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2023 - A Year in Mo...
 

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2023 - A Year in Mountains

 
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Last Post by Bunnyhop 2 years ago
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 munrobiker
Posts: 7544
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Topic starter
 
It's a little early but I'm laid up in bed with an illness and needed something to pass the time. And, looking at the forecasts and my calendar, I'm not going to fit any more hills in this year. It's been an up and down one - a strong start, then in September I was knocked off my bike by a dog on a disused railway line of all things and the concussion that gave me wiped me out for a long time. As a result, there's only eleven trips here while I normally aim for twelve a year. There's been some crackers, though - the South Shiel Ridge was a really definitive moment, even if it wasn't actually that much of a success as a bike ride, but I've not had any bad ones this year.
I also had a new camera set up this year so results are a bit of a mixed bag but hopefully they're enough to keep you entertained. As with previous years, I've had to split the thread up because as far as I'm aware STW still haven't fixed the issue where it won't publish a post with more than a few links in it.
Please, add your own adventures to the thread.

[b]Glen Lyon Horseshoe[b]

The first big hills of the year were pretty impromptu- over Easter weekend my wife had exhausted herself hillwalking and gravel riding, so on the Sunday she was too pooped to do whatever we had planned. Instead, I hotfooted it to Glen Lyon with a pal to ride the five Munros that make up the Glen Lyon Horseshoe.
I'd walked them before so knew what I was getting myself into - a steep but relatively short feeling climb up Carn Gorm before a wild scree slope descent to bypass An Sgor. Then follows what should be a pleasant ride across the plateau, but when I was there the wind was in the high thirties and relentless. The second and third summits, Meall Garbh and Meall A'Bharr, were barely noticed but reaching the top of Carn Mairg we'd had enough.
The descent off Carn Mairg I knew would be tricky and it turns out it wasn't rideable - a very steep scree/boulder field. The last quarter of this is rideable, but it had me crashing. Fortunately, the descent off the final hill, Meall Na Aighean, is cracking. Not particularly hard, it's fast flowing singletrack with some amazing turns and the odd technical feature. Mercifully, it was also in the shelter of the other hills and wind free.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:01 pm
vlad_the_invader, vxaero, bikesandboots and 19 people reacted
 munrobiker
Posts: 7544
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Topic starter
 
