Angel’s Peak
Among the broad, hulking Cairngorm mountains, scrambles are rare. Which makes this one up Sgor an Lochain Uaine all the more astonishing.
Characterised by three massive arctic-Alpine plateaux more than a kilometre high, the Cairngorms are big. But eroded by centuries of wind, rain and ice, their lofty summits are rounded, not pointy; and the spurs leading up to them are broad and blunt. Scrambles are few.
Rising from desolate An Garbh Choire, however, is one of the most spectacular Grade 1 scrambles in Scotland. Climbing the ramparts of Sgor an Lochain Uaine (aka the Angel’s Peak), it emerges by the emerald waters from where the north-east ridge soars in an elegant, unbroken line to the summit. Major difficulties are few and exposure isn’t extreme, but the remoteness and the sudden arrival at the lochan then the mountain top make this a route of true drama.
The walk-in is immense. Its length and the necessity of securing a parking space make a pre-dawn start almost unavoidable, but Walking in the Cairngorms by Ronald Turnbull suggests other options. Situated anywhere else, this would be a very popular route, so maybe it’s the walk that saves it. You have to want this one.