Assynt Traverse 12/13 July

[MOUNTAIN MAN]

Pete Simpson, Colin Brooke and myself completed this route in the far north of Scotland last week. With a low off to the north-west most of the time the weather forecasts were mostly dire - strong winds, heavy showers and low cloud - but we were able to sit it out long enough to catch a ridge of high pressure which briefly gave some stable conditions and reasonable visibility for an attempt.
The Assynt area provides some of the most spectacular mountain country in Britain and is home to a series of illustrious individual peaks - among them Stac Pollaidh, Suilven, Cul Beag, Cul Mor, Quinag - as they rise dramatically from the surrounding tablelands. I had the idea of stringing them all together to make another 60th celebration route. But all credit must go to Pete Simpson without whose knowledge, experience, route choice and spot-on navigation it would not have been a success. Thanks must also go to Clive Lane who provide van support at the road crossings.
It is all fairly difficult terrain ranging from scrambly rocky paths and steep 'grass root grabbing' slopes to extensive sections of pennine-like bog and Scafell type boulder hopping. We maintained a steady but strong pace to clock up 26-59 for 10 peaks, 50 miles and 21000' of ascent. The route starts from Stac Pollaidh car park and finishes just short of Kylescu at Unapool carpark with its panoromic view over Loch Glencoul. The full list of peaks in order is as follows:

Stac Pollaidh- 2011'
Cul Beag 2523'
Cul Mor 2785'
Suilven 2398'
Canisp 2776'
Breabag 2625'
Ben More Assynt 3274'
Conival 3228
Glas Bheinn 2546'
Quinag 2651' (3 tops - Spidean Conich, Sail Garbh, Sail Gorm)

The route will appear on the gofar site in due course as part of the Over The Hill series, but, like the others in the series, it can be completed by any age group.
For anyone with a serious interest in the area I recommend Andy Walmsley's (Bowland Fellrunners)book - Scotlands Far North
Another route in the Assynt & Coigach area is the Inverpolly Round of 36 miles and 15000' - see the SHR site

[wheezing donkey]

Well done Tony. I did some of the reccies with Andy for that book. At one time he had ideas on a round of the Loch Assynt watershed?

[Full Moon Addict]

great route. would like to try it some time.

[MOUNTAIN MAN]

Tomas Frydrch recently did a crossing in 23-54. His report and schedule has been added to the gofar site.

http://www.gofar.org.uk/transassyntrun.html

[tthef]

It is an excellent outing, in amazing and varied landscape. The write up is here:

https://aye.tf/2016/07/17/the-assynt...-blow-account/ (I am in process of migrating the blog, so in case that link does not work, this one should http://aye.tf/post/147556039390/the-...y-blow-account)

(the scenic pictures are from previous visits)

I was also thinking even a longer run could be had by starting at Culnacraig and taking in Ben More Coigach and the Fiddler (the Fiddler horseshoe makes for a brilliant short run in its own right). I might investigate the options for the Fiddler - Stac Pollaidh transition sometime, looks from the map it could be done with a short swim to avoid a long round about bog fest.