UKC

Torridon (Ben Alligin) conditions end of March?

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 nicnic 13 Nov 2013
Quick question for those who know...

Planning a trip to Ben Alligin, to do the ridge and maybe Deep South and Deep North gullies. Unfortunately have to pre-book.

Weighing up chance of climbs being in condition versus extra day light. Am worried end of March might be too late, so perhaps end of Feb better, but then the climbs are north ish facing from what i can see, so not sure..

Anyone know what the chances are?
In reply to nicnic: Your chances are completely incalculable. But Alligin is not a particularly high 3000-er, and very close to the sea, so Feb is likely to be a better bet. For what it's worth though I did the Horns in semi-summer nick last Feb and decided the gullies weren't going to be worth walking round to. But I'm sure the hill then came back into proper winter condition in March and April. So that just goes to show that no one can say for sure.
 Mark Bull 13 Nov 2013
In reply to nicnic:

It's not a massively long day, and you will have 11-12 hours of available daylight by the end February.
In reply to nicnic: That's a bit of a crystal ball question, but on balance I would probably go for end of Feb. There have been winters when it's all over on the west coast by mid March, whereas feb should in theory be colder (on average) and have more chance of a good covering of lying snow on the ridge. There's plenty of daylight in feb - we did the traverse in early jan last winter with trail breaking the whole way (although we did have 4 of us breaking trail).
 TheseKnivesMan 14 Nov 2013
In reply to nicnic:

I'd go for Feb, but anybody's guess. Snow has been lying for a long time post-NY these past couple years but anyones guess. Feb should technically be colder and that's all anyone has to go on. If you get there and it's Summer, Diabeag is just round the corner!
 TheseKnivesMan 14 Nov 2013
In reply to TheseKnivesMan:

*Diabaig* not Diabeag
 jonnie3430 14 Nov 2013
In reply to nicnic:

Why do you have to pre book? There is a free campsite in shieldaig and a good pub for evenings if the weather is good. If it isn't then you can head somewhere else.
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