[Closed] Help needed to put the mountains into mountain biking - riding the Munros

no. is there something wrong with it???? got me concerned now. i know there's nowt there.

It has, err, character.

I'd rather not say any more else I spoil the experience for you 😛

haha we'll see what happens. looks like some kind of hippy commune, but according to trip advisor its alright. got a keg and 9 mates with me so we'll make our own atmosphere! 🙂

anyways, back to the mountains...

Invervar horseshoe in Glen Lyon is nice cl

Invervar horseshoe in Glen Lyon is nice clockwise.

For Lawers, we started at the hotel and went along the road, up Ghlas, across to Lawers and back on the trail behind Ghlas, down the road, up a Land Rover track that took us to the top of the Lawers Burn and descent to finish.

Vorlich is nice as a quick up and down.

Schiehallion is a bit of a one trick pony. It's just an up and down. I rode it in March. Good but not quite a classic for a day pot!

Sanny sorry for being a complete bore, but do you think the Chlamain stalkers path will drain quite quickly, be ok in the wet.

Hi Fergal

Hard to say. I rode it last Nov and it was pretty dry. There were a couple of damp bits but nothing of any note. Give it a go, take photies and post them up here!

Cheers

Sannt

Hi Sanny,
Do you have a gpx file for the route you done on Dreish and Mayar ?

Jim

Re: Slioch
Bike would certainly ease the long approach walk! Only done it in winter though, so not sure whst's beneath the snow higher up.

Just back from Ben Chonzie...a great day out (well about 2hours actually). Is one I'd certainly put in the 'easy' section of Munros if there is such a thing! I parked up in Invergeldie, which already puts you at 200ish metres so that only leaves you with a 730m climb up to the summit. Weather was awesome, still some snow at the top, but nothing of any significance. The track up is very rideable (depending on fitness)but I got a couple of hundred metres past the small dam and gave up, so pushing for 5mins then riding for 2. Once onto the shoulder of Chonzie it's rideable all the way to the summit, except for the odd peat bog. Meant to take a vid for the way back down but my camera paused after 4 mins so missed the best bit 🙁
All in, nice fast dh no really techy bits though...it's more of seeing how fast you can go before bottling it! Superb 😀

Pic from summit looking NW towards Lawers group

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Jim

GPX? Ha ha ha ha ha! (he laughed maniacally). Sorry but I'm a bit old skool for that king of thing.

Route is simple. Park at the visitor centre. Ascend via Corrie Fee and onto the summit of Mayar. Drop down to the bealach and follow the obvious path for Dreish. Retrace steps down the Kilbo Path to just before the visitor centre then ride Jocks Road as an out and back.

Nice Chonzie pic. Rode it in January in stupidly high winds, snow and ice. It was a memorable day and the pics look great but it was a bit of a toughie.

Rode the Devils and Ciaran Path at the weekend. The Mamores are looking pretty close to being in nick for an attempt at the Ring of Steall. Whoop! Still lots of snow on the northern flanks of the likes of Ston Binean and Ben More

Looking across towards the Grampians there's plenty of snow I'm guessing the majority from last weeks cold spell, so it's still a no go for biking up that way. Shchiehallion and west looks fine for biking at the mo, think you'll have an awesome time up the Mamores. Weather dependant I'm looking to do Stob Ghabhar/Stob a Choire Odhair on the Black mount next week 😀 happy days!

Eat more cheese

Post some pics when you do it eh?

The west was amazing on Sunday. Looks great for the rest of this week. Fingers crossed it holds thru the weekend!

Cheers

Sanny

northbound tomorrow afternoon. very excited.

Just back from a couple of days oop north feeding the rat, Carn a Chlamain on tuesday, a few patches of snow no problem, warm and sunny, the stalkers path descent, down to forest lodge is a real gem, very narrow rocky switch backs with some stream crossings, a little squelchy lower down but ace, northern Gorms still plastered, big descent on Ben Vorlich today put a huge grin on the face, the last 100m on the ridge has a deep snow drift, but the trail below this is in fine fettle, hope this helps.

Hi Fergal

Tiny patch of snow on the summit of Vorlich today. We did Stuc a Chroin then headed across. Great day out even though the original plan had been for the Ring of Steall. Great visibility and lots of sun. It's amazing the number of walkers who called us mental. We nailed the descent of Vorlich top to bottom and got it on film. Good days! Did you live the rocky switchback gully part way down. What a terrific techy descent!

Stob Binean is clear after being White last weekend.

Sanny yep had a real goodun on Vorlich, the descent was a bit of a blur, all the features connecting to make a really good continuous descent, it was over ever so quickly, walking up i was a little skeptical about cleaning that whole gully section, but just commited on the descent and it went well, one of the highlights! Will you be posting pics/video of your descent,look forward to it.

Next for me the Kilbo path hopefully next week.

