Arrochar Alps mountain rides

busta gonad

Anyone ridden any of the peaks around Arrochar, Beinn imme looks like a real possibility, down to the col between Narnain and the Cobbler then join the good lower Cobbler path, i would imagine this would be a real hoot as it is quite rocky and has been maintained, so no man eating bogs, although the section above the col may well be a little "soft" in places...any experiences? Also the cobbler may well be just possible, there is a path that comes down from the main summit, onto the shoulder then down to the aformentioned col, it is a while since i have walked that section so it may well be off limits to biking shenanigans(to steep rocky), any locals care to comment, they are the two obvious ones i can think of, any more... I ask as i recently had the pleasure of riding down Ben Lommond, it really opened my eyes as to the great riding to be had on the lofty summits if you don't mind a little bit of a carry!

DaveMoss

In Scotland the access code means there are no defined off limit areas for bikes. However, you can only ride where a reasonable person and reponsible person would ride. (not the same as pleasing yourself) . You would have to decide for yourself if you should ride these hills or not.
I don't know the area, but would of thought the popularity of the these hills would mean erosion issues from bikers would rule them out.
Remember, it's important that we don't abuse the freedom given to us by the access code, as this could lead to us loosing it.

busta gonad

On the contary, i doubt very much whether the ocassional passing cycylist is going to cause any erosion issues greater than the ones already present, legions of walkers have already made these paths.

I would not be unduly concerned about erosion problems, as my passage would be one of consideration for other users, riding when as dry as possible and probably walking any man eating bogs. What i am concerned with is how much fun the descent of Beinn Imme would be, as i would not expect it to be too testing, the path below the col i'm sure would be awesome.

So have any hairy arsed bikers been on these slopes?

tobiw

dunno aout hairy arsed, but three of us rode Ben Vorlich at the weekend... there's not much of a path leading up this hill, and in fact we only found it after carrying the bikes half way up with a bit of bouldering on the way! Even on the path there was not a lot of riding to be done on the way up.

After some good views on the summit we turned to back down the path dropping saddles as far as they go. It starts off steep, the flattens out a bit to some nice technical riding. before long it is dead steep again but the first third of the descent is mostly rideable on mixtures of rocky and boggy path. The second third is largely rideable with a few tricky bits we couldn't ride, then the final third was largely unrideable as the path changed to very tight close corners and it got grassy and wet - we tried riding off the path but it was quite tussocky which put us over the bars a few times...

We met a few walkers on the hill, most were friendly although suspected us insane, but we did get a couple of disapproving looks... but hey nobody said walkers owned the hills.

I'd imagine ben vane would be very similar, not sure about ben ime.

So all in all a good day out, but Ben Lomond is much better.

So any more good munros for riding... recommendations please!

busta gonad

Sounds bonkers, it wouldn't be my first choice for a ride, good to see some pioneering spirit. Have not got round to it but i still think Beinn imme would make a good route, it's certainly rideable, but how much fun who knows.

As to other Munros there are a few that are ridden, mainly due to the fact they don't have a profile similiar to the Matterhorn!!?? Ben Lawers near Loch Tay..i believe is quite accomadating, if you go further east there are loads ....the peaks tend to be more rounded, such as Mount Keen...probably one of the longer reasonably technical descents is Carn Ban Mor(Cairngorms) goes on for 5km fast and technical..mainly black, as good as it gets on this fair isle.