How I Found the Mindset to Traverse the A'Chir Ridge | One of My Greatest Achievements!

The A'Chir Ridge is the most formidable part of Arran's northern mountains. It's the ridge that goes between Cìr Mhòr and Bowman's Pass at the bottom of Beinn Tarsuinn and is a technical scramble. I didn't think I would ever manage to do it and, in fact, had basically written it off as being beyond my limits. I remember looking up at it from the bypass path last year and thinking, 'nope!'

Then I saw that the Arran Mountain Festival was offering the ridge scramble as part of the 2022 festival. This was my chance to give it a go with experienced guides, so I signed up!

I talk about how I felt as the festival got closer and the challenging week I had before it in terms of my mental health and autism. I also talk about the challenge I had set myself to use a growth mindset to stop self-harming by eating sugar and carbs. I couldn't have picked a more challenging week to do that!

I've uploaded the route to All Trails, but it's pending review, so I'll add my Garmin route as well so you can view it on the map. All Trails will let you view the route in 3D once it's approved. It's pretty neat.

There are also a bunch of photos on my photography site - I didn't take my mirrorless camera, nor did I have my phone in my pocket because of the scrambling and worrying about crushing it as I dragged myself up rocks. So I got only a few bits of video and some photos, but they give a good picture of the day.

Thanks to AMF leader Malcolm for taking the group shots of us on the summit.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/scotland/north-ayrshire/a-chir-ridge-scramble
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/8823330655
https://www.cams.photo/Arran-Mountain-Festival-2022/
http://www.arranmountainfestival.co.uk/