Morning Andy,

Me, as usual. I have to give you credit, you do come up with interesting questions. You're correct in observing that most folk tend to swing north and east when coming up with FWAs across the Mounth; the Ballochbuie/Gelder Shiel/Glenmuick/Tarfside corridor is the usual choice. Travelling to the south is much more complex and demands quite a lot of guile in order to come up with a viable route.

Quite obviously, there are no east heading and low level options so you're confronted with a series of glens which trend south and east, with a number of high ridges which could be dodgy in rough weather. There are ways over and through but they do rather depend on the weather being less than extreme. The other complication is that any FWA which avoids potentially unsafe territory tends to be lengthy. A lot depends too on your proposed finish point, a southerly one being easier to accommodate but a northerly spot giving you headaches as you try to arc round and get back on track. I'll be interested to learn what you come up with when you've finalized your plans.

I'll add a positive note. I've had to address this issue on several of my Challenges and have always had to settle for a finicky compromise which is less than satisfactory. Yet I can't think of many occasions when I've been compelled to adopt one of these opt outs. It's usually the case that when you're this far east, the weather tends to be less threatening and the high ground usually permits a few awkward routings. Don't take that as gospel; we might be in for a particularly unpleasant episode in 2024, but on average a route over high ground in the east is less fraught than when you're in the west. I can recall one occasion when I crossed from Glas Maol to Lochnagar in mist and gently falling snow, meeting a surprising number of Challengers on the way, all relishing the conditions; significantly though, it was almost windless and cleared up later in the day.

Have fun planning and feel free to chuck any specific queries in my direction. I can't promise to know the answers but I'll be happy to give you my input.

Colin

Thanks Colin , got some alternatives now , gets me into Arbroath on the Friday .. pity I need to get to Montrose by Thursday!!
Looks like a leg stretch to cross the Monadhliath in two days is in order.