is a time of short days and foul weather. Snow can lie on the high tops from December to April. Well-equipped walkers skilled in navigation and with ice axe love the winter most of all, for the alpine-style ascents of Meall nan Tarmachan and the 100km views through the winter-chilled air.
Safety in the mountains
Safety and navigation in the mountains are best learnt from companions, experience, and perhaps a paid instructor; such instruction is outside the scope of this book. For those experienced in hills further south, such as Snowdonia or the Lake District, these hills are noticeably larger and can be a lot more remote.
The international mountain distress signal is some sign (shout, whistle, torch flash or other) repeated six times over a minute, followed by a minute’s silence. The reply is a sign repeated three times over a minute, followed by a minute’s silence. To signal for help from a helicopter, raise both arms above the head and then drop them down sideways, repeatedly. If you’re not in trouble, don’t shout or whistle on the hills, and don’t wave to passing helicopters.
To call out the rescue, phone 999 from a landline. From a mobile, phone either 999 or the international emergency number 112: these will connect you via any available network. Reception is good on most summits and ridges, and on hillsides that have line of sight to the A9 or Aberfeldy. Sometimes a text message can get through when a voice call to the rescue service can’t: pre-register your phone at www.emergencysms.org.uk.
Given the unreliable phone coverage, it is wise to leave word of your proposed route with some responsible person (and, of course, tell that person when you’ve safely returned). Youth hostels have specific forms for this, as do many independent hostels and B&Bs.
Being lost or tired is not sufficient reason for calling the rescue service, and neither, in normal summer weather, is being benighted. However, team members I’ve talked to say not to be too shy about calling them: they greatly prefer bringing down bodies that are still alive…
There is no charge for mountain rescue in Scotland – teams are voluntary, financed by donations from the public, with a grant from the Scottish Executive and helicopters from the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy rescue services. You can make donations at youth hostels, TICs and many pubs.
AVALANCHE DANGER
The Scottish Avalanche Information Service’s website www.sais.gov.uk doesn’t cover these less-frequented hills – nearest is Southern Cairngorms. Greatest avalanche danger arises after recent heavy snowfall, on moderately steep slopes facing away from the wind. After snowfall from the west, the east face of Heasgarnich could be at risk: after snowfall from the southeast, you may want to avoid the northern spur of Meall Ghaordaidh.
Maps
Some people enjoy exploring in mountains that are badly mapped or not mapped at all. They should stay away from Highland Perthshire, as it has been excellently mapped – three times over. The mapping in this book for the shorter and lower routes is from the Ordnance Survey’s Landranger series at 1:50,000. For these low walks this book’s mapping may be all you need. For mountain walks, however, it’s advisable to have a larger map that shows escape routes, and the other glen you end up in when you come down the wrong side of the hill. This guide shows mountain routes on 1:100,000 scale maps.
Harvey’s excellent British Mountain Map: Schiehallion at 1:40,000 scale covers about half this book, south of Lochs Tummel and Rannoch, and west of Aberfeldy – so Schiehallion is in the top right corner. The map is beautifully clear and legible, marks paths where they actually exist on the ground, and does not disintegrate when damp. Harvey also cover Ben Lawers in their 1:25,000 Superwalker format.
The 1:50,000 Landranger mapping, as used in this book, covers this area on sheets 42 (Glen Garry & Loch Rannoch), 43 (Braemar & Blair Atholl), 50 (Glen Orchy & Loch Etive), 51 (Loch Tay & Glen Donart), 52 (Pitlochry & Crieff), 57 (Stirling & The Trossachs) and 58 (Perth & Alloa).
The Harvey maps mark fences and walls on the open hill, but not on the lower ground; Landranger doesn’t mark them at all. So if you’re planning complicated valley walks, you’ll prefer the OS Explorer maps, also at 1:25,000 scale. They are bulkier and less robust than the Harvey ones, and the contour lines are less legible. But if Harvey hadn’t done it better, they’d be excellent maps. Sheets 368 (Crieff, Comrie & Glen Artney), 369 (Perth & Kinross, one walk), 378 (Ben Lawers & Glen Lyon), 379 (Dunkeld, Aberfeldy & Glen Almond), 385 (Rannoch Moor & Ben Alder), 386 (Pitlochry & Loch Tummel) and 394 (Atholl) cover the ground.
From Farragon Hill summit to Beinn a’ Ghlo (Route 38)
Compass and GPS
A compass is a very useful aid in mist, even if your skills only extend to ‘northwest, southeast’ rather than precision bearings. Magnetic deviation is now about 4° West; check your map for future years. To convert a map bearing to a compass one, add 4. GPS receivers should be set to the British National Grid (known variously as British Grid, Ord Srvy GB, BNG, or OSGB GRB36). Smartphones have limited battery life and squinty little map extracts, and aren’t really waterproof; mountain rescue teams are getting fed up with people relying on them for going up hills.
Using this guide
Basic planning information is provided at the start of each route. See Type of walk for an explanation of the icons. The difficulty and timing squares are explained in the box below. Times are based on 1 hour for 4 horizontal kilometres or for 500m of height gained, with extra time where the ground is particularly steep or rough. They’ll be about right, including brief snack stops, for a moderately paced party. Where a bus or train can be used to link the two ends of a linear route, this is also noted. Other public transport information is given in Appendix C.
Yellow boxes under the route information boxes make suggestions for extensions, shortcuts and route combinations elaborated in the route description which follows if necessary.
In old numbers, 600ft was a vertical distance, while 200yd was horizontal. I’ve used a similar convention, so that 600m is an altitude or height gain, while 600 metres (with ‘etres’) is along the ground. ‘Track’ (rather than ‘path’) is used for a way wide enough for a tractor or Landrover.
Finally, the ‘standard route’ up a hill is the convenient and well trodden one featured in guidebooks like Steve Kew’s Walking the Munros (Vol 1). It’s usually the shortest, and because it’s so well used, also the easiest. Sometimes it is also the best and most interesting. But to avoid 90 per cent of other hillgoers, simply stay off the standard route.
Perthshire’s lumpy schist is rich in brown slime and rare alpine plantlife, poor in climbing possibilities. There are only two scrambling routes in this book – and being on Ben Alder, they’re not even in Perthshire. Craig a Barns at Dunkeld is the area’s most notable climbing crag. It dries quickly but can be covered in pine needles; its schist is tricky even when clean and dry.
When it comes to climbs and scrambles, Perthshire may not compare with other parts of the Highlands. But when it comes to walks, here are big Ben Lawers and Crieff’s little Knock; Rannoch Moor and the banks of the Tay. For green mountains, for broad snowy ridges, for woodland paths, wide riverbanks, and long-striding tracks across the empty moors –
