Buachaille Etive Mor’s curved ridge

I’m sure I am not alone when I say that the tales about Buachaille Etive Mor’s curved ridge are enough to scare most hill walkers into opting for the more straight forward path. Now I am here to try and describe the route and reassure those of you reading this that it is not as bad as many tales would lead you to believe.   

Finding curved ridge is relatively easy if you take your time and keep an eye out for a few landmarks. The first landmark to look for is the Water Slab. Approaching from Rannoch Moor, there is a car-park immediately after the Glen Etive turnoff. Years gone by this was the preferred parking point for climbers doing the Rannoch Wall and other climbs in that region path goes out the back of this car-park and heads in a straight line across the River Coupall and directly to the Water Slab. Unfortunately this car park is far from ideal for those that do not wish to do Curved Ridge and descend the same way. The preferred car park is the one a little further up the road at Altnafeadh. From this car park there is a path which leads towards the little white cottage. Follow this path over a bridge, passed the cottage until you reach a fork. Turn left at the fork in the path this path rises gently as it contours around the bottom of Stob Dearg towards Glen Etive. You cross a couple of wet gullies these are not the water slab there is a fool proof way of finding the water slab from this path, remember at the start I mentioned the other car park which had a path leading straight to the water slab well simply keep following the main path until it meets the other one coming up from that car park. 

Path leading towards cottage from Altnafeadh Car park

The fork in the path past the cottage

Heading up the path towards Glen Etive and the water slab

Heading up the path towards Glen Etive and the water slab

The water slab!!

The path leading up from the old climbers car park

Next walk about 10m passed the water slab and head up a wide scree gulley of cream coloured stone. Avoid going left up this gully as this will take you away from where you want to be and make things harder. Keep going up the scree until you find any decent path which goes to the right and back over the top of the Water Slab which by this time is way below where you are keep following this route which should take you steadily up and to the right until you are at a point just below and to the right of the Rannoch Wall which is easily identified as a sheer wall of rock detached from the bulky North Buttress. Curved Ridge is to the immediate left of this. However, you have to bear in mind that you are looking at both the Rannoch Wall and Curved Ridge almost end on and this makes identification more difficult. Now make your way up towards the Rannoch Wall and the route ahead will be clear to see. The rest of the route is clearly marked by shiny rock and crampon scratch marks.

Here are some more photos that I took which should guide you up the ridge.

The route ahead onto the curved ridge

Did I mention follow the scratch marks!

Next stage

Looking down in the direction of where we have come from

Next stage

Once again looking down in the direction of where we have come from

The last wee bit you can actually see the path to the top from this point

My old trusty Blacks tent

Over the past months I have been looking to buy a new tent as the pressure to keep up with the Joneses has been getting to me slightly. For the last 15 years I have been camping in a bright red Blacks 2 man dome weighing in at just over 2KG. I kid you not this tent has been amazing it has been used in temperatures below -5^oC and in winds exceeding 60mph and has survived without so much as a loose thread. Now if my memory serves me right this tent cost around £20 as I said earlier 15 years ago so I’m guessing that equates to something like £30 in today’s money.   

So knowing that I currently have this tent that has served me very well all these years it is hard to decide what to replace it with when most of the reviews I have looked at all comment on the materials being thin and ripping/puncturing early on in their life. Ok I know an additional foot print can be used to protect the ground sheet but does this not raise the question why not make the ground sheet thick enough to start with? I know that the reason for the thin materials is all about saving weight but still does weight saving have to be so drastic that you end up with a tent that does not stand the test of time.

I truly intended to write this post talking about what new tents excite me but ended up rambling on about my old tent. Maybe that tells me something... perhaps I should hold on to my old friend for a little longer until she finally starts to leak or develops some other kind of fault. In the mean time I will continue to look at others with their expensive tents and watch them collapse in high winds or leak from the floor and think to myself that was a good £20 I spent 15 years ago!