[b]Corrieyairack Pass[/b]
There's not many of my big mountain rides that have started with a schlep along a canal, but to make a real day of the Corrieyairack Pass I started in Fort Augustus and rode a 100km loop taking in the Great Glen Way to Gairlochy, then the road to Roybridge and up Glen Roy.
The first half is despatched pretty easily, especially with a big tailwind. The Great Glen's a nice place to be on a sunny day with the wind at your back. The short stint along the A82 not so much but this is rewarded with the climb up Glen Roy. It's a 25km steady climb, starting on the road, which eventually turns into a track and then into nothing at all. The last stretch is lumpy grass with a faint rocky trail. I could see a few people with gravel bikes had been through but it must have been hell - it was much easier to ride on an MTB. It's also one for a dry spell - crunching over the grass was fine but if it was wet it'd be a bleak push.
The Pass itself comes 4/5ths of the way round and I surprised myself by feeling good. I didn't get any photos because I decided to be the type of bell-end that goes for a Strava time, so there's nothing for your entertainment I'm afraid. I did get in the top ten so it's surely worth it. All I can say is, this is just a fireroad with a reputation. It's a cool place, but it's not a big technical ride. It's more in the "grand day out" style, and if you're on an XC bike you'll have a good time.
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[b]Ben Wyvis[/b]
A lesson in not underestimating the mountains, this one. Ben Wyvis is close to Inverness, has a nature reserve and a well built path and loads of folk go up it. It should be an easy one. Well, not on the day I did it. It was a bit wet when I set out but as I neared the summit of An Cabar, the first peak on the ridge at 950m, a snow storm rolled in. The wind was up, visibility was down and things were getting greasy. I'm not the guy from Grizzly Munro Diaries, I don't like taking risks with the weather if I don't have to, so I turned back.
The descent off the south west is pretty good. There's open rocky sections, then twisty very rocky but not mega gnadgery singletrack. Unfortunately, here I had probably the biggest crash I've had on a bike in the mountains - I fell about 4 metres down an edge while my bike tumbled end over end down the hill. It was like a small scale version of one of the crashes at Rampage where you wonder how they got away unhurt. Wondering how I'd stayed in one piece, my confidence was then knocked for the now very greasy rock steps that make up about a quarter of the hill so I can't really comment further as I was too out of it. Should be good on a nicer day, though.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:02 pm
gringo, nickc, Tracey and 3 people reacted
 munrobiker
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[b]South Glen Shiel Ridge[/b]
This has been on my to do list for aeons, but finding the right situation to do it, and the right company, was always going to be tricky. My prime candidate quit riding after his 8th concussion and I sure as hell wasn't doing it alone. I got a message from @justinbeiber on day in May asking if it went, and having offered him all the advice I'd gathered over the years, I asked if I could gadge along.
A group of 4 dwindled to 2 the night before and James was swithering but after I gave him a pep talk from a Burger King car park in Inverness (largely because I'd already had a nightmare getting myself up there) he was persuaded.
Let's not bugger about - this is bloody hard. Toughest day in the mountains I've ever had. With photos it took us 11 hours, moving for 6 of them. A lot of the descents aren't rideable. There's some rock climbing, which cruelly comes right at the end before the last descent. Mood swings happened. But what descents were rideable were exceptional. I enjoyed the last descent, James didn't, but I was in prime XC race fitness at the time and I think I still had 1% left in the tank by then while he didn't.
I'd only recommend it to a few very select people. I think at the time I said it was "niche entertainment" and it really is. A brilliant day out, but for the love of god don't do it.
James took all the photos, since that's his job, so I've posted my favourites here. The rest are in the latest issue of Singletrack (tHeRe'S a MaGaZinE???) and one even ended up on the cover of issue 150, which kinda vindicates my dragging bikes up munros for the past fifteen years. This first shot is my favourite of me on a bike ever - it really sums up why I do this, it's like no other style of riding.
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[b]Sgurr a Mhaoraich[/b]
In the same area but at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Short and sharp, I rattled this one off in 2 1/2 hours. Hidden off Loch Quoich, I think this is one that people just treat as one to tick off when bagging the munros but it makes a great ride. It's easy to get up and has three distinct stages with very different feels. The top is rocky and exposed, and only partly rideable (probably entirely rideable if you have zero fear of exposure). This then levels off into a technical, rocky section which requires a good amount of thought and hopping the bike around. Then, it all opens up into a fast blast back to the bottom with some flat grassy turns to slam the bike around on. Great fun.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:03 pm
gringo, nickc, Houns and 5 people reacted
 munrobiker
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[b]Nan Bield[/b]
A good staple whenever I pass the Lakes, but I hadn't done the northern descent since 2010. I last did it on a 26" wheel hardcore hardtail in what was the peak of my riding career and I don't remember being able to ride as much as I managed in 2023 despite the trail being unchanged. Seems big long wheelbases and tyres make a big difference when you're confronted with a trail that's made up almost entirely of big boulders with big holes between them. There's some quite big moves on the way down that I mostly got away with, possibly with a foot or two down, and it's still extremely technical. I'd say I still prefer this to the trail south which is so well trodden. I'll not leave it so long next time.
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[b]Broad Cairn[/b]
This was one that I should have ticked off when doing the Glen Callater Round back in 2021 but for whatever reason didn't. Fortunately it tacks on nicely to a loop from Glen Clova taing in well known high quality trails like the drop to Loch Muick (I think called Lightning Bolt) and Capel Mounth. We met a few riders on our way up Broad Cairn who had already tried it and they said it didn't go, and they were right. The top's just boulders and the bit of descent you do get isn't really worth tacking on to the loop - it's just a load of steps and slabs. The rest of the ride is cracking, though, if a touch puncturey.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:06 pm
gringo, nickc, nickc and 1 people reacted
 munrobiker
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[b]Iceland[/b]
I've been to Iceland before and my one regret was not riding a bike while I was there. We were visiting the in-laws on the other side of the Atlantic in September and the cheapest way to get there was via Reykjavik so I took the opportunity. It's a tricky place to plan a ride - I was there for 24 hours and guides weren't able to offer anything that fit with my flights. The landscape is very sensitive, with loads of lovely young mosses, and mountain biking is viewed with suspicion since it's only been in the country for fifteen years or so.
After a load of research I found some routes that didn't look like jumped up gravel rides (of which there's plenty), wouldn't upset the natives and weren't going to take 3 days. As you'd expect, it was like nothing else. The ground crunches beneath you like it's icy because the rock is so aerated and brittle. The colours are either completely muted blacks and sages, or vibrant greens and yellows. It smells weird. Steam pops up from the ground around you. You can ride bare, exposed bedrock for hundreds of metres. And the riding is tough - it's technical, the weather is often wild and some of the exposure on one ridge really gave me the willies, which doesn't normally bother me. I couldn't recommend it enough.
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[b]Whistler[/b]
A friend of a friend offered to show me around Whistler while I was over the pond. Given it's such a mecca for riding I couldn't turn it down - unfortunately, time was tight and he was photo-shy so there aren't many shots, and those I got aren't great as I didn't spend any time setting up. It's everything you'd expect - great variety, from groomed bike park trails to some real gnadgery stuff.
A lot of it felt like riding in Scotland, but moreso. There's grip on all the rocks for a start - everything's so reassuring. You can pitch into massive rock slabs and know your front wheel isn't going to wash out. It's all beautifully well built, and long, and steep. What they don't tell you in all the articles is how fit you have to be to get the most of a ride out here - the climbs are steep and sustained.
You knew it already, but Whistler is a great place to ride.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:06 pm
gringo and gringo reacted
 munrobiker
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[b]Grasmoor/Lad Hows[/b]
I've been wanting to do this for ages. I'm regularly in the Lakes on a riding trip with a group of friends in early November but mixed abilities and this route's reputation for being steep and technical meant it hadn't worked out before but this year a reduced turnout meant two of us got to try it.
Its reputation is true - it's steep at the top, and loose with occasional rocky chutes. It's not mega hard though - I've certainly ridden much tougher stuff in this lump of hills. I'd still not take a mixed abilities bunch down it, but it's not Grisedale Pike. It starts off with steep switchbacks with loose gravel, then things get steeper still and down to bare bedrock. There's often less traction than you need but there's almost always a bank to catch you and it goes nicely. Then at the bottom it chills out into a ribbon of flowing singletrack to Crummock Water where you can rinse your melting brakes down.
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[b]Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas[/b]
This is becoming a semi-regular season closer for me. It's close by, far enough south that it doesn't get smothered with snow and it's always rewarding. A rare window of small amounts of snow and light winds were the golden ticket. Icy on the way up through the glen, the steeper descents down Lawers and Ghlas were largely ice free. These two are really the perfect pair - plenty of more chilled out sections interspersed with steep and mega-technical sections, rounded out with a last blast at the end that's almost like a trail centre. And it's really a wonderland in winter.
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Posted : 06/12/2023 6:07 pm
gringo, Garry_Lager, Garry_Lager and 1 people reacted
 thenorthwind
Posts: 3080
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May I be the first to say how glad I am to see this thread make it's appearance this year. Will bookmark for a proper read, but from the pictures it's already looking like a vintage year despite your reservations.


