Mellow Expeditions - @alexangusfelton

For this month’s Mellow Expeditions feature we spoke with @alexangusfelton who has set out on a journey to summit all 282 munros in Scotland. From what he’s experienced so far, Alex listed his top 3 and explained why each one was so special to him. Here’s what he had to say..

Since beginning my journey to summit all 282 munros in Scotland there is a few that stand out as my favourite. The best views from a summit I have ever experienced was from when we took on Ben Nevis for sunrise. Leaving the house at 12am we arrived in fort William for 3am, we then began the ascent and arrived at the peak for sunrise. The snow was knee deep and we endured below freezing temperatures. But the summit views made it all worth it. Being at the highest point in the uk and with no one else around is a very surreal experience. It’s very rare to have clear views when at the summit of Nevis so we got extremely lucky this day. A very tough hike in terms of length but not especially technical and would highly recommend it to anyone.

More recently I climbed Ben macdui via the fiacaill ridge. This a grade 1-2 scramble but is made much more exciting due to the artic conditions that the cairngorms plateau will always provide. A short walk from the cairngorm ski centre car park and we began the scramble. It was practically vertical at points and very icy. However we were rewarded with great views and luckily it was relatively warm on the day. Ben macdui is the second highest Munro in Scotland and arguably a better walk than Nevis. The weather in the cairngorms changes rapidly and even though we had a nice start to the day it was whiteout with snow by the time we reached the summit. The cairngorms is my favourite of the national parks in Scotland as it provides you with so many different walks and climbs to take on.

Last but not least the buachaille etive mòr. This walk consists of the peaks stob dearg, stob na doire and stob na broige. One of the most iconic hills in Scotland and is famously pictured behind the “White House” it is often the first thing that pops up when you search glencoe. We hiked this on a completely clear and sunny day and were rewarded with some of the best views over glencoe and over to lochaber. The walk begins very steep if you ascend towards stob dearg but once on top it’s a relatively easy hike. Bagging 4 munros in one and having some unbelievable views makes this one of my all time favourite hikes. 

Scotland as a whole is a hikers paradise and I couldn’t recommend it enough. A very underrated part of Scotland in my opinion is killin leading to Ben lawers and the tarmachan ridge. These are great hikes and are very close other points of interest. I plan to keep exploring Scotland and ticking off the munros until they are all done.