Help needed to put the mountains into mountain biking – riding the Munros

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.

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
Will do. I fancy doing it as soon as we get another bout of good weather – so probably 2013 at this rate.

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 twatted 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)

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!

Ah now is that the classic that is Lochnagar? Did you manage the tricky right hander this time on the Glas Alt descent?

I’m thinking Ben Nevis via the CIC hut this weekend if the weather improves as forecast. 😀

I’m thinking Ben Nevis via the CIC hut this weekend if the weather improves as forecast

You’ll probably need someone with a strong mountaineering pedigree to guide you up that Sanny. Lots of potential for stubbed toes or even skinned knees.

Ah now is that the classic that is Lochnagar? Did you manage the tricky right hander this time on the Glas Alt descent?

Didn’t even attempt it… the path below this point is really bad this year too.

Brilliant day out in the big hills 8)

Spin

If only I knew someone who had such a mountain pedigree who can work a compass in bad weather when traversing across Carn Ban Mhor 😉

Messiah

I never saw the wing when I was up there. Where is it?

Cheers

Sanny

PS Nice pics!

A worthwhile detour when you up there… makes for a nice little descent to the saddle 😉

Canberra

Sanny / Messiah,

Looking at the route down from Lochnagar, where is that aircraft wreckage?

The website you linked talks about Carn an t-Sagairt Mor and you mentioned this detour makes for a nice descent to the saddle. Is that to pick up the path on teh OS map that runs north of Dubh Loch?

Was wondering if you could provide some grid refs of notable objects as fancy replicating this ride.

Incidentally – we did the classic Geln Doll to Loch Muich and back on Sat and saw a bunch of riders ahead of us at Loch Muick – would have been about 15:00, this was before we started the climb back over to glen doll – guess that might have been you guys?

Meall nan Ceaprachean from Inverlael.

Mostly rideable to Lochan a’ Chnapaich. I went over Eididh nan Clach Geala but this is a waste of time. Best route is from lochan to Ceaprachean (carry from Bealach) then down to col between that and Beinn Dearg. The descent from there is excellent.

This route deserves to become a bit of a classic for those who like to ride in the big hills.

wiz74

Looking at the route down from Lochnagar, where is that aircraft wreckage

Hi Wiz74. It could have been us you saw as I think we were coming round the bottom of the loch at about 3pm. How did you enjoy the Glen Doll to Muick route? It’s a good introduction to high mountain riding IMHO… at the head of Loch Muick did you ride down the doubletrack switchback “Streak of lightning” or the more entertaining waterbar singletrack “streak of pants” (Corrie Chash)?

The crashed Canberra is just off the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor. There are two piles of cairns up top and it’s off to the East of the North top on the path you take when descending to the saddle towards Carn an t-Sagairt Beag. Difficult to miss once your up there. The detour I mention is going to the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor; more usually on a bike you start the climb up here from Cairn Bannoch but join the path which goes round the side towards the Stuic (from Callater)… but if it’s a nice day and I have the legs I like taking in the tops as the little “detours” add to the fun.

Messiah – cheers for the info.

Aye – Glen Doll ride is a good one – couple of great descents, we did the switchbacks this time, have done corrie chash a couple of times too, tend to save that one if we start from Lock Muick rather than Glen Doll, although it does mean lifting for water bars with weary arms!

Looking do do a bit more riding up Lochnagar area before then end of the summer, fancy the Alt Glas Shiel descent that is raved about and also Morrone/Morven too – seems difficult to link those together tho! Also fancy the Driesh / Mayar ride – so much to do but I guess the hills ain’t going anywhwere huh. Just need to get some good rides done before they punterise all the paths in the cairngorms…!

Spin – Member – Quote
Meall nan Ceaprachean from Inverlael.

Mostly rideable to Lochan a’ Chnapaich. I went over Eididh nan Clach Geala but this is a waste of time. Best route is from lochan to Ceaprachean (carry from Bealach) then down to col between that and Beinn Dearg. The descent from there is excellent.

This route deserves to become a bit of a classic for those who like to ride in the big hills.Aha! I’ve had my eye on that descent to Inverlael for some time after walking in to the Munros. My mate and I were looking at lines all the way down, pretending we were on bikes.

So Ben Nevis was a bit of a hoot on Saturday. It’s been on my radar for ages but trying to get a weather window up there is somewhat challenging. We went up via the CIC hut to join onto the pony track above the lochan. It’s a carry pretty much all the way up from the lochan to the summit and the banter with the many walkers we passed on the way up was grand. Lots of good chat mixed in with the usual questions of where’s the cycle path at the top and what are you going to do when you get to the top. I felt like a stranger in a strange land given the many nationalities we encountered on the way up and down.

The ride down is loose and rocky but not particularly techy. It’s not a descent where you would want to go full pelt even if no one was on the trail. As it was, the slow speed meander down was a pleasant affair with good chat from the walkers on the way down too.

The descent from the CIC hut was great. Barely a soul on the trail and the final section of path down to Torlundy was brilliant.

All in all, a good day out and worth the long drive up. The CIC route is definitely the way to do it as it avoids the bottom section of the pony track where it narrows and becomes a bit too steppy for my liking.

I wonder how busy it would be if it was the second highest mountain in the UK?

Cheers

Sanny

Did Lochnager on Saturday from Invercauld, up past Gelder Sheil, up Glas allt Sheil to summit (there’s no freaking way I am ever riding down this path..total respect to anyone who does!!); did the 2 White Mounth munros including (“there’s been a horrible murder”) Tagart. Did the descent north from the col here: Initially a bit dissapointed ‘cos it’s fairly easy, but the stunning scenery and fantastic woodland made up for it.
Ride was done with my 13 year old son, who, at last, is strong enough for grown-up rides..Yipee!!(took 8 hours though, and I had to carry both bikes up the ‘Sheil staircases, so was as knackered as he was in the end!

Good to see this thread still on the go. I’m hoping I may add to it this weekend 🙂

It’s the best thread ever on STW.