Your 2 mates obviously hadn’t researched the route either. Clachaig gully is an infamous black spot in summer let alone winter. Good outcome though and good video

Simple and informative, to the point, no annoying ass 30-sec intro with drone footage and EDM, just points and examples. Gonna go see if you have any more vids about types of boots (I only own general hiking, combat, and steel toes, but not official 'winter boots' per se). If you dont have any vids, any personal recs?

Perfect. What month was it?

Glad the Central Gully day has stayed with you! :)

My classroom in 1980

Competence was drummed into us as youngsters , good navigation , good rope work and placing protection , learn about weather systems and learn to be self sufficient , do your summer rock apprenticeship then move on to winter , yes nature will bite your backside at some point but be prepared for some uncomfortable nights , experience is invaluable , you will make mistakes , we all do , today's world of the internet makes access to information so much easier , you should be using all the tools available to enhance your chances , sharing this benefits those with less experience , walk before you run but at some point you have to take of the stabilizers and ride the bike for yourself , your honesty is commendable and hopefully someone watching this takes note , you can have a lifetime of pleasure in the hills , take care all .

Good Advice man great video

Great video mate. Just wanted to say that general hiking boots are considered B0 boots. B1 boots have a minimum stiffness requirement to take a full crampon. There is a possibility that if you use a softer boot with a C1 crampon, it can flex enough to pop out of the plastic bindings.

Please don’t put music over you talking

This isn't a criticism because we all make mistakes. I'd say there is no more vital skill, if you can even call it a skill to learn for doing the mountains at any time of year, it's when to turn back. Any doubt at all, is the point at which it should kick in. The mountain will always be there to do tomorrow. Learning it from this comment is much better than learning the hard way.

Extremely helpful thank you mate

Perfect timing 👌

You live to tell the tale and pass on good tips, well done. Had similar on Tower Ridge which turned into an epic, finishing in the dark

I'm surprised by all this. You started by saying you were an inexperienced mountaineer 😐 Yet you decided to go up the Aonach Eagach in winter. No offence, but there are a lot of people who come up from England who do not realize how temperamental and changeable the weather is in the west of Scotland compared to your weather. Your pronunciation of Gaelic names is entertaining tho, thanks for the vid. 👍

High quality video, the split, commentary and visuals added really did it for me. Subbed and liked simply wont do it justice!

Great advice, really appreciate this and your honesty also. Massive respect 🙌

Honestly I came here solely to find out how to pronounce that name. 😂

I did the Aonach Eagach Ridge this September in perfect conditions. 2 hours up, 2 hours across, 2 hours down, and 2 hours back to the car. I'm a fair weather scrambler as you can only scramble by being alive, so even when it's only just damp, it's routes that only involve my feet and walking poles.

yeah guidebooks say there is no escape on that side that you tried and you need to continue to the pap.

Great video Charlie.. thanks for sharing 👌✌️

Climbed the ridge in summer and winter in good conditions and a reasonable amount of experience in winter climbing. It's a difficult call when things go south. You have to make decisions and you can only make them based upon what you think might work. The decision to go back or push on is always difficult on a ridge - less so on a bottom to top winter route. I'd say your descent route down Clachaig was high risk - the safe but long route is better when things go bad, but even then you have to have excellent navigation skills. That you got down unharmed means things didn't go that bad. Night navigation is tough, especially on descent. I firmly believe things only go wrong when you can't make it back under your own steam and/or suffer a bad injury, everything else is just part of the day, no matter how tough that day is.

Great video Charlie 👍

Great video Charlie. Mountains are great teachers for sure.

The Clachaig Gully deathtrap isn