Cracking Ben Cruachan: one of the finest peaks in the Southern Highlands

Cracking Ben Cruachan: one of the finest peaks in the Southern Highlands

We saved the best walk for the best day. Edita and I had spied Ben Cruachan’s airy summit and hair-raising summit ridge from the top of Ben O’Cockle two days earlier. I could also see from the map that the walk across its top and that of its companion Munro Stob Daimh featured an enormous ridge.

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Ben Lui: the finest peak in the Southern Highlands (my arse)

Ben Lui: the finest peak in the Southern Highlands (my arse)

A short distance east of our previous day’s Munros lay Ben Lui, a mountain considered by many to be the finest peak in the Southern Highlands. I once took a photo of it from the north-east, rising majestically like a marble throne above arctic tundra. From that moment I wanted climb it. But would it live up to the promise?

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Beinn a’ Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich: fowling our way up the hooded peak

Beinn a’ Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich: fowling our way up the hooded peak

It was the fifth year in a row that Edita and I would be spending the Christmas period in Scotland trying to get up some hills, and our expectations weren’t high. Icy blizzards, deep snow, freezing fog and murderous summit winds had been our usual fare for the previous four. Would this year be any different?

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