PS. Sanny how would you rate Vorlich as a descent, betterer than Lomond or just different, i must ride Lomond again, after a winter off i had forgotten how good this hike a bike lark is.

would love to see your video of vorlich sanny!

just back from our 4 day weekend in the area. ticked off ben lawers and beinn ghlas, ben lomond, ben a'an and rode the devil's staircase & ciaran path again. great weekend. love this area. wish i lived a bit closer. 5.5hrs in the car from manc. crazy weather - sun, high winds, hail, snow but no rain. wore same shorts for 4 days and haven't had to wash the bike once. perfect!!

Vorlich is looser than Lomond. I reckon it's faster top to bottom. Both are great!

Peachos

Any pics? Which descent off Lawers did you do?

Once my mate posts his video, I'll put a link up.

Cheers

Sanny

Peachos

Do you have a flickr account for your pics?

Fergal

I was talking to a walker on Stuc a Chroin on Saturday who said that Dreish and Mayar were fairly clear of snow last week when he was up there walking if that helps for a bit of conditions knowledge? However, the Gorms looked white from our vantage point.

I'm still laughing at the thought of the woman descending off Vorlich who was convinced that we were going to be carrying our bikes up and down. 😀

Right. Fingers crossed for good weather this weekend. More mountains require to be ridden!

here's my video of the weekend.

(not embedding for some reason)

Brilliant! Proper mountain biking.

So what was your favourite bit of trail then?

Sanny

How was Culdees?

fave trail from the weekend was coming off Bein Ghlas back down to the junction. probably would have been off the top of Lawers had it not been for the large patches of snow and freezing winds. most the rest of the lads preferred Lomond I think because its got loads more flow.

Culdees was absolutely fine, in fact its great little bunkhouse & i'd recommend it. didn't really have anything to do with the owner & had the run of the mill! just a bit out of the way.

Clova Munros were snow free on Sat. Just out of interest, how is it possible to ride the ring of Steall;the only place you will get to ride is on a couple of Bealachs? First Munro, carry bike up, ride a wee bit near the top. Scramble from 1st to second Munro (one interesting wee shuffle during this) Carry up to Am Bodach,Ride down and up to demoted Munro. Carry bike along Devils ridge,(while you could possible ride this, the path is now a deep rut and a pedal strike could be nasty)carry up last Munro, descent off last Munro on bike. That is what I see you having to do.

Hi Duckman

There is a path off the traverse that heads down into Kinlochleven. I plan to knock out a couple of the Munros at the same time carrying the bike where I have to. There's no requirement to bag all the munros for the ride I have planned but if the weather is good, I may well give them a go. I'll post once I've done it.

Peachos

Did you come off the back or front side of Ghlas? I reckon the back is the choice of champions for flow. Still to try the steeper front descent. Interesting that you headed up the path to the bealach. What's that like heading up? It looks reasonably doable on the way down.

Cheers

Sanny

Ah, that way you could avoid too much hike a bike,right you are.

went up the lower path below Ghlas to the saddle as you say, then up to & down from lawers summit before carrying on to Ghlas summit and down towards the car park again. then pushed half way back up lower path so we could take in the sweet singletrack path descent. push up that way was fine, but probably quicker going over Ghlas tbh. bit of carrying round the back, but not too much. can't really remember what the top section of the path below the saddle was like for a descent, but the middle section is probably a waste of time. bottom section is nice though, worth the 2nd push up we did.

I was walking down the "back" path last week thinking what a great descent it would be!

which section druidh?

peachos - great video. Recognised some bits from Lawers and Devils/Ciaran. Hoping to do Lomond soon but it will have to be bloody good to beat the descent of Lawers or Ghlass down to the road.

As Sannny said, when we did it we pushed up Ghlass from the car park (I think that's what Sanny is calling the "back"), rode down to the bealach, then carried up to Lawers then all the way back down. Riding pushing up the path under Ghlass is a bit of a slog

Edit - @druidh. Yes definitely want to go down that way some time. Very steep and techy

Cheers capt! you boys are lucky living so close to the area. saw a bunch of Glaswegians & Sterlingers pushing up Lomond around 7pm on Saturday night as we were coming off the hill. 45min drive as opposed to our 5hrs 😥

A few pics from Ben Ledi last Weds night. Not a Munro but close enough I hope 😀

Loved the way the Cross, cloud and Moon were in alignment on the first one. Great wee run and nice loose and fairly fast.

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Hi Blindmelon

Did you ride down the main footpath or head over to Stank Glen? Only ridden the latter way. Nice pics!

Captain

Mail me when you want to do Lomond. We could even do it as a cheeky night ride!

Cheers

Sanny

Sanny, just the main footpath, rocky and very loose in places but mostly rideable. Bit stop/start in places though.

I'd be up for Lomond some weeknight evening as I'm in Scotland every other week for work. Usually stay in Milngavie or Stirling depending on work commitments.

looks like you picked a stunning day there blindmelon! what was the ascent up Ledi like? its on my list for the area when we return to the area.

Captain

Mail me when you want to do Lomond. We could even do it as a cheeky night ride

You going to finish off the GMTB ride report on Lawers and put some of your magnificent pics on Dropbox?

Peachos, yes I was very fortunate with the weather, that was about 6.30 at night and it was still 15 degrees. The ascent was fine,probably took about 1hr 20mins or so nothing too steep but a few loose areas where you need to watch the footing. Would definately recommend it.

