[Closed] Liathach, with a dog

Of those you've listed, only Liathach should be an issue with the dog (there's a short section of The Saddle rhat can be avoided). I'm not convinced the path past the pinnacles is any better than the direct route. Mind you, I've met a dog doing An Teallach so what do I know?

FWIW I didn't rate Liathach, other than the view down to the loch, I felt it was like walking in a quarry. Beinn Alligin is far nicer.

We took our lab along Liathach, we took the path beneath the pinnacles. From memory (it was 25 years ago) there's one or two steps/gaps in the path but they are more like a stride across rather than a jump.

Depends on the dog really, you know how yours will react.

Thanks, yeah I’ve looked at swapping Beinn Damh for Beinn Alligin as I don’t have the map for Damh! Eighe and Alligin are at least on the same OS

Yeah, agreed Whitestone, he loves the mountains and has done a bit of scrambling and the three peaks, just being extra cautious as things can change quick on the hill

Hmm it's been a few years but I remember it as being well-trodden but insanely steep it just goes on and on and on. The pinnacles involve some confident scrambling but compared to the bypass path they're probably the lesser of two evils. We played tag on the way up with a guy who was carrying a para glider. We watched him assemble it on the summit and take off. Amazing.

Seem to recall the descent is basically a 3,500 ft rock chute although there is a less steep insanely long alternative.

Good luck

I'd agree with Colin, Beinn Alligin is more dog friendly. The Torridonian sandstone can be rough on dogs' paws, Alligin is grassier but there's still rough bits. Despite their appearance from the road as massive bulks, the Torridonian "giants" feel very airy when you are on their summit ridges.

One point is that your itinerary covers a big bit of Scotland and you'd be spending a couple of hours driving between those locations.

Other than it being a 4000er there's not much to recommend Cairngorm.

Ben McDhui is probably best done from the Braemar/Linn of Dee side but that would involve more driving.

Ben Alder is a long way from the road. These days using a mountain bike to get to close to Culra bothy is the usual approach but would mean your dog running that distance (and back) along an estate track.

Beinn Eighe is very rough, lots of sharp rocks along the summit ridge.

So, having dissed some of your original selection 🙂 here's some alternatives. Interesting walking, good views, dog friendly.

Ben Lui. This is one of a set of four Munros just south of Tyndrum and on the southern edge of the Highlands so good views. Various options to do one, two or all four of the summits depending how tired you are.

Mamores. A long ridge but there are stalker tracks letting you do parts of it. Those at the eastern end feel more interesting.

Creag Meaghaidh. A big hill in the centre of the highlands with great views and some stunning scenery in Coire Adair.

Beinn Dearg. The one near Ullapool. It's one of a group of four Munros, a simple loop gets three of them, a short out and back gets the fourth.

It's worth getting the SMT Munros book if you don't already have it. Have a look on geograph.org.uk for images of your proposed walks, quite useful to get an idea of the terrain. From the main page click on "Browser" then "On a map" to get the best interface,  http://www.geograph.org.uk/browser/#!/display=map_dots/pagesize=100 the default OS based interface is appalling.

I feel like I did Liathach wrong, I don't actually remember much real scrambling other than contrived diversions over pinnacles...

Beinn Eighe stands out as one of my best every mountain days, but that was the complete traverse starting at the roadside between Eighe and Liathach and finishing in Kinlochewe, via Coire Mhic Fearchair. I don't know if that would be very kind on the dog, lots of shattered rock and (as I remember it) actually more 'mandatory' scrambling across the Bodach Dubh, albeit very easy.

Still a beautiful day though, strongly recommend if you're dog free...

Yeah....don’t ever use the bypass path. I went along it with a nervous member of the club I was a member of a few years ago,much worse than the pinnacles which only have one slightly dodgy bit in them.

Beinn Eighe stands out as one of my best every mountain days, but that was the complete traverse starting at the roadside between Eighe and Liathach and finishing in Kinlochewe, via Coire Mhic Fearchair.

Ditto. I did it one September and arrived back at the cottage in Kinlochewe, hands purple from eating blaeberry on the descent

I'm pretty sure we did an abseil on the Saddle ridge in winter? (might be confusing it with somewhere else), so check first whether it's easily by-passed with a dog.

The Saddle can be approached by the Forcan ridge, which apparently has a tricky downclimb (think it's considered a grade 2 scramble?). Wasn't aware the downclimb was by-passable, however pretty certain you can get up and down without doing the Forcan Ridge.

Oh yeah Forcan Ridge, altho I think I just assumed they were one of the same and going by the OPs list, FR would be their intended walk/approach.

Forcan Ridge down-climb can be bypassed on right and left. Bypass on right would be straightforward for a dog, less so for a human, particularly in winter. Bypass on left looks sketchy for both.

Thanks for all the info, I'll take another look at the maps tonight

Check out www.walkhighlands.co.uk an excellent resource IMHO.

Enjoy your week.

On the Liathach front, I've only ever done it in winter and have memories of a short 'a cheval' section. A mate of mine used to climb and scramble with dogs, but he used harnesses and short-roped them on tricky stuff.

Having spent a day on Striding Edge a few years back with a three-legged border collie, which lost the other leg in a fall from steep ground, my take would be that if you're prepared to assist the dog occasionally it would probably be fine, but the problem is that any sort of mistake has the potential to be high consequence.

Oh, and as a general rule, most bypass paths on sharp ridges are to be avoided ime.