With last weekend’s forecast good for the SW
and poor for the NE, Ann & John took the long Friday night drive to Roy
Bridge with an eye on some easy mountain climbs. Forecasts being just that we
awoke early on Saturday for the long approach to the NE Ridge of Aonach Beag,
to find it shrouded in the only cloud around. A hasty change of plan got us under
the clear skies of Ardgour for a route on the well-named Garbh Bheinn (rough
hill).
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| Pinnacle Ridge is the right skyline |
An hour later we were at the base of Pinnacle Ridge, a grade 3S
scramble. There is some uncertainty about what the S stands for in this system
but some of the more printable ones are scary, serious and slimy. Still being
geared up for our harder previous choice of route this didn’t bother us too
much, but we were soon glad of it.
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| The lower section |
The rock is very rough gneiss with lots of
good holds, but in places there is a lot of exposure. Typically this seemed to
be worst at the one part where the holds ran out at what the guidebook called
an awkward move, which was an inelegant belly flop onto a ledge clutching handfuls
of heather and loose soil. Difficulties soon eased and the rest of the ridge
was very pleasant with straightforward but varied scrambling in a great situation.
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| Upper, easier section |
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| Nice slab to finish |
As always the view from the summit was
stunning in all directions, and we were slightly relived to see that Aonach
Beag still had a cap of cloud, so good choice there.
Since it was still a bit early to call it
quits on such a fine day we decided to complete the full round of the corrie,
in itself a bit of a classic day out with two more Marylins to do.
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| View west up Loch Sunart from the summit |
On the steep pull up Beinn Bheag I was
beginning to regret the choice given the heat and a pack weighed down with rock
gear and a rope. Luckily Ann recognised the signs of brewing discontent and
shut me up by producing a bag of Tangfastics. Sorted.
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| Wandering along to Beinn Bheag |
The angle then eased and we had a pleasant
tromp around to Sgorr Mhic Eacharna in what we realised was early evening
light. Luckily the bogs were all dry and springy so the descent was fast and
dry, and as a final highlight we found a nice stand of the increasingly rare
lesser butterfly orchid.
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| Towards Glencoe from Sgorr Mhic Eacharna |
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| Down Loch Linnhe to Lismore |
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| Lesser butterfly orchid |
Sunday brought more fine weather but sore
legs confined us to a supposedly short day out in Glencoe. We went for Barn
Wall Route on Aonach Dubh but ended up on who knows what, certainly not a grade
3 scramble. Lack of gear placements and increasing steepness led us to quit before
things got silly, the first abseil retreat we’ve done for a very long time. And
before you rush up there on a salvage mission, I still remember enough tricks
to have not left any gear behind.
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| Glencoe |