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 6:13 pm
 matt_outandabout
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Oooh, it must be Christmas as it's the annual year in mountains thread! 🥳 🎄 📆

As ever they sound like brilliant days out. Thank you for sharing. 👍


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 6:27 pm
 nickc
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This first shot is my favourite of me on a bike ever 

I'm not surprised, that is a really great photo, I'd be framing that. 


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 6:36 pm
 Pauly
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Thanks for posting. Very inspiring and some cracking pics.

Hope you feel better soon.


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 6:38 pm
 joelowden
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Cracking, thanks for sharing 👍


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 7:38 pm
 jimmy
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Aaaand my year feels even more pathetic!

Great though, good work.


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 7:47 pm
 rj2dj
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Thanks for taking the time - great inspiration.


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 8:08 pm
 bearGrease
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Great photos and great rides as always. Thanks! 


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 8:16 pm
 ART
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Love these every year, inspirational mountain biking at its best - thank you! And hope you feel better soon 😀


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 8:26 pm
 filks
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Absolutely amazing and totally inspiring


 
Posted : 06/12/2023 8:56 pm
 bedmaker
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Most excellent as always 👍

I did the South shiel ridge back in 2014 and I've been telling people not to take a bike there ever since 😅

Truly glorious and hideous in equal measure. I doubly botched it by doing the ridge starting at the Cluanie end, leading to the heartache of downhill hikeabike to finish.  My bike was a lovely heavy custom steel Rohloff fatbike.  Not light.

I kipped atop the first peak after heading up post work on Friday night.

Waking to grazing deer and a temperature inversion was memorable for the good though.

https://ibb.co/jTx1Bv8

Riding back up the A87 to the van was seriously unpleasant too.

The most vulnerable I've ever felt on a bike was that or riding the road into Tbilisi from the North west. I can't decide.

Iceland looks superb, that's on the list of things I'd love to do but most likely never will.


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 11:51 am
claudie and claudie reacted
 munrobiker
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@bedmaker - we started at the Cluanie end as well, and I'd say if anyone has to do it, that's the best way. Otherwise you don't get much descent - heading east is the hardest way off almost every one of the summits, apart from the easternmost one. The last descent heading west is chunky and hard but not unmanageable - the problem is being fresh enough when you get there, which you almost certainly won't be. Especially as the most difficult stretches are at the western end.

There did look to be a good descent about 2/3 of the way along of Sgurr Beag which would miss out the most unpleasant and dangerous bits but obviously I've not tried it so can't vouch for it. It would mean doing only 6 of the 7 Munros on the ridge, missing Creag Nan Damh, but may make it less of a type 2 day out.


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 12:12 pm
 fathomer
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Brilliant as always and I'm always really jealous. And hope you feel better soon!


