From the summit of Stac
Pollaidh
Stac
Pollaidh 613m
Stac Pollaidh
is one of the most popular hills in northern Scotland, no
doubt because its easy to get to and is not too difficult!
Access is gained from the Achiltibuie road,
about 5 miles fron its junction with the A 835 road to Ullapool. The car
park is signposted on the left of the road, its the only
proper car park after leaving the A835 so you can't miss it.
The walk starts immediately from the car park. The path has
been properly built to protect the hill from further damage, such
was the volume of walkers using the straight up the front route!
The new route goes around the base of the
hill to the back, its a steady climb,
you can choose to go either way round, the loop starts
near where you pass through the deer fence. I chose to go anti-clockwise.
Although you are on a constant rise, the
going is not too bad and the views are good all the way. The path
leads to a dip in the summit ridge, suddenly you find yourself on the ridge with steep
drops in front of you, however at this stage there is
no feeling of exposure, unless, of course you go near the edge!
From here there are two summits, go left and
its a short climb to the lower summit, again you can avoid exposure.
My guide book indicated that the route to the higher summit involved
some exposure and scrambling, it was a windy
February day, so I thought I would avoid that, however the
book described an alternative chinmy route to the summt giving no exposure.
Well the guide book
made a very poor job of describing where this chinmy was,
so I spent some time scrambling around in all the wrong places!
Infact I would not call the alternative
route a chinmy at all! To access this route, go back to the circular
path, just a few paces off the summit ridge, and continue round, you
will decend for about 100 yards, look to your left and there is a broad, loose hillside, just
go up there. Its a very loose but not difficult climb,
no exposure at all, until, once again you get to the simmit.
Return the same
way back to the circular path and decend to the car park.
Time taken about 2.5 hours.
Stac Pollaidh from the approach
path.
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