The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Aonach Eagach Classic scramble is an
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THE serrated edge of the ridge looked as though it was tearing the clouds apart as the wind blew them over the crest. Swirling masses of mist curled into the sky and each time a gap was torn in the cloud the long fin of rock, grass and scree appeared dramatically before us.
On the best of days the Aonach Eagach can be a daunting sight. On a day like this it looked darkly threatening.
The traverse of the Aonach Eagach, the notched ridge, is one of the classic scrambles of Scotland but the tightrope route along its narrow crest has been the nadir in the fortunes of many a Munro-bagger.
As John and I climbed the hill above Glen Coe I suggested that other than the initial descent onto the ridge from the first summit, Am Bodach, the rest of the route was a doddle.
It’s curious how selective the memory can be.
Almost 4km in length and boasting four summits, two of which are Munros, the Aonach Eagach forms the north wall of Glen Coe.
There used to be a sign warning hillwalkers not to try to descend from the ridge itself – it’s long since gone but I guess such a descent would pose more difficulties than the traverse.
As if to prove the frailties of my memory we nipped down the ledges and grooves of the descent from Am Bodach onto the ridge like mountain goats. Generally considered the crux of the route, it is in effect a 20-metre drop-off that looks much worse than it actually is.
We were on the crest of the ridge in no time, striding purposefully along the fairly easy gradient to a top beyond which lay the slopes of Meall Dearg, at 3127ft/953m, the last Munro summit of the Rev AE Robertson, the first person to climb all the 3000’ers back in 1901.
Between Meall Dearg and Stob Coire Leith, a number of rocky towers, the ‘Crazy Pinnacles’, bar straightforward progress.
While the path and the crampon marks of generations of climbers make route-finding relatively straightforward, we quickly realised we weren’t going to get things all our own way.
The rocks were greasy and slippery in the dampness and the narrow chimneys and gullies, so delightful in dry, summer conditions, were muddy and wet.
Everything seemed steeper and harder than I remembered it, but nevertheless, the exposure and the scrambling were exhilarating and we were both mildly disappointed when, with the last of the pinnacles behind us, all that was left was a rather steep trudge on to Stob Coire Leith. From there it was an easy walk on a broad ridge to the second of the ridge’s Munros, Sgorr nam Fiannaidh, 3173ft/967m.
From the summit of Sgorr nam Fiannaidh there are several