Sgurr Choinnich Mor

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Sgurr Choinnich Mor has been an elusive mountain for me - I needed three attempts to reach the summit! The first time was at New Year when I was staying in Glencoe and had been up Stob Coire nan Lochan the previous day. To put it simply - I was tired out! It was a lovely day as I headed through the Glen Nevis gorge and onto the second ruined hut. I dutifully tredged up towards Sgurr Choinnich Beag, but as I got near the col with the Aonach's I knew I simply was far to tired to continue, so I headed back down to Glen Nevis and my car.

I cannot remember much about my second attempt, except that I got a bit further. However it was incredibly windy, and the wind was swirling around the crags and cliffs and I really thought I could get blown away. That time I felt it best to go back down on safety grounds, and I found some lovely patches of old snow (it must have been May) to speed my return to the valley floor.

At the third attempt I finally reached my goal! This peak is fairly isolated, well up Glen Nevis, with views into the Killiechonate Forest (down Coire an Eoin) and to the head of Glen Nevis - in fact it's almost due north of the watershed with the Abhain Rath, which slows into Loch Trieg. After the previous attempts I find that my main other memory of the day was of meeting some people who were progressing at a tremendous rate. They easily caught me and turned out to be very determined Munro baggers, who were aiming to get all the peaks on the north side of Glen Nevis in the day. They had already been up Ben Nevis, Carn Mor Dearg and the Aonachs, and whizzed on past me tro the rest of the Grey Corries and on to Spean Bridge where they had a pick-up arranged.

I felt very puny and weak at the knees thinking about their walk, but decided that I was probably having at least as much fun as they were. Having comforted myself it was time to head towards a beer at the Nevis Bank Hotel!