UKC

So the first week in May a friend and I are heading to Scotland for the week. I appreciate a lot of this would be weather dependent, so we may just end up walking. However, if the sun gods hold out, i'd really appreciate your thoughts on a great 4-day itinerary, mixing up rock climbing, walking and some classic mountaineering lines. I have thought of the following, but conscious it is quite a bit of moving about, so i'd be very open to suggestions.

Mon - Agags groove, Glencoe.

Tues - Ardverikie Wall, Binnein Shuas,

Weds/Thurs  - Cairngorm camp and mountain route (weather dependent). Equally the Cobbler area would be feasible and also have us positioned closer to home for Fri. 

Fri - Return 

Any and all ideas welcome! How would you spend 4 days away?

To be honest, unless you're never going to Scotland again, you might be better off just staying in one place for four days. You could base yourself in Glencoe or Fort William or Braemar or Glenbrittle or Torridon or Ullapool or probably any number of other places and have four days of top quality mountain stuff and then actually relax in the evening rather than packing your stuff up and driving somewhere.

Skye:

Day 1: Cragging at Elgol

Day 2: String together a few routes to climb up to the cioch and on to the top of the ridge.

Day 3: Cullin ridge traverse (or part thereof depending on fitness)

Day 4: Neist Point cragging.

Torridon:

Day 1: Liathach ridge

Day 2: Diabeg cragging

Day 3: Beinn Eighe Triple buttress route or a couple of routes on Coire Mhic Fhearchair

Day 4: Torridon boulders or Seanna Mheallan

Assynt:

Day 1: Climbing at Reiff

Day 2: Walk up Ben More Assynt

Day 3: Mountain routes on Stac Pollaidh

Day 4: Walk up Suilven

Honestly in the NW of Scotland you could probably create 20 or more itineraries like this because there are so many fantastic little crags, unknown/unfrequented mountain crags and classic hills/mountains/ridges to climb.
 

The weather is very much going to be the deciding factor though. My suggestion would be to keep a very close eye on the weather and be prepared to pick an area based on weather alone and then pick up your guidebook and find what crags are there and have a look on your webmap of choice to see what mountains are there.

Edit: I'm pretty confident that for any pinpoint location NW of a line between about Greenock and Aberdeen, you would have crags, mountain crags and hill/mountain walks all within about 1 hour's drive. (unless you try to be really obscure by picking flat islands like Shapinsay or something).

Both very valid points, i thought as much and the more i think about it, the less i can be bothered motoring about. 

Noting your points above, i am currently looking at the Glen Nevis area, which will provide reach to Glencoe, Binnein Shuas at a stretch, along with access to a number of good hill days; Ring of Steall potentially.

I am very interested in your Torridon and Skye options though! The Cuillin is certainly on my list.

If you’re thinking Agags Groove, then as others have said stick to one place. There’s plenty of cracking VDiff to VS routes in Glencoe that’ll do you for much more than 4 days.

Same goes for most other venues. 

Binnein Shuas is easy from Glen Nevis.

If you find yourself in the NW then Beinn Lair has a load of low-grade starred routes in what looks like a stunning location. I've not been myself but it's on the hit list. 

Yeah, I'd say that Fort William or Glencoe are good places to start, and essentially accessible from each other. You can come back later and decide that the Cairngorms or Assynt is actually your favourite area to visit, but you might as well start with the obvious big hits. Obvious targets, depending on the weather, would be the Ben Nevis ridges, CMD Arete, Ring of Steall, Aonach Eagach, Curved Ridge / Agag's Groove etc, Polldubh Crags, Aonach Dubh...

Well, this is the stick for me. I've done Glencoe/Fort William twice before. The Buachaille, SCNL, Tower ridge etc.  The only reason i am considering returning, rather than the NW or Cairngorms, is purely i know the area reasonably well so may get more done...

But the idea of somewhere entirely new does excite me. Within the 4 full days i'd love to achieve a relaxing cragging day, mountain multi pitch and a big hill day or two.

Hmm Hornblende Schist, 3 hour approach - not the first place I'd recommend for an introduction to Scottish climbing. It does have a great view of one of the best cliffs in the North West though, and a South facing one at that. 