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 12:47 pm
 Chew
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Highlight of the year, and adds to the list of things to do next year.

Top work and i'll be digging out the maps.....


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 2:28 pm
 chickenman
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Fab as per usual! On the South Shiel Ridge has anyone continued on to the stalkers path a mile west of Creag nan Damh?
That descent to Loch Muick is the Coire Chash descent, The Lightning Strike is the landrover track. It's the usual bollocks of someone getting it wrong, putting it on Trailforks and then other folk repeating the mistake on riding videos as if it were fact.


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 5:14 pm
 devash
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Inspirational. Having a crappy day and this has cheered me up and given me ideas.....


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 5:22 pm
 Vader
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fantastic thread, really appreciate the effort to get great photos too, nice one

Like bedmaker I have done the south glen shiel ridge too, and basically tell anyone who cares to listen not to do it as well!

It was late 2007 and on a noodly fsr120, perfect for the ascent from the loch cluanie end. I remember it being bloody hard work, almost attrional, but the views and exposure superb. I also had the worst prang in over 30 years of off roading, a full on otb followed by 3 cartwheel/somersaults and landing on my camelback. How I got away with a bruised hip I don't know. The ride back up the A87 was the scariest part for sure.


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 9:07 pm
 Davesport
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Many thanks for taking the time to share these. I've been waiting since the last lot :o)


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 9:44 pm
 justinbieber
Posts: 1045
 

That day on south shiel ridge is going to be remembered for a long long time. And in spite of everything, I think I am going to have to go back and try it again, only this time without a camera bag and maybe with a touch more fitness. Dammit

Looks like you’ve had a great year in the mountains away from the ridge too


 
Posted : 07/12/2023 11:07 pm
 Sanny
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What the heck! Is it December already and time for my favourite thread? I bloody love reading this every year as it is always nice to see what another dafty like me who loves riding in the mountains has gotten up to.

@munrobiker

We need to finally ride together next year. I have several routes you might like. There will be hike a bike but I reckon it will be a riot. Whiteside ridge and then not the steep descent off it but taking the gentler one down? Or perhaps Glen Afric?

Most of my big riding has been in the Lakes this year exploring routes that are new to me and joining up the dots on the map. I have had some truly spectacular days out soften starting at eight and sometimes not finishing until near ten at night before heading back to Glasgow on the M74.

Your Grassmoor ridge descent is now locked in for a visit. I did Grassmoor twice this year in January and February but you have lit a spark for me.

Re Glen Lyon Horseshoe. That is a wee smasher like you say. Is it five Munros? I thought that it was only four but if it is five, that's a bonus!

Cheers

Sanny


 
Posted : 08/12/2023 4:25 pm
 Houns
Posts: 11381
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Oh **** off! It only seems a few months since you posted your thread from 2 years ago, let alone last year 😫


 
Posted : 08/12/2023 4:33 pm
 vlad_the_invader
Posts: 1786
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Finally got around to reading this and piecing your routes together on the map. Brings back some memories of hiking those hills (before I got into mountain biking).

South Glen Shield ridge was probably my longest single day out munro-bagging (14+ hrs IIRC) and that was carrying a tent, camping gear and lots of food/water for what was supposed to be a two day trip...


 
Posted : 12/12/2023 8:37 pm
 munrobiker
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@Sanny - we really do. I've never been to Glen Affric so that'd be a good one. After the South Shiel Ridge I can handle about as much hike a bike as you can throw at me.

I'd originally thought the Glen Lyon Horseshoe was four, then been told otherwise but you're right - Meall A'Bhar is just a top.

The lump between Keswick and Buttermere, south of Whinlatter, is a world of endless opportunity for bike riders. Everything there is such high quality you could spend days going back and forth over it and never getting bored.


 
Posted : 13/12/2023 1:56 pm
 chickenman
Posts: 1911
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Having walked Tom a Choinnich at Affric in the summer I'd say that would make a fab descent (apart from a km of bog along the valley).


 
Posted : 13/12/2023 7:02 pm
 justinbieber
Posts: 1045
 

@munrobiker - that lump of hills keeps us entertained most Tuesday evenings. You'll have to join us one day


 
Posted : 13/12/2023 8:41 pm
 D0NK
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Lovely pics, only skim read so far but... the 'wrong way' down nan bield? nice. only done it once - I crashed - when I did it both ways solo (and the Harter fell and Mardale ill bell run ins) that was a while ago on 26" wheels. Might be worth a return soon, think I may struggle to persuade anyone to join me again.


 
Posted : 15/12/2023 10:42 am
 Bunnyhop
Posts: 9491
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Ooooh lovely write up and photos.
These are routes I'll never ride but I can appreciate them through someone else.
Thank you and get well soon.


 
Posted : 15/12/2023 2:45 pm
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