On Thursday afternoon #Fa’sTheLingKey, #FtShallWeDo and #TheBoot were all trending on the MMC social media platforms. We had a problem: the Ling Hut key had not arrived in the post. Those in the know may suggest looking under the “obvious” stone. But in Torridon there are a lot of stones, most of which are pretty obvious. After some considerable head scratching, we decided that that the situation was so serious that we needed to call Burghead Mountain Rescue. BMR duly supplied a key, for which we are very grateful.
My first memories of the Ling hut are from the MMC’s Hogmanay meet over ten years ago. In those days the hut was rather basic. These days it’s got solar electric lights, running water (err, well that didn’t actually work) and even a COMBINATION keypad on the door!
The early crew, comprising David, Alistair & Adele, started their adventures on Friday. David, Alistair and Adele set off from the Ben Alligin car park and ascended through wind and rain. Sometime later there was no more up…mission accomplished.
Ben Alligin (Adele N, David T, Alistair J)
Alistair and David (with Adele hovering, clearly struggling with the early symptoms of FOMO) spent Friday night muttering about the big one, the one out the back, a rough descent, the grey hump, a jaggedy bit and another grey one. The pair was up and away early on Saturday morning and the BRB records their motto “a little less procrastination – a little more action” and their exploits (after Alistair had returned to the hut for his sun hat): “Went up Beinn Eighe and down to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair [presumably via the other one]. Walked around to the start of Liathach, scrambled up for a photo shoot with Annie McD [ask David to explain]. Across the pinnacles then down to the car for a stop at the Torridon Inn”.
Adele, Anta, Sheena and Daniel set their sights on a “half day” east to west traverse of Liathach. “We searched for the scramble up the east end, but after spending some time dithering around on steep heather beneath a large cliff, we decided to accept the scree slope instead. A short scramble led to the first top (Stuc a Choire Dhuibh Bhig). The views were stupendous: from Ben Nevis in the south to the hills of Assynt in the north. The weather couldn’t have been better. Anta may be new to the club, but despite hailing from a country where the topography plateaus out at a lofty 311.5m, she’s clearly no stranger to the scrambling scene. She led the way along the pinnacles like a squirrel scampering up a tree. We lounged around on the final summit (Mullach an Rathain) before accepting the inevitable…the one thousand meter descent into Glen Torridon. Great day”.
Adele, Anta and Sheena on the Summit of Liathach
Adele, Anta and Sheena approaching the Liathach Pinnacles
Evelyne, Jan and Andy also had a (9 hour) “half day” on Beinn Eighe. “Beautiful sunny day, no clouds, hot at times with a slight breeze. Walked into Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair and from there up to the col and onto the first munro of the day. Breathtaking views all around. Back onto the main ridge to the second munro and then the long walk back to the hut”. Evelyn was positively beaming all evening!
Saturday night was spent enjoying pleasant conversation, drinking the odd beer and frustrating David’s persistent efforts to turn the fire up to max. Colin C even popped in for a chat, before returning to his van. The weather forecast for Sunday was less good. Most of the tickers had enough ticks and went home. Colin was last seen heading towards Loch Torridon with his boat and Daniel & Sheena went to Strathpeffer to practice their mountain biking skills.