Aonach Air Chrith and Maol Chinn Dearg
A pleasant and exciting Grade I ridge on the south of the A87 just past the Cluanie Inn. Forecast was favourable with light precipitation and southerly winds (5-20mph) with come cloud.
Initial Route plan implied gaining the North East flank of A Choich (831m) however we were time aware and wanted to progress straight to the ridge of Aonach Air Chrith from the North west facing bowl. The borad spur is well defined and as we approached the rocky ridge, the cloud and snow started to come in. Crampons were put on before progressing onto the ridge itself. Lessons learned in nearly losing my ice axe down the west face (lucky stopped by uneven ground 30ft below). Enjoyable scrambling put us onto the summit. Navigation and timing calculations took us west along the plateaux to Maol Chinn Dearg. Crampons removed just prior to this summit. Navigation off of the this summit for 500m required in poor visibility before coming to the spur off to drop to the plain below. A fine day out.
Area :
Glen Affric and Kintail
South of Loch Mullardoch you will find the Glen Affric and Kintail area whose southern boundary is the A87 road to Inverness. The Five Sisters of Kintail, Beinn Fhada, Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan and Carn Eighe are just some of the impressive peaks in this area, and all have their own unique selling points such as remoteness, size, steepness or height. As a result, peaks in the list are all over 900m.
