UKC

Loads of different routes out there I have looked at but would anybody care to suggest the best circular routes for the Nevis and Cairngorm 4000ers (driving between ranges) looking at doing them end of May so hoping for not too much snow by then or might wait until summer if still snowy as looking to do it fast and light.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

If it has to be a circular route I'd look at doing the Lochaber four from the car park at the end of the Glen Nevis road. Up the Ben via Allt Coire Eoghainn and Carn Dearg. Then CMD Arete to Carn Mor Dearg. Down CMD east ridge to the col under the Aonachs. Nasty steep climb (but signs of footfall make it pretty obvious) onto the south end of Aonach Mor. Quick nip across to Mor summit, then backtrack and down to col under Aonach Beag. Go over Aonach Beag then SSE onto Stob Coire Bhealaich ridge. Descend to col under Sgurr a' Bhuic (there's a clear path), then down beside Allt Coire nan Laogh into Glen Nevis at Steall. Easy stroll back to car park.

Nb. for a lot of people that is a monster of a single day out, so how long to allow for it depends what you mean by 'fast'

The Cairngorm 4000-ers in a one-er is a much longer route than the Lochaber 4s, but also a lot easier on the ground. Many people would class it as a 2-day walk:

Ski centre - Cairn Gorm - over plateau to Ben Macdui - down to col between Macdui and Carn a' Mhaim - on down into the Lairig Ghru - Corrour bothy (handy mid-point for an overnighter if you are spreading the walk over 2 days: bring a tent if you're there at the weekend - gets busy)... Next day Cairn Toul and Briaraich, then descend B via the Sron na Lairige ridge down into the northern entrance to the Lairig Ghru. Climb out the far side and go through Chalamain Gap, thence back to ski centre

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Dan has mostly covered it. Some other info.

Lochaber - we did then from the gondola station and finished up going down the ben tourist path to the pub at achintee where not being the designated driver meant I could have a few sneaky pints whilst the cars were sorted out.(We caught up friends who were just doing the ben & cmd) Otherwise you need to negotiate the forest tracks back to the start.

Cairngorms - Same route as Dan in a oner. Theres a path up from the sugar bowl to the ski centre thats not on older maps but had a closed sign when I went past last time (rockfall or something)

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Good info cheers, circular is better as will probably stay at Glen Nevis campsite, done plenty of mountain marathons and 20 miler single days in the Lakes but not adverse to splitting into 2 days with bivvy kit if we need to make it more relaxed and not pressure ourselves.

Suppose for Lochaber we could start in Glen Nevis and finish in Nevis range and bus/hitch back to town/Glen Nevis ?

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

Yes you could do that easily enough. The travel back up Glen Nevis is likely to be the trickiest bit of that journey if it's later in the day. If you were going to do it as a linear walk in that vein, with the associated return transport logistics anyway, then you'd probably be best off extending the route to take in the whole of the Grey Corries too - known as the Lochaber Traverse. Arguably one of the best big hill walks in the country. As per this recent article: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=8313

It's do-able in a single big day with lots of daylight and a bit of a fell running mentality. Probably more feasible for your average walker is to do it over two days with a mid way camp or bivvy - all part of the experience. If you did it over two days from a start in Glen Nevis you could 'easily' walk back to the start from the far end of the Grey Corries on the afternoon of day two, via the full length of Glen Nevis (that's not how I did it in the article above, but that's because I wanted to do Ledge Route which you can't sensibly access from G.Nevis)