Richard Webb: Glorious. Go in from Keiloch, pass the track junction to the marshy open land then head up. Runnable scots pines all the way; plantation lower down, old stuff higher up. The path is of little value, as it's just as easy anywhere. I have orienteered here, and remember a high fence east of the top, so eastern or direct approaches may run up against that. Also the east is FC country and the runnability is not so good. A direct southern slog is rocky and steep.
Jonathan Woods: Much easier than you might think. Some of the trees form a splendid old pine forest with well-spaced trees and easy walking on bilberry etc. Head up the track north from Keiloch, then up the west ridge; there's a wall to follow I think.
Richard Webb: The Torr is special. Do not go up from the dam, the quick way, try it from Loch Achilty, and you will learn why I love Norway. It's wildwood up there, gnarled birks and loads of flowers. You may need to use your compass. Wonderful, one-mile an hour pathless country. If you keep low on the north side, it's quite easy, but not such fun.
Jon Metcalf: A tortured tangle of Amazonian proportions. The sort of place where people might have started an expedition in the fifties, only to break out recently, probably wondering if Everton were still in the second division.
Rob Woodall: For the shameless it's possible to drive along the ungated FC track to NH672750, whence an easy track leads to the summit. First off I believed my 1997 edition and walked in via the entrance shown at NH653758, where I found an old FMD notice (assumed forgotten as it was a 'dead' entrance). It was nicely laminated and made a fine chopping board for the rest of the week's culinary activities - I always forget something!
Jon Metcalf: Following a failure the day before, I got up Tom an t-Saighdeir by Loch Awe on the Sunday of the Marhof 2000 meet. First the two failed routes: both ends of the loop path mapped from the road are unmarked on the ground and almost undetectable. These virtual start points can be worked out however. The southern one at NM975147 seemed completely choked with brambles, bracken and holly, and has no easy way off the road into the undergrowth. The northern one at NM976149 starts in steep mature woodland, near a dry stream bed. Zigzag steeply up 30m vertically to the SW of this stream as per the map, and above a line of crags you get a post with a green disk on it to confirm you are on the right route. I managed to force a way above this on a 2-in-1 gradient through head-high bracken another 40m or so, via assorted bog and thorns, and worst of all many rotten wind-felled trees and self-seeded new sitkas. I gave this up as unsafe since some of the trunks could be clambered over, but some I just stepped through. The black flies were hellish. Unlike higher hills these things should carry a higher grading in summer than winter.
The harder successful way up was from a quarry at NM986162. From here easy forest roads lead via left, right and left forks to a right-angle bend in the track at NM979164 where the area to the south of the track has been harvested. A fire break marked on the 1:25000 starts here heading WSW for 750m over tussocky ground to another dry stream and a very steep 25m grass bank (1 in 1 or more) at NM973159. Get up this to be met by even more trees, fortunately only five or six deep. These give way to the northernmost part of the deeply unflat summit 'plateau'. After some 800m of clambering over tussocks and peat grikes from here and another 50m of net up, you get to a trig point with great views of Lochs Awe and Avich, plus Cruachan etc to the north. This route is not recommended for the non-masochistic.
Now the easy way. The path marked on 1:25000 and 1:50000 maps is just a product of OS imagination. The area is very undulating and ungrazed, judging by the blaeberry crop. On the top near the trig point there are five posts spaced out, each with a green disk on. The posts lead to the top of the marked northern path, which from the tree line springs into existence steeply down on a lush carpet of grass with a good aggregate base. After the struggle this was a joyful release. The top section of the northern path corkscrews down through mature trees to an area which has been harvested then neglected for a few years. It's head-high bracken and more self-sewn trees, but at least the track under all the herbage is sound, and there are no precarious dead falls. This continues all the way down to the forest road at NM975152 where it crosses a small bridge over the ditch NW of the track. I put a few rocks together here by way of a cairn for future visitors. From the forest road the return to the quarry is mainly downhill on the track for about 2km. Looking back to the the section I'd abandoned, the hillside was solidly overgrown with new plantings and debris, and there was no sign of squashed herbage from my thrashing about the day before. I think the lower section has just fallen out of usage to the point of becoming a health risk. Very satisfying to beat the little swine after the Saturday's frustration. So, for stress-free bagging: go in spring, park at the quarry, take the forest road to the cairn, the good top section of the path to the plateau, and the marked posts to the trig. Deceptively easy.
Rob Woodall: Believe it or not, you can follow a forest track from the B840, park at NM973049, follow burn SW to open hill, and hence to summit. Saves a long (but doubtless interesting) overland tramp from the north.
Helen McLaren: Start at NJ333493 where you can park. Take track SW to a mast. At around NJ324490 you'll see an obvious track up through a ride - trust it as it takes you up to the low point between mast and summit where there's a track. Easy going and suitable for bikes.
Richard Webb: Don't go up from the south. There is probably a way, but I failed to find it in very heavy snow. I followed several promising tracks and gaps but met walls of snow-covered spruce every time. Tracks as shown on the OS map are iffy. Probably best by the forest road in from the west or east.
Helen McLaren: Park at Herricks Water Works at NJ458494, go up track into forest and turn right at junction. A couple of hundred metres along here a post marks a path that goes up into the trees. It's a good path. Lots of fungi here in September.
Richard Webb: Doddle, a real quickie. The lower part of the path shown cutting up from the Pressendye col does not exist between the two forest roads. The upper part does exist. Follow the forest road to west of the summit (Leadlich) where there is a track along the ridge to the top. The hill is popular with flyers, and the natives appear friendly.
Richard Webb: You can still get into the forest from the north, but the road is now impassable at a phone mast 2.5km in. Forestry work has chewed it up, and a new rougher track has been dug. I went round to the south, where there are more roads than are shown on pre-purple mapping. You can get in at NX733734 and there is a parking space at NX727749. It's an easy walk up from there through fairly open woods; no crawling or pushing required. Mind you, a compass is advised, as I got lost on the way back. At the moment this is a rather pleasant hill, however soon it will be felled, and things could get nasty. There is work in progress clearing the wind-throw, which is no longer a big problem. I like this hill, yet I had been dreading it for years (White Top of Culreoch is another matter - pure evil).