The southern side of Glen Coe includes some very well-known mountains and can be split into two groups; the ones you can see from the A82 and the ones you can’t. Included in the former group is Buachaille Etive Mor, Buachaille Etive Beag, the Three Sisters and the Ballachulish Horseshoe, and in the latter, three Munros between Glen Creran and Glen Etive (Sgor na h-Ulaidh, Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Beinn Sgulaird). With huge amounts of climbing and walking in summer and winter, this area is also home to a large cairn built for Queen Victoria, or so the story goes. Includes all major peaks above 600m.
Beinn Sgulaird - Avalanche forecast NW-E above 900 moderate cross-loading. Snow-line at 500m. High winds forecast in early evening, coming in a lot sooner making ascent arduous. Some self arrest practice at 700m. Very strong winds on approach to first spot height of 863m, between 60-70mph. Consideration of cutting the day short and dropping back to the car via West aspect however we decided to continue, sticking to the South side of the ridge avoiding being blown on the Northern steep edges. This decision would not have been wise had the snow conditions been much different, however on inspection the snowpack was either scoured or heavily saturated and stable. Heavy rain was now falling and freezing instantly onto our clothing in the cold strong wind. We bypassed the second spot height and continued in deep snow and very strong winds to the surprisingly large cairn on the summit of Beinn Sgulaird. Low visibility on the top lead us to navigate to the saddle to the North-East and then handrail the gully, descending, thankfully into the wind shadow of the mountain. A straight bearing to the marked ruins to the North-West, descending from 800m to 200m through wet snow. A long, but rewarding day.