Wisdom Buttress - fine if you're after solitude, but the quality of the rock leaves a bit to be desired. Another one of Ken Wilson's esoteria that strangely made it into Classic Rock. I guess it's better than Clachaig Gully, though that's not saying much. The sole redeeming feature of that route is there's a pub at the base...

The weather is going to have the final say as to where and when you can have fun. So maybe just have a hitlist of stuff you're excited to do all over the Highlands and then stitch it together at the time based on conditions. It is rarely rainy/midgey everywhere in the Highlands on a given day - if you do your research and are flexible you can have a good day out somewhere. It's great to base yourself in one location for a variety of reasons, but it is also absolutely doable and quite fun to spend each day in a different location if you're energetic.

Also - don't just keep going back to Glencoe/Lochaber, there is so much more to the Highlands.

I'm a sucker for remote spots with easier mountaineering routes and I didn't realise the quality of the rock wasn't so amazing. One of those places where photos and topos had captured my imagination a bit. I'll move it down my list of places to visit.

OP - ignore me and listen to an authority on Scottish rock instead.

Ah, right, sorry - for some reason I'd got the idea that this was a first trip to the Highlands. In that case yeah, I'd say broaden your horizons!

Personally, my big mountaineering ticklist would include things like Squareface and Mitre Ridge on Beinn a' Bhuird (might be too early in the season for them, though?), the Cioch Nose on Sgurr a' Chaorachain, Sou Wester Slabs or South Ridge Direct on Cir Mhor and most of the interesting bits of the Cuillin. You could probably work out four great days in the neighbourhood of any one of those, although like others have said, the forecast is going to be the final arbiter of what's worth going for...

Thanks all for your responses. A lot of food for thought there, and the most sensible seems to create loose itineraries for a few geographically disperate locations. BMC Harvey Cairngorm and Torridon maps ordered!

I think you're right though. Given the height and time (1st week may), i think the Cairngorms mountain routes may well be covered in a sheet of the white stuff.

Having done similar dashes from London in the past(around the same time of year) I’d reiterate the advice of having several options then picking an area based on the weather. You will haemorrhage time( and energy) rebasing yourself around/across the country. 

As many others have said, I would stick to one area.

For Lochaber:

-The Ben via Tower Ridge or another mountaineering route (quite probably could still be winter, and certainly snow on the summit)
-Traverse of the Aonach Eagach 
-Cragging in Glen Nevis or Glencoe
-Something on the Buachaille 
 

Early may in scotland your normally best aiming for lower down routes (ie < 900 meters or so pref a fair bit less) that are in the sun. Its normally pretty cold higher up and out of the sun at that time of year.

My thoughts too. There are obviously lots of good cragging spots in the Cairngorms, but i think the classics in and around the plateau will be too high, and not really S facing.

Skye or Lochaber is the plan at the moment.

I’ve climbedCumming-Crofton Route (Summer) (S) in April before with just a snowfield to cross at the base but looking at the logbooks that seems a bit unusual. At the same time Squareface (VD) had a hanging cornice of doom over it.

It's easier to do routes like that outside the summer months if you are local (or just lucky). 

In this case neither, I was browsing a walking forum and spotted someones photos of Beinn a'Bhuird that showed just enough of the climbs to make it worth a look. It had also been a pretty poor winter from memory.

Well I suppose you were local enough to be able to drive there in a few hours rather than a full days traveling In any case its fine to have these things on the back burner to do when the situation arises but probably not expect them to be the best choices in typical early may weather. i did those routes in September IIRC during a spell of good weather (but cold nights) 

If you are basing yourself around Glencoe/Lochaber area don't forget Garbh Bheinn. Also, the east face of Aonach Dubh has a number of brilliant routes at your grades. If you want a day of single pitch cragging, Polldubh is your friend. 

Be flexible with the weather, prepare to change venue at short notice.

Good evening all. Does anyone have updates/sight of current conditions on the Cairngorm plateau? I have been checking the webcams and historical forecast. Just wondering if the likes of Savage Slit, Talisman etc are likely goers?