Buachaille Etive Mòr Mountain near Glencoe was the place we chosen to climb on yesterday. Standing just over 1000m tall it provides climbing and walking routes for all.
After very exhausting previous day on the Ben we have decided to pick an easier option of Curved Ridge (II/III 3) that gave a pleasant experience in truly amazing setting.
40min drive from Fort William, roadside parking and easy approach on a much calmer, but still cold day made both of us happy.
On the approach we have met 2other parties, which always makes it easier in terms of route finding by using their steps (albeit you can’t just blindly follow others!).
The route itself was rather easy, started by couple hundred of snow gullies climbing (with one easy ice pitch) and then one mixed move onto a rocky ridge. We soloed all of it and when we roped up we realized that we were actually past the Crux already.
Another couple hundred meters of easy snow climbing and we were at the windy top.
The descent is rather tricky to find. Generally it was meant to be an easy walk around.
We opted however to follow our companions and go down a massive gully through a break in the cornice.
5hours car to car for 700m elevation gain was pretty good time. We were home by 3pm.
Unfortunately today marks end of our short trip. Pity, as the weather just gotten very good. There is zero clouds and full on sun today. If not for the fact that I’m pretty busy at work and can’t really afford extending this stay I’d definitely would be up for few more days.
Since our ferry wasn’t until 3.30pm we decided to stop few times on the drive back. First stop was by Buachaille and took couple of aerial shots of the mountain and it’s surroundings, results of which you can see below. I have more interesting shots, just dont have time to put them together yet. I’ll come up with some nicer, more refined cut soon.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaDORY5Y-cQ[/embedyt]
