Weather/Conditions: Good late spring day, rather hazy with a lot of the climbing in the shade. Brilliant sunset colours toward the end of the day.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 6.2km / 790m / 9h 28m
Accompanying: Kate

A good day with Kate on Rannoch Wall. We walked in late morning and took the steep scree to the base of Rannoch Wall. I had a look at January Jigsaw, a route I'd never climbed before. The first two pitches were up stunning square-cut rock, moving ledge to ledge on terrain that looks far more severe than it really is. Two pitches took us to the big Agag's block belay. Another team climbed up alongside us to this point, and at the same time another pair of climbers threw their ropes down on top of us, abseiling to share the same belay! It was all getting a bit congested - so we eased the pressure by heading up Agag's Groove. The two other climbers alongside us continued heading up January Jigsaw - then wondered where they were going. So in a humorous moment, I ended up shouting across the guidebook description while hanging off Agags.



We scrambled up Crowberry Ridge in the shade, to find the summit of the Buachaille in brilliant spring sunshine. Always a tremendous location. Great sunset, too, in the late afternoon light which turned to gold through the evening. The Buachailles red rhyolite just lights up in these conditions, a real glowing mountain of stone. Having your mountain in flames of light behind you is always a stunning way to end a Buachaille climbing day. Some day I should really get more of the routes done here!

360° Panorama

Stob Dearg