Aonach Egach: Meall Dearg and Sgorr nam Fiannaidh from A82 lay-by near Loch Achtriochtan

The forecast was for the rain to finish by 1pm, so we started the walk at 2pm as we wanted the rock to dry a little before we were on the ridge. We parked on the A82 layby just east of Loch Achtriochtan, rather than in the top eastern car park as we wanted to complete the 3km road section to allow the rain to fully pass over.

Once across the valley, we joined the path to rise steeply to Am Bodach, the easternmost peak of the ridge where the east to west traverse begins. Strong winds made it feel cold on the ascent and it rained on us at 3pm adding to the anxiety.

We refuelled and stowed our walking poles before tackling the first difficult section - a notorious 20m down climb which is sometimes considered the crux of the traverse. We took our time - this section was a little exposed but very straightforward and no issues. We continue to follow the ridge to reach the first Munro summit Meall Dearg.

The next section along the ridge is considered to be the hardest, but at the same time the best part of the traverse and involves a lot of exposed scrambling up and down gullies, slabs, chimneys and across some rock pinnacles. The sun was starting to come out through the clouds, so we took our time to scramble across the ridge. The ridge was mostly dry, but the eastern chimneys were still wet; we followed the ridge the whole way across every Pinnacle. There were a couple of pinnacles where the scrambling was steep and exposed and we kept to the ridge trusting there would be a way through.
The difficulties end once we reached the col, then there is a steep pull up to Stob Coire Leath followed by an easy and fairly level walk to the second Munro, Sgorr nam Fiannaidh.

We took the very steep gully directly South from Sgor nam Fiannaidh (not Clachaig gully) down to the road near Loch Achtriochtan and then back to the car.