Northern Highlands, August 2009
 

This page provides a summary of all the days included on my August 2009 trip to the Northern Highlands.

I did this trip with Michael Coffield, Martin Forbes and Michael Kerrigan. We are all regulars (but others more than myself) of the MunroMagic.com forums and Michael Kerrigan should be credited with initiating the trip. At the time of writing, it is the most intensive trip I have done yet in the mountains but worth every ounce of effort. In total, I climbed ten Munros (all new) and attempted one Graham (Stac Pollaidh). It's arguable whether Creag an Lochain of Ben Klibreck constitutes it's own mountain, although I've listed it as one. Others would call it a subsidiary top. Others would ask 'who cares?'.

Highlights of the trip are many, but several are include the sunrise from Ben Hope, the Conival to Ben More Assynt ridge, the sunset from Beinn Tarsuinn's summit and subsequent night walk and bivouac across A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor. Night walking was the most thrilling part of the trip, but there came a time close to 2am when, with tiredness upon both Michael and I (having walked for 17 hours), we decided to pull out the emergency blankets and bivvy bags and spend a night in the open. We were up by 4am, knocked off the last peak (Ruadh Stac Mor) then began the long walk back to civilisation. My guess is that these days will turn out to be my best trip of 2009, although time will tell.