Left home at 6:30m and started walking from Glencoe just
before 8 am in mist and gentle rain. The objective was to
revisit the Aonach Eagach for the first time in 9 years and
to do so on my 50th Birthday. We took the direct route up Am
Bodach which now boasts a well manufactured path most of the
way up. We topped out on Am Bodach in steady rain, low cloud
and mist and very restricted visibility. The first step down
was interesting on the wet rock but no problem and back up
the other side, then along the ridge to the chimney and up
and over onto Meall Dearg. Then onto the ridge proper and
some very entertaining scrambles, down and up, and of course
some interesting route decisions in the mist when you cannot
really see where the ridge goes or where the path comes out.
We took most of the major pinnacles head on and just had a
really good walk along the narrow and challenging ridge. All
too soon we topped out onto the second Munro and stopped
inside the trig shelter for some birthday cake ( Marks and
Spencer Chocolate Caterpillar ~ Yummy ! ). Then we took the
descent due south to find an eroded path down through the
scree that did not exist last time we did the ridge. A split
of direction half way down with Frank and son Mark
contouring West towards the Clachaig for a beer and me
contouring East to pick up the Glencoe road just 30 minutes
from the car. Total hill time 5 hours car to car which is
two hours faster than last time but then again there was no
view to admire and no-one else on the ridge to pass or even
to talk too. The other major factor is that Mark was just 10
years old last time we took him along and he walks much
faster than me nowadays. I have to say that 9 years ago in
brilliant sunshine and still air the two ten year olds we
took along did a fantastic job on all the scrambles. Quite
an achievement when you see the ridge in todays very
different conditions.
Cheers Graham
284/284 93/219
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