UKC

A friend of mine has just moved up to the northwest & is really keen to do the ridge on An Teallach. She's a little unsure about the scrambling & wants me to go as well. I've not been up there so is there any advice about it, ie. roped/unroped, helmet?

In reply to Simple Simon say's:

A helmet's never a bad idea I guess, but it wouldn't be top of my list there; you're not really exposed to rockfall on the traverse

A rope might be good if she's nervous, but only if you're intending to do the crest direct - which is top end scrambling with an optional harder bit. The easier alternative is to miss out most of the really good stuff on a flanking path, which is still scrambly but far less hands-on and much less exposed. I'd say it's also a total anti climax if you've bothered to go all this way - but each to their own. For the easy option I'll stick my neck out and say you'd not need a rope, non-climbing hillwalkers do it all the time.

Description on a UKH Route Card here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=82

In reply to Simple Simon say's:

(1) Do it clockwise, so you go up the awkward part onto Corrag Buidhe Buttress rather than down it
(2) Definitely not the superdirect way on the right, which is about Diff and very exposed. But as Dan says, the far-left low-level traverse route (followed by a long ascent up a grass/choss gully) is a waste of a wonderful ridge.
(3) So, take the intermediate way (see Dan's route card or SMC Highland Scrambles North) which involves slabby scrambling for what I recall as 20-30m. The SMC guide gives Mod for this (via nice flake crack at left end of slabby area) but there's more than one way. A confidence rope might be in order for this bit, but afterwards it's easy scrambling, with ledges round the various low (5-10m) pinnacles (though they're great fun to clamber over on a nice day).