Glencoe and Aviemore

What a weekend! Absolute scorcher! Great for the tan, nae so good for hard running!! 

We headed over to Aviemore on Thursday night at parked up at loch Morlich which was great and a fine spot. Friday we did Meall a Bhuachaille via the Green Loch. I've done the hill race here a couple of times but never ascended this way before which was great and very scenic with the Green Loch. No idea why I didn't take a photo of the Loch, probably the hoards of people there which was the only down side. It was more like the Med than Aviemore!

No pics of MAB either, it was just a quick up and down and then hit the road over to Glencoe..

Sat morning sunrise

Waking up to Loch Achtriochtan underneath AE on one side and Aonach Dubh on the other in blazing sunshine is surely the perfect start to a mountain goers dream day! I'd been waiting for a west coast hit for months and this was the perfect forecast although slightly hotter than I'd like but this wasn't a race just training and mountain loving!

We were here for Aonach Eagach ridge, A ridge I've done several times in both directions since the late 90's. Every time has been an experience. It's exposed, it's loose, it can be very dangerous and must be respected and great care must be taken traversing it. 

I have also raced over the ridge during the Glencoe Skyline. I don't remember saying to myself though that it is exposed, loose, dangerous and care must be taken! Nope, instead I ran across it as fast as I could while feeling hungry, thirsty and extremely fatigued! Looking back it's a crazy thing to do. It's not until you take your time over it and realise actually how dodgy it is. One slip and you're off!

This is what I was thinking this time that the more I concentrated on foot placements on some of the bits the clumsier I got and did have a couple of trips. 

I was unlucky enough to witness a serious accident here in 2004 when a woman fell down a gully near the start going East to West. We watched the rescue as we couldn't get past the bottleneck of people that had gathered.

Back in 2004

We decided to go West to East this time which is the same direction as the race and the faint path up to Sgorr nam Fiannaidh is right across the road from where I was parked so straight into an 800mtr climb! Ouch! 

Once onto the ridge we ran as much as possible and just took our time on the scrambles. Most folk were going East to West so it actually worked out better than having to overtake folk going the same way apart from when we got to the Pinnacles. A group of 4 or 5 guys were very slow and we had to wait for them to come across before we could cross. We were in no rush so it was fine and they were clearly shaky so we didn't want to hurry them. 

Like any other scramble I've done it never seems long enough and you just want more and more and for the climbing not to stop. It's great fun pulling up on the climbs with hands and feet. It's much better than running!

It was a great run and the views were unreal in every direction. 

We dropped back down to the road and ran back a long the trail that follows the road back to Loch Achtriochtan. 

After any Glencoe adventure it's always capped off with a night in the Clachaig Inn which we did of course and had a few drinks.

Back to Aviemore on the Sunday and up to Fiacaill Ridge for my back to back run. Another scorcher in very very hot conditions. We looped back down via Cairn Lochan to the Ski center. 

I love Fiacaill, easily accessible, a great short scramble but with amazing views and positions.

Loch Morlich and Meal a Bhuachaille at the back

Cairn Lochan

Awesome weekend with 3 days running, good food, good company and good laughs!