Back on the Aonach Eagach with a London Geezer
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:36 pm
Andy ( Londonwalker ) had text me to say he was heading back to Scotland for ten days and asked if i fancied joining him on a walk. So after a few texts he said he fancied doing the Aonach Eagach ridge on the Tuesday. Ok so i had done this walk before but was more than happy to accompany Andy on this as reason one it's a superb walk and secondly i wouldn't like to have attempted this for the first time on my own. We set off at 08.15 with the weather not looking too promising with the wind picking up and clag getting blown over from Rannoch Moor but as we were about to start the ridge it started to clear. We could now see what lay ahead and we headed along the ridge to the first obstacle, the down climb which gave us no problems with numerous foot and handholds. Once down we continued along the ridge, taking pictures as we went and enjoying the views. I got a similar day to this when i first done the ridge and it was great for Andy to enjoy such a fine day on this walk. I think he was loving it. After some more wee scrambles we got to the chimney which is straightforward enough and then some more wee scrambles before we came to the crazy pinnacles. When i did this walk the last time we took the bypass path and back then it was wet and muddy in places and i'd say it was the dodgy bit of the walk that day. Initially i had started heading the bypass path and soon realized this was the same way i went the last time so said to Andy and we headed back up. We got up and looked for a way onto the crazies, noticing a smooth large slabbed rock to the left with few holds on it but plenty of crampon marks. I didn't fancy this way and saw a route up just to the right of the slab which involved a pull up and then some climbing to get up the pinnacles. This was the dodgiest part of the walk for us but still felt great as we made our way over the pinnacles. Once we were over the pinnacles there was just minor scrambling to the second Munro. Here we met a Walkhighland member "Roughwalker" who had came from the Pap of Glen Coe and was going for a wee wander along some of the ridge. We then decided to head for the Pap as Andy was keen to get some more Grahams under his belt and also because my car was left at the car park for the Pap. I felt Andy struggled a bit with the Pap and the only advice i could give him was next time he's in Scotland is to get himself up more of these "girly" hills as he calls them. It was a great day mate on one of the best ridge walks i have done, cheers for the invite.