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Corinna

This walk offered a bit of everything - scrambling, ridges, bogs, but most of all the fabulous views. Outstanding!!
Jacqui

By David Lang, Lamlash

As a result of the great care taken by local mountain rescue guide Alistair and visiting guide Mick Tighe, our intrepid group thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of walking on Arran’s potentially dangerous A’chir Ridge last weekend. Many of us had travelled a long way to be part of this year’s Mountain Festival, including one from Australia! A few manoeuvres necessitated the indignity of an odd push from behind, however it was all worth it as we were able to ‘boldly go where none of us had dared go before’.

I also attended the excellent film show and illustrated talks on the two previous nights, both effectively building up the excitement, while showing the fun and challenges to be had when exploring mountain areas.

Arran is blessed with superb and extensive hill walking routes that many visitors sadly miss, and the festival celebrated these, while also enabling a wide range of abilities to access them in a safe way. The views from the top can best be described as ‘awesome’!

All those involved in its organisation should be very proud of this year’s success and if I find out they are ever organising a trip up Everest then you can count me in, as I am confident it would be equally well planned! To be honest I would still rather continue exploring Arran and am already looking forward to next year’s festival.

I had never set foot on Arran before, which is shameful considering I live in Glasgow, but I have always heard it is good for walking and climbing. My friend, who has been on Arran several times, heard about the mountain festival and saw there was a guided walk along the A'Chir ridge which he had bypassed on previous walks and thought it would be a great chance to walk it.

We just made it to the outdoor centre in time to get a quick instruction on how to put our slings on, which is when I thought it was going to be more extreme than any scrambling I had done before.

The walk started in Glen Rosa and the weather was perfect, warm morning sun and blue skies. The group walked up Glen Rosa at an easy pace giving the group the chance to get to know one another and hear the guides point out places of interest and tell some stories about the area. We stopped for some lunch just below Cir Mhor where we were told that if we didn't fancy the ridge we could turn back.

A short climb took us to the the start of the rock climbing section where the guides set about putting a safety rope up. It was just as well they did, I was the second person to go along the section and had a wee slip but managed to get to the end of the section safely. There were plenty of other moments where the ropes were in use and I think the group was thankful for that especially at the bad step on the ridge. This was only a gap of half a metre which had to be jumped, but with vertical drops on each side the exposure was something else.

By the time we had reached the top I was a lot more tired out than what I would have expected, mostly from using muscles that aren't usually put to the test. But the wonderful views from the top made it worthwhile and I quickly forgot about my aches and pains. We could see Jura and even all the way over to the Antrim coast.

After the top it there was one more section which required the rope then it was a steady walk back down to Glen Rosa to catch our lift.

Having lacked any previous rock climbing experience i knew this was going to be an exhilarating, challenging and at times apprehensive walk. But with the guides always there to reassure you and advise you along the way everyone got passed the trickiest sections with no problems. I will certainly be back to Arran to walk the rest of the hills and ridges after this.

I must say a big thanks to the guides, Ali and Mick. They were full of knowledge and stories of the area and their times on the hills and you felt in very safe hands with them helping you along the hardest sections of the walk.

Gregor

I took a walk around the Thee Beinns the other day. It turned out to be a magnificent short day out and much better than the ever-busy ramble up Goatfell. The wind was up and the cloud was doing strange things – all steam boiling out of corries and odd mists. At one point the grass – some sort of fescue or other – made me think there were a thousand little characters just on the threshold of my vision. Each top-heavy blade was moving busily and entirely independently of its neighbours, little heads nodding and chattering in the mist. It seemed that the mountain was home to countless Dr. Zeus creations and I was disappointed to take a few steps onwards and find I was alone.

RB

I thought I had tried all the ways up Goatfell until I heard Ali enthusing about his way. I had to try it myself. At last, at the end of July, the sun decided to shine. Ali is right about the route - it is splendid. From the tourist track, you cut across a broad corrie of grass and pools. There are views to the south over Holy Isle but otherwise the corrie is cradled by the ridges of Goatfell and has a hidden feel to it. The ponds were full of frog spawn, so they should be croaking nicely by now. Glenshant ridge is soon reached however, and the views open up at first over to Bens Tarsuinn and Nuis and then north and west to Cir Mohr and Caisteal Abhail and beyond to Jura and Mull. The ridge is followed by a short scramble up the gully towards the summit. Plenty of options here to make it as easy or diffcult as you want. Once again the route emerges into the open and the views which were good lower down become sensational. A final climb over a grassy slope and a few more knobly rocks of lovely warm,rough Arran granite and you are on the summit. After spending the whole climb alone, it came as a surprise to put my head over the last boulder and find the top crowded with walkers who had come up the tourist track. They shared my surprise for someone to appear over what, from the summit, looks like an impassible ascent. Great fun!