The Aonach Eagach

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This most famous and best of mainland ridges hems in the north of Glencoe, and was formed as part of the rim of a cauldron - a sunken volcano. People normally traverse it east to west for both scenic and route considerations. Although this appears in the rock guide, it is there for completeness and is really a scramble for those who don't mind plenty of exposure. However, the rock guide takes a paragraph to describe the route - the scrambling guide takes eight! Once of the problems with this route is transport - the start and finish are about 5 miles apart, which is a long walk at the end of the day.

I have found three solutions to this problem. The first one was to leave my car at the finish and be taken to the start. The second was to talk someone on the ridge whose car was at the end into giving me a lift back to mine, and the third and best was to simply retrace my route once I had reached the end of the scrambling section!

The first time I did this route my friend from the Glencoe MRT came with me - he had finally decided I would be fine on my own. We drove separately to Glencoe and I left my car where the new and old roads join (GR 138567) and joined him for the apparently short drive up to the car park near the cottage at Allt-na-reigh (GR 173567). Just by the signpost at the start of the path is the famous sign warning walkers of the danger of attempting to descend from part-way along the ridge. We climbed up to Am Bodach, where he had to leave for family duties.

As I left Am Bodach there was an interesting descent to the Col between this top and Meall Dearg. In places the ground also had a covering of small loose rocks where were like ball bearings. However all went well and I carried on along the ridge not having any problem and really enjoying the situation. Part of the interest in this route is the changes in rock type as it weaves across the boundary of the cauldron. Further along are the pinnacles, which are straightforward in good conditions but probably a nightmare in the wet and 'interesting' in winter. Suddenly the main difficulties ended leaving a walk along the last part of the ridge to Stob Coire Leith and Sgorr nam Fiannaidh.

My friends instructions on descent were to avoid the Clachaig gully at all costs, and to instead come down the steep corrie above where the car was parked. I followed these to have a horrible time on loose scree with some fairly large boulders around. However, I was well pleased by the time I got back to the car!

Since then I have done the route several times since, mostly as a 'double trip' to prolong the pleasure and solve the transport problem. I found the scrambling was a bit harder in the reverse direction, but the descent at the east end is much better than my original descent, and also than that from the Col by the Pap of Glencoe to the Youth Hostel at Leacantium. I have also been up to the ridge in winter, but not progressed beyond Am Bodach.

The trip when I cadged a lift back to the car was memorable. I started at nearly mid-day and took a long time to reach Am Bodach. I was going to simply descend back to the car, but a chap there really wanted to do the ridge - but not on his own. After a little bargaining I agreed to accompany him, and as I expected he had no trouble on the ridge. As we descended it was late, still, hot and humid. Bidean looked splendid with the evening light picking out it's ridges and gullies. I put a long-sleeved top on against midges, and regretted it the next day when I felt very, very sick. Someone suggested I was dehydrated and that turned out to be the case. The first small glass of water looked very large, but as I finished it I asked for another, and then a larger glass. After a couple of pints I felt fine and eventually my body showed that I had finally caught up on my liquid intake. Since then I've taken care to drink plenty of water during and after walks.

The best day I had here was in autumn one year. The weather was wonderful, and there seemed to be no-one else around as I started up to the ridge. However, somewhere (Meall Dearg I think) I came across a party of three. We chatted and continued along the ridge. We were talking about the ridge and I recalled something I had read in which the writer described his first ascent when he and his friend came all prepared with ropes and so on, to come across a party of girl guides. Imagine my surprise when the eldest of the other party turned out to be the author! When we reached the end of the pinnacles I stopped on the little balcony there to admire the view and have a sandwich, as the other party continued to the end of the ridge. The weather, the situation and the company and lack of this combined to make a perfect day out.