The Aonach Eagach ridge

Aonach Eagach from A82

The Lost Valley below Bidean  nam Bian

Below Am Bodach

Descent by the Chancellor

Descending the crazy pinnacles

Looking back from Stob Coire Liath

Sgorr nam Fionnaidh from Stob Coire Liath

Glencoe with Buchaille Etive Mhor prominent from Sgorr nam Fionnaidh

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Ascent:        1115 metres
Distance:     10 kilometres
Time:           5 hours 22minutes

t     Am Bodach                943m       1hr   42mins
m   Meall Dearg               953m        2hrs 30mins
t     Stob Coire Leith         940m        3hrs 47mins
m   Sgor nam Fionnaidh   967m        4hrs 15mins

I had been saving the Aonach Eagach for a good day, the ridge deserves to be savoured. Previous excursions had included an afternoon trip in February when it was covered in ice and snow and went dark as we descended the Clachaig gulley and a cold November day when the ridge was lost in the cloud. I had also skipped down it in late May on the way back from a wonderful week when we had climbed all 23 Munros in Knoydart and Skye. I had walked it in late April and guided a couple of awestruck teenagers along it on a perfect June day. Today was a repeat of the latter but my then thirteen-year-old was now forcing the pace.

We parked in the large car park at the top of the glen. An elderly lady from a tourist bus warned us that it was far too steep and we should not go into the cloud that was still concealing the ridge. She then made me promise to look after the two younger members of the group - both around thirty - because their mothers would never forgive me if I didn't. I thought of telling her that two of us had bus passes and that the younger ones should be looking after us but she was not someone to argue with.

Gregor drove the car to the lower lay-by to save time at the end of the walk whilst John, Ross and I began climbing the steep but well-made path which zigzags up from Allt na Reigh. The views across to Bidean were outstanding as the sun was burning off the morning clouds in the week of a heatwave following Andy Murray's win at Wimbledon. Gregor ran back up the glen and had caught us by the time we reached 500 metres. We stopped for a drink and spent ten minutes enjoying the sunshine, views and banter. The path to the top of Am Bodach is unrelenting but gives a relatively quick ascent and overlooks the A82 which was awash with summer traffic.

We stopped for some food and drink on Am Bodach, enjoying the slight breeze that made the sun bearable before we started the first tricky leg over to Meall Dearg. The descent is steep and exposed in places but nowhere is it more than a scramble and the route is scored by thousands of crampon scratches. We arrived at the summit of Meall Dearg just behind two other couples and took our time before setting out on the next section over the crazy pinnacles. As always the trick was to keep to the ridgeline although this gives a couple of exposed sections. It is both easier and more exciting than taking the lower sections to the north of the ridge, which I had followed last time on a raw November day when the ridge was in the cloud. It is comparatively slow progress with a dozen or so pinnacles to ascend and descend and clamber across before the final 100 metres of the climb to the airy top of Stob  Coire Liath. Beyond here it is all plain sailing apart from finding a way down to the road.

We took photos and finished all food and drink before the final easy promenade over to Sgor nam Fionnaidh. Our only thought was getting down for some water, we had exhausted our supplies in the unusual summer heat. We returned to the col and found a direct descent down the loose scree, battling our way across several gullies and then the deep bracken to reach the road. All the burns had dried up in the heatwave so we were completely dehydrated. It was 4:30pm by the time we reached the layby on the road where Gregor had parked the car. Then the really dangerous part of the day began with the usual idiotic overtaking manoeuvres by motorbikes, van drivers and company cars as the traffic crossed Rannoch Moor. The caravans, motorhomes, and cyclists are given short shrift as they are engulfed by the rampaging wildebeest of the A82. It was half an hour later before we reached the Green Welly shop in Tyndrum for some cold drinks.