I stood in the rain at the foot of the Inaccessible Pinnacle’s east edge, that ‘easy edge’, looking up at it, trembling a little. True, I was overawed by its history, its odd and discomfiting form, its dizzying position — but I think I was basically just very scared. In the part of your brain … Continue reading Simon Ingram: The Black Ridge
This is the second in my planned series of posts dealing with the revision history of the three “classic” tables of Scottish hills—the Munros, Donalds and Corbetts, which I introduced in an earlier post. I also introduced the idea of topographic prominence, and a way of charting these hill tables in two dimensions by plotting … Continue reading Scottish Hill Lists: The Donald Revisions
King’s Seat Hill (NS 933999, 648m)Andrew Gannel Hill (NN 918006, 670m)Skythorn Hill (NN 926013, 601m)Cairnmorris Hill (NN 933016, 606m)Tarmangie Hill (NN 943013 645m)Whitewisp Hill (NN 955013 643m) 14 kilometers930 metres of ascent I mentioned the Glen of Sorrow when I wrote about my circuit of Glen Sherup, and promised I’d write more about it on … Continue reading Ochils: Glen of Sorrow Circuit
Last time, I introduced the concept of “Hillwalkers’ Gaelic”, which I abbreviated “HG” to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic (“SG”). I did so in the context of a comic poem entitled “The Climber’s Guide to the Pronunciation of the Gaelic Tongue“, which appeared in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal of 1897, probably written by the … Continue reading Hillwalkers’ Gaelic: Part 2
In a previous post, I wrote about the three “classic” Scottish hills lists—the Munros (1891), Donalds (1935) and Corbetts (1952), and how these were brought together, in a publication commonly referred to as Munro’s Tables, by the Scottish Mountaineering Club in 1953. As a way of displaying the topographic data for these hills, I also … Continue reading Scottish Hill Lists: The Corbett Revisions
Innerdownie (NN 966031, 610m)Whitewisp Hill (NN 955013 643m)Tarmangie Hill (NN 943013 645m)Ben Shee (NN 952039, 516m) 16 kilometres675 metres of ascent On my previous visit to the Ochils, when I walked in to Ben Cleuch from the north, I looked down on Glen Sherup from Ben Shee and thought that another enjoyable circuit could be … Continue reading Ochils: Glen Sherup Circuit
The view had a massive visual scale. It felt cinematic: an epic horizon like the opening credits of a David Lean film. A path scrolled out ahead of me, eventually fading into the middle distance. Across the plateau I could see other tors emerging from the mist: dark, maritime shapes, spectral galleons held up on … Continue reading Patrick Baker: The Cairngorms—A Secret History
After a gap of two years during which the Covid pandemic prevented the Crow Craigies Climbing Party assembling in our usual force, we were back together again, this time in Kingussie. Despite the looming presence of the Cairngorm plateau nearby, I managed to spend my time without ever creeping over the 3000-foot contour—I arrived nursing … Continue reading CCCP 2022: Kingussie
Meall nan Tarmachan SE Top (NN 589385, 922m)Meall nan Tarmachan (NN 585390, 1044m)Meall Garbh (NN578383, 1027m)Beinn nan Eachan (NN 570383, 1000m)Creag na Caillich (NN 562377, 914m) 14.8 kilometres850m of ascent Some days even I give up on trying to come up with new ways to climb old hills, and just go out and walk a … Continue reading The Tarmachan Ridge
Hill of Strone (NO 288729, 850m)Driesh (NO 271735, 947m) 18.3 kilometres890 metres of ascent Driesh is usually climbed along with it neighbour to the west, Mayar. Most people seem to come in from Glen Doll in the north, a route I’ve previously described, but the longer approach from Glen Prosen in the south has its … Continue reading Glen Prosen: Driesh From The East