's north-west highlands.

The A896 travels west from Loch Maree through Glen Torridon to Torridon village and onwards to Lochcarron. The section of road from Loch Maree through Glen Torridon is narrow and single track for the most part, and with being part of the NC500 scenic route, can be busy in peak holiday periods !

The hike up Liathach starts from the west side of a burn on the A896, 700m east of the cottage in Glen Torridon, where there is plenty of roadside parking nearby. The route finishes around 3km to the west of the start point.

From the roadside, a well constructed path heads steeply up the west side of the Allt an Doire Ghairbh. Head up this path and cross the burn just a minute or two after setting off ! Further up, hands are needed to clamber up a couple of "granny-stoppers", beyond which the path continues steeply uphill as it hugs the eastern side of the burn.

As the gradient easies slighty, the path turns into Toll a'Meitheach 1, which is a fine spot for a break.

The path leads up to around c400m, from where a rougher path continues through heather, over small loose boulders, then up some fine scree.

Up to the base of the dark sandstone terraces 2, the path takes a sudden right turn. [I've heard of a possible alternative route heading left from here which makes a direct ascent towards Spidean a' Choire Leith, clambering up wet pathless grass over and between the terraces, but I've never done this.] So right turn and follow the obvious path, worn and steep in bits, up to the ridge near Bidean Toll a'Mhuic 3, where views open up dramatically.

The detour to Liathach's most easterly summit Sgùrr a' Choire Dhuibh Bhig 4 is a simple and direct walk from the bealach with only some stoney ground and a little boulderfield standing in the way. The views from Sgùrr a' Choire Dhuibh Bhig's summit are superb and well worth the little exttra effort involved.

Back at Bidean Toll a' Mhuic, head westwards and follow a path along Liathach's crest. The crest then travels north-west over the grass and sandstone terraces before turning west and climbing up the quartzite of Stob a' Choire Mhòr's eastern top 5. A little further on, the obvious path continues to Stob a' Choire Mhòr's western top 6.

From Stob a' Choire Liath Mhor, there's a short drop south-west to a narrow nick in Liathach's crest, from where a climb up rough ground and clamber over more quartzite blocks is required to reach the pyramid summit of Spidean a' Choire Lèith 7, the highest peak on Liathach. This is a fantastic spot to take in superb views in all directions.

From Spidean a' Choire Lèith's summit there are two choices - head south-west following a vague but obvious path which comes to the top of a very large drop, then turns southwards to reach the top of a gap 8 in the crest. Alternatively, and to avoid getting close to the dramatic drop, from the summit head due south (pathless) keeping to Liathach's bouldery crest, which turns south-west to reach the gap 8. At this gap there are some dramatic rock formations which frame distant Beinn Dearg.

That's the start of the Am Fasarinen pinnacles reached ! The first of the pinnacles is a bit underwhelming and easily avoided by sticking to a bypass path on a grassy slopes on the south side of the crest.

Beyond the first pinnacle, another gap 9in the crest is reached and remaining pinnacles can be crossed or bypassed. Am Fasarinen Pinnacles are great fun and not overly difficult to climb over. The rock scrambling is at Grade 2, though definitely easier than that on the Aonach Eagach in Glencoe. Stick to the crests with the linking paths between, but do take care as the pinnacles are made of sandstone and the rock can be crumbly and loose in bits.

If weather is wet or windy, then clambering on the pinnacles is not much fun and possibly dangerous, so taking the bypass path is to be recommended. The bypass path for the most part keeps just to the south of the crest, however in some sections it is vertigo-inducing, so great care is needed. There are two points on the bypass path where the path swings back into the mountain-side and errosion has taken its toll where care is needed particularly if damp or iced over.

The gap beyond the final and highest pinnacle 10 is reached - if you've taken the bypass path up to this point, its worth aiming up this pinnacle just for a bit of fun as it is fairly straightforward to clamber up, giving a taste of the exposure involved on the rest of the Am Fasarinen crest.

After coming off the end of the Am Fasarinen Pinnacles, a small cairn is reached. The rock-scrambling on Liathach (for Munro Baggers) is now over and some will find relief that hands can be put back into pockets for an easy saunter onwards.

A path by-passes a minor summit 11 (spot height of 903m and a good view point) and is then followed over a delightful grassy expanse to the edge above a coire.

The crest then narrows and the path sticks to the ridge crest for the next 500m or so. Another minor summit 12 (spot height 973m, Harvey Maps) can be by-passed, but is worth detouring up to for a spectacular view of Mullach an Rathain and the Northern Pinnacles.

Terrain gets a bit more bouldery for the last pull up to Mullach an Rathain's summit 13. On clear days Mullach an Rathain's summit is a superb spot to stay taking in the magnificent views over the surrounding peaks.

The northern satellite peak of Meall Dearg is connected to Liathach's main ridge via a spur from Mullach an Rathain. Called the Northern Pinnacles, this spur, as the name suggests, involves some scrambling and rock-climbing and therefore Meall Dearg is reputed to be the toughest mainland Munro Top to bag !

However it is possible to reach Meall Dearg avoiding the difficulty of the Northern Pinnacles - we took a route at the top of Glas-Toll a' Bothain.

West of Mullach and Rathain's summit, follow a path downhill. After a short distance the path twists through some stoney ground - beyond this, leave it and aim north and drop to a height of around 900m. From here drop into Glas Toll a' Bothain - it's very loose underfoot and much care needed ! We crossed the col to gain the other side, losing a bit of height in the process. A bit of a climb gains a gap just south-west of Meall Dearg's summit 14, from where a short walk along a narrow crest gains this elusive top.

From Mullach an Rathain's summit 13 , head west for a few metres, where a cairn marks the descent start. This descent is rough and loose on pink sandstone gravel - an excellent scree-run if you like going fast, zig-zagging quickly downhill !

Once grass below is reached, a burn 11 in Toll Bàn is crossed and ground thereafter gets occasionally a bit sodden. Expect to get wet feet and mucky legs on the remainder of the descent down to the road.

At time of writing, the NTS are doing path-maintenance on this section of the route.

If you've not arranged transport between start end end points of this route, you'll have walk of around 3km back along the road to the car-park - you'll be able to admire from below the mountain and crests that have just been climbed over.