Jack & Tess on An Teallach
Posted: 15 Jun 2009, 12:10
An Teallach is a big mountain with one of the most challenging ridge walks you could find. For the past 25 years I've wanted to climb it but thought I never would. On Saturday we were planning a walk in the Mamores but the weather forecast pushed us further north and we ended up taking Jack and Tess to have a go at An Teallach.
We started at sea level at Dundonnell on a rough path with steady climbing. There were no problems apart from a lone black sheep that suddenly appeared quite high up. It ran past Jack with the inevitable result - he chased it. I blasted on the whistle but he kept after it. I was worried he would attack it but he caught up, circled round, had a look at it and then did a U turn and ran back to me. I wasn't best pleased at his failure to recall immediately so he got an earful and spent the next half hour on the lead.
Climbing up the way we did (round the back of the mountain) you don't see the ridge until just below the summit. The cloud was blowing in and we thought we wouldn't see anything and then suddenly we were there and the view was spectacular. It was very atmospheric and even the dogs seemed awed by their surroundings - which was just as well with precipitous slopes on all sides.
Taken just below summit of Bidean a Ghlas Thuill (highest point on An Teallach) with famous ridge behind.
On the top.
The cloud quickly moved on and we saw the whole ridge clearly. And no, we weren't tempted to walk along it - although we might come back another time and climb Sgurr Fiona which is the next one along.
Because of the sheep chasing incident I kept Jack on the lead wherever I thought sheep might be lurking - which meant I couldn't use my poles going down. But he was very good, didn't pull at all and waited at the tricky rocky bits when I would put my hand on his shoulder to help me down. So he did manage to redeem himself for earlier bad behaviour. These dogs are very fit and have totally got the hang of what we're doing - Jack usually leads the way up. We only saw one other dog all day and it was a mountain rescue collie in training!
Kathleen
We started at sea level at Dundonnell on a rough path with steady climbing. There were no problems apart from a lone black sheep that suddenly appeared quite high up. It ran past Jack with the inevitable result - he chased it. I blasted on the whistle but he kept after it. I was worried he would attack it but he caught up, circled round, had a look at it and then did a U turn and ran back to me. I wasn't best pleased at his failure to recall immediately so he got an earful and spent the next half hour on the lead.
Climbing up the way we did (round the back of the mountain) you don't see the ridge until just below the summit. The cloud was blowing in and we thought we wouldn't see anything and then suddenly we were there and the view was spectacular. It was very atmospheric and even the dogs seemed awed by their surroundings - which was just as well with precipitous slopes on all sides.
Taken just below summit of Bidean a Ghlas Thuill (highest point on An Teallach) with famous ridge behind.
On the top.
The cloud quickly moved on and we saw the whole ridge clearly. And no, we weren't tempted to walk along it - although we might come back another time and climb Sgurr Fiona which is the next one along.
Because of the sheep chasing incident I kept Jack on the lead wherever I thought sheep might be lurking - which meant I couldn't use my poles going down. But he was very good, didn't pull at all and waited at the tricky rocky bits when I would put my hand on his shoulder to help me down. So he did manage to redeem himself for earlier bad behaviour. These dogs are very fit and have totally got the hang of what we're doing - Jack usually leads the way up. We only saw one other dog all day and it was a mountain rescue collie in training!
Kathleen
I love to see and hear about your walks Kathleen. Your dogs are very fit and it is great to see them tackling these kind of walks. 
