[Closed] Scotland easy winter walk recommendations

Loads of people on the forum that know shit loads more than me, but in general the hills near the eastern ski areas are quite rounded, with occasional jagged holes gouged in them.

The Western ones are much more jagged and mountain shaped with much more defined peaks and ridges.

So bear in mind that if you do go east then you need to be good at navigating on featureless flat terrain ( with the occasional jagged hole)

So don't mistake the roundedness for benignness

PS, clearly you also need to be good at navigation in the west. My point was merely that whilst the westerly Hills look jagged and dangerous, some of the 'gorms don't. Which is deceptive.

Scottish Winter with 1 axe’ book in advance ffs!

The routes in that book definitely aren't walks, they're easy climbs.

I think Sgor Gaoith done from Achlean in Glen Feshie is pretty much what you are after.

< edited to say to check the weather on mwis and the avi forecast on sais>

I'll start off with my most visited destination... Stob Coire [n]an lochan in Glen Coe. The valley next to the lost valley.
Big obvious path up into the coire. Probably take around 2 hours. Not sure where the snowline is these days, but usually around the coire floor.

Spend a while pootling around in the coire. Find the slope with slightly faster snow on it ( and a safe runout) and practice ice axe arrests. Get a feeling for how terrifyingly fast you can go within seconds, and how dangerous it would be anywhere other than the benign slope you have chosen.

If you fancy it, go up the far left skyline of the coire to the Peak and then descend the right hand skyline back to the coire. Or retrace your steps if you're worried.

Be careful not to head too far west from the coire floor, remember the path is on the east of the stream

PS. Please ignore everything I said above. I'm not a qualified guide, Scottish winter mountains are dangerous and you need to be fully responsible for your group.
😉

Driesh and Mayar from Glen Clova is a cracking walk in winter through Corrie Fee very icy at the top but nothing too difficult unless you loose visibility. Any of the Angus glens are worth a visit if sunny and frosty.Not far from Glenshee for skiing and just up the road from Kirriemuir

See there was someone had a wee ride in a chopper off Conic hill yesterday!.

The temptation is to go for the big round mountains such as those seen in the Eastern Highlands, the danger of that is navigating big featureless summits in or approaching whiteout conditions.

If you're in the west the Bridge of Orchy Munros are pretty amenable.

Agreed Spin.

Arrochar Alps too, either from Arrochar, inveruglas, or the corbetts from the rest side. Plenty options to stay out of cold winds for the majority of ascents.

Braemar would be ideal too, if it goes pear shaped weather wise you can still get out into the glens, ditto Tilt and munros in there.

If you’re in the west the Bridge of Orchy Munros are pretty amenable.

You'd think that... 🥴

Buchaille Etive Beag is a good one - nice ridge/peak but no real difficulties.

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4123

Buchaille Etive Mor isn't too bad either but the main tourist route can be quite avalanche-y in winter. No idea what it's like at the moment.

I would second the recommendations to find somewhere safe to practice ice axe braking. Many people would say the spikes are no good
for steep and high winter walking but it very much depends on ground conditions imo. There are places you can hire boots/crampons though which might be a better bet.

Edit: just noticed you didn't mean the micro spikes, probs ok then as long as you're not doing any actual climbing.

Cheers for the info and suggestions all, plenty to look at. @scotroutes may have come up with the winner....mainly as I already own the OL57 map 😂

I will of course check MWIS beforehand (I check it most days for Lakes conditions!)

@spin interesting info about the book....I suppose the crossover between scrambling and walking during the summer is where a lot of our mountain days lie, which would probably be the same in Winter....I'd imagine easier Grade 1 stuff is about the limit of what my girlfriend would want to do.

I might try and get myself book onto a winter course at Glemore Lodge over Feb half term to get some more formal training.

If you do decide on Sgor Gaoith, stop by the Badan Mosach falls on your way up (or down) the hill.

Not near ski resorts, but Ben Chonzie is the easiest winter Munro in the land.

Estate track 3/4 of the way up, then gentle slope to rounded ridge.

Currently getting a sprinkling of fresh snow, we were just getting a few flakes in the car park...

I’d imagine easier Grade 1 stuff

As with all winter climbing, it's totally conditions dependent. I've happily plodded up Broad Gully in semi softish snow quite happily.
Then teetered up it on rock hard neve shitting myself.

Then 25 years later skied down it in softish snow again.

I recall doing that mega grade 1 Gully in Coire Mcic Fhearcir on Beinn Eighe... my mate, also aged 15 had no crampons and we each had 1 long wooden ice ask museum piece ice axe.

The tumschies that were leading us said he'd be fine to kick steps up the gulley.

Which he was for the first thousand feet of altitude gain. But after that it was rock hard neve and he was in a bad way.

Saved by some passing bloke who leant him two proper inclined pick ice axes to do the last 200 feet with.

interesting info about the book….I suppose the crossover between scrambling and walking during the summer is where a lot of our mountain days lie, which would probably be the same in Winter….I’d imagine easier Grade 1 stuff is about the limit of what my girlfriend would want to do.

There are some great routes in that book. List here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?id=2839