Last night was spent travelling up to the Scottish Highlands, ready for a couple of days winter mountaineering. I didn’t arrive till 2.20am, so it was a bit of a shock the system getting up early for a decent day on the hill, but it turned out to be well worth it.

I’ve come to spend a few days with Ally who, like me, is gradually working towards his Winter Mountain Leader assessment. We decided to head for the Aonach Eagach Ridge in Glencoe, which has been on my wish list for a number of years now. We spent most of the day in thick cloud which, although a shame, didn’t detract from the experience of this epic ridge.

The Aonach Eagach is a combination of a walk and a climb. Although the climbing is not particularly difficult, it is very exposed in places, and the consequences of a mistake can be very serious. Just to be on the safe side, the rope came out of the rucksack on 3 occasions – once for a short abseil and twice for awkward looking climbs, which was all good practice.

Having negotiated the length of the ridge we dropped down to the Clachaig Inn for a quick pint of coke and a bowl of chips to restore energy levels before starting the 4.5km walk back to the car!