Beinn a’Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich

Chasing the elusive Scottish sunshine, we headed over to the west to climb Beinn a’Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich which are two Munros next to the Cruachan range. Trail magazine used the following two phrases in the description of the walk:

• Their lofty curving ridges give spacious views across to the pointed peak of Ben Cruachan and the rest of the central western Highlands
• A traverse of these two hills is a veritable menu of visual satisfaction that will certainly satisfy most palates. So get your axe out and tuck into this sumptuous hill feast.

These descriptions made the views from the tops sound outstanding, and a perfect pair to climb on a beautiful sunny morning. As the night was clear it was very cold, so we woke up to a very cold van with ice on the inside of the windows, but with beautiful sunny morning outside the van. On the walk in we discovered that it was calving season for the local highland cows, which delighted Becky.

The initial walk up the valley was up a track which was fairly painless, but we soon arrived at the base of the proper climb up to the summit ridge. This was very abrupt and made the climb up to Am Bodach on Aonach Eagach seem like a gentle stroll! We soon got to the top to be greeted by a strong wind, but stunning views in every direction.

The ridge up to the summit of Beinn a’Chochuill was beautiful, especially with the extensive snow cover which is still up high. We found it fairly amusing that there was a pair of hare foot prints between the two Munros, but the hare didn’t appreciate the dangers of cornices as their tracks were certainly not safe to follow!

As we were descending back down the ridge to the col we were passed by at least three low flying jets in Glen Kinglass, as they were so far away and so far below us I couldn’t identify what they were. The climb up to the second Munro was also fairly steep, but over quite quickly which just left the descent.

The descent was very easy down to 500m, and then very very steep back down the track which we walked up in the morning. We were glad to get back down to the track and then enjoyed the easy walk back down to the car.