Aonach Eagach - two failed attemps in two days.

[JohnJoe]

After a very damp night in a £20 Tesco tent in Glencoe, three of us, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, set off up the valley with the intention of doing the Aonach Eagach ridge. We overshot the starting point by about 1k so had to trudge back for about half an hour over rough ground before really starting the walk. By the time we got to the top of Am Bodach we were all pretty soaked to the skin with a combination of the relentless highland rain and sweat. Given the general exhaustion, terrible visibility, not many hours of daylight left and borderline hypothermia in one of us, we decided to abort. After a brief moment of panic on the top when I lost my bearings in the mist, we descended the same way we came up. The streams had become deafening, raging torrents, although the wetter we got the less it seemed to matter if we fell in.

We warmed up in the car with a few cans of beer and I consoled myself with the fact that I had at least climbed a munro. It was only afterwards that I discovered that Am Bodach is only a 'subsidiary munro top'.

The next day we tried again, this time from the other end of the ridge - Sgorr nam Fiannaidh. We climbed for two hours up steep sides and over all kinds of surfaces, but we had set off late (again) and the clocks had gone back, so we had one hour less. Not wanting to stumble back down the scree in the dark, we again decided to stop.

Altogether a disappointing trip. Lessons learned: get up and set off earlier, buy a gortex jacket which overlaps your trousers, and don't ever sleep in a £20 Tesco tent in the highlands!

It's a lot steeper than it looks!

My favourite campsite

[pollyh33]

Lessons learned indeed JohnJoe!

I'm quite new to this hillwalking malarkey too and everytime I venture out I learn something else that will help me have a safer, more enjoyable day!

[soulminer]

It is indeed steeper than it looks



Hard lessons need to be learned, and 'every little helps' has been a good teacher. A friend once bought a similar tent and realised, in the Fisherfields, it was useless as a tent and just used it as a sleeping bag. You get what you pay for at times.
Save the Aonach for a blue sky day and savour it
Cheers.

[Bod]

Definitely good to learn the lessons, and hope you still had good fun! Always wise to know when to change your plans. As said, save this great route for a fine day!

[skuk007]

I'd agree with others and save this for dry day, not just so you can savour it but because it's scary enough anyone.
Glad to see you turned around when you did, probably a good move.

[L-Hiking]

Allways the best bet to turn back and try another day. Get rid of that tent!!