Liathach was a mountain I had a lot of respect for. It was the only munro I turned back on in good weather back in Easter 2000. The easiest route to the top is a well worn path tackling some of the steepest slopes of any munro. Worse still were tiers of cliffs breaking up the steep slopes. Yup, it was a serious mountain that looks even more monstrous than the Cuillin munros.

Saturday dawned dry in the Torridon campsite, indeed Friday had pretty decent weather in Scotland. There was no wind and the midges swarmed like clouds rising above our tent air vents! For once I friends accompanying me to the top. They came up from Manchester for the weekend. Another friend of mine, Phil Endecott even took the sleeper up from Cambridge for the weekend. It was nice to see old chums making a dedicated effort for what was just going to be my last tick in the book! I also had new friends from uk.rec.walking who I met on Skye in May up to join me.

Precarious balancing on a windy summit

No, we were to find out that the walk was just for a tick in the book. No views, no pleasant walk. Yup, the weather was absolutely disgusting! From about 7.30am onwards it was to rain for the rest of the day with only brief pauses of dryness lasting about 10 minutes. So, the weather was for once going to be nasty when I was out walking.

Well, 9.30 arrived and it was time to go. No wind, midges especially active - the first weekend I got bitten! The rain drummed down when we arrived at the car park near the footpath. After a hurried introduction with the new friends due to midges we were off up the footpath into Coire Liath Mhor. The rain calmed down and the wind picked up blowing quite strongly at times in the corrie. We made a fast ascent up to the bottom of that gully before the path branched right. A little further up the path was where I turned back in easter 2000. Some how the steepness didn't feel intimidating this time despite the odd scrambly bit up to the ridge. The path was well worn and zig zagged up the steeper slopes before coming to a brief rock scramble. Above the path rose in an diagonally ascending line.

Group Photo

Once on the ridge it was practically in the bag. The going wasn't difficult but the ridge once got very narrow with the path skirting beneath the crest. Beyond that, the going was rocky was some big boulders to clamber over. On to the final bouldery ascent and all of a sudden I was there! Wow, I MADE IT! I shook hands with everyone else and Alan popped open the bottle of Sparkling wine. A few photos later and we started out descent. The wind was getting quite gusty so we didn't do the pinnacles - a shameful act but we were quite damp!

On the descent the wind gained speed steadily and the rain got heavier. I was a little worried about some of the strong gusts and was keen to get off the ridge. Once I got beneath the steeper slopes I breathed easy, now it was just a stomp down to the road. Once half way down, the rain really was lashing it right into our faces, it was getting painful and none of us had a dry item of clothing.

We arrived at the car park in what could only be described as late October conditions. I got into the minibus, we all looked like drowned rats! One of my friends said "That just takes the biscuit Anthony!". I could actually understand that - I myself hadn't been in such conditions for a long time! If it wasn't my last munro I would have just taken it easy. Why the hell would anyone go out in those conditions other than to bag a summit? But what a summit it was - probably the steepest mountain in mainland Scotland and a definite favourite. Despite the weather it was such a great feeling to reach the last one. Now I wanted that warm dry feeling in the pub.

Got the T Shirt!

We got to the pub, ate and drank for six hours. I had a new T-Shirt for a present - my face on the front with a picture of Liathach on the back with the slogan "No munros left to do - I'll just have to resort to drink!!!" Well, I can now say: "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!". That evening I made a new personal record with 5 pints - not much for a seasoned drinker but it sent me off to a good sleep.

Only 184 Corbetts left! On to new adventures!