An Eye to the Hills

Welcome to our regular feature showcasing the talents of the nation’s best writers.

Sgairneach Mhor, Drumochter, April 2005 It was to be a lazy Saturday, the morning given to pottering about, attending to those little domestic tasks that had been put aside for another day when, in the evening, I had to give a talk to the Munro Society in Birnam in Perthshire. That left me with an afternoon to climb a hill, to make the most of the unseasonably warm sunshine and clear weather.

The obvious choice was somewhere along the A9 and with its easy highlevel access from Drumochter Pass I plumped for Sgairneach Mhor, the big stony hillside, 991m/3,2351ft. Despite its name, Sgearnaich Mhor doesn’t have a lot of rock on its slopes although its big north-facing corrie, Coire Creagach, does boast a few mini-crags. Indeed, it’s that big corrie that gives this hill its character, a huge wind-scoured bite out of the hillside that always looks quite dramatic in winter when big snow cornices hang over the corrie lip.

I remember ski touring over this hill with a couple of friends, John Love and Bob Telfer. Thick mist covered the summit slopes, and we were convinced we had skied past the summit cairn. Following our ski tracks back, we peered through the mist in search of the cairn, when Bob suddenly vanished from view. He had skied over the cornice.

Shocked, John and I peered over the edge to see him, legs and skis spreadeagled, hanging on a few feet below. Fortunately, he hadn’t skied over the edge at the corrie’s steepest point. If he had, the outcome wouldn’t have been so happy. John, being the remarkably forthright guy he is, told me later that the first thought to cross his mind was: "Damn, I think Bob’s got the car keys!”

About the author

Cameron Mcneish is a former editor of Footloose, Climber, and The Great Outdoors magazines. He is also well known for his regular television programmes which include The Edge: 100 Years of Scottish Mountaineering, Wilderness Walks and BBC Scotland's The Adventure Show. An Eye to the Hills, a collection of essays and diary entries, is published by Sandstone, price £24.99