So I carried up onto the Ring of Steall yesterday. It was going brilliantly until the ascent of Am Bodach proved one peak too far for my mates and we opted to stay together and head straight down. Gutted but on a big day out, splitting up for me to do the last peak before the descent we had planned to do wasn't really an option if I ****ted myself. The climb up from Glen Nevis to the bealach would make for an awesome descent so I'll be going back to do that and also climbing up the descent we missed out on as we were almost in touching distance. Glenshee 9 next on the list for a big day out though the Ring of Steall descent beckons a return trip in the very near future.

Well you can add Ben Dorain and the three connecting munros to the list. Italspark and I did them on Saturday. The plateau of Dorain is 2km of lovely trail with some smashing slabby sections. An Dothaidh is quite a short carry up from the bealach with nice riding on the top between the high points. Fun grassy descent down off the back then a steep carry followed by lovely grassy track rideabale ascent of the third munro. Scary cliff edge action on the descent with a stupidly steep carry down which looks like it could be bypassed by heading off the eastern edge of the mountain. Final push to the last munro top then a brilliant descent off the north west ridge and dropping down to the lochan and corrie far below before a magic sheep track descent to the valley floor followed by a return spin along Land Rover track and round Loch Tulla.

It's a big day and if you don't like carrying, don't bother but we had a brilliant time. The views were immense and the trails on the high tops were great. It's as much a hillwalking as a riding day out but top value for money.:D

Bynack Mor the previous Monday was grand too but the path building has ruined what was a magic tech descent over exposed bedrock. The top steep section of the mountain is still great but the National Park in their wisdom have made an arse of the path. If they are trying to encourage folk to skid and mess up the trail, reverse waterbars on downslopes are the way to do it! 🙄

Did the South Shiel Ridge yesterday.

Basically all the ups are carrys and almost all the downs are rideable. The only unrideable section of down comes on the ridge between Aonach Air Chrith and Maol Chinn-Dearg.

The best way up is to follow the path marked on the south east ridge of Craig a Mhaim. This is a better option with the bike than the more direct ascent the munro book recommends.

The descent from the Bealach Duibh Leac is mostly rideable but really (really!) hard work.

All in a good day, not long but tough and just on the cusp of what I consider 'worth it' in terms of carrying time vs riding time.

Oh and park your car at the bottom of the glen or part way up so you don't have all that road to do at the end of the day.

Gave Ben Mhanach a go last week, but failed miserably in the heat, and ended up dumping the bike half way up and walking. 😥
Still, the track to the north of the Munro gives a cracking fast descent back down to the glen to the A82. I thought this would be the best route of attack as it takes me up to the hightest 'rideable' point before the push up. But there's no way it's rideable coming down (steep, thick rutted heather). Looks like there might be more potential to attack it from the track leading to Glen Lyon (south side of the Munro) but it was knackered by the time I got back to the bike so couldn't be arsed checking it out. May be one for the very distant future!

Sooo – Glas Tulaichean.

Lovely ride up through the Glen on Saturday. We opted for the old railway track option but it was a bit muddy and bumpy in places. The main track would have been the easier option. The climb up is all on Land Rover track and 100% rideable to the summit. A wee bit steep in places but nice with expansive views.

We headed off the summit towards Loch Nan Euan. There is a good grassy path down to the Bealach where we then headed over the peat hags for the path to Carn an Righ. Unfortunately, my mate bonked big time meaning that we had to turn round as opposed to nabbing the next two summits. The path to Carn an Righ isn’t great as it is a mix of loose rock and soft, peaty earth. I reckon the descent off the Munro would be good but it’s about 3 km of pushing with a bit of riding to get there and the same back.

We rejoined the path off Glas Tulaichean and headed down a promising bit of singletrack which disappeared meaning we had a ten min ride across tussocky ground to reach the path from Loch Nan Euan as it goes down Glen Taitneach. There were a couple of steep but short carry downs and as we descended, the trail just got better and better with a nice spin along the glen to finish. A good ride which would be made better by doing a 5 min push to Loch nan Euan to join up with the walkers path down Glen Taitneach.

So a good if short day out and another Munro ridden.

Nothing new from me this year... but the weekend delivered an old favourite with good friends 8)

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Sron a' Choire Ghairbh at Loch Lochy - Good stalkers path to within a few hundred meters of summit. Descent 100% rideable - basically a red.

Stob Ban and Mullach nan Coirean from Glen Nevis - Not really worth the effort. Descent of coire a Mhusgain is disappointing as it is such a deeply eroded trought that there isn't room for pedals. Having said that I had just crashed heavily and could only really hold the bars with one hand so perhaps it is more rideable than I thought.

Ben Dorain - Out and back from station - Mainly (Manly?) carry up. Good descent from summit to bealach and very loose and rocky but largely rideable from bealach down.

Sgurr Mor, Glen Kingie from Glen Garry. A tough day but totally amazing scenery. The carry up to the ridge at Sgurr an Fhuarain is about 1.5 hrs. Thereafter most of the downs are rideable and all of the ups are carries. Wait for a drought if you want to do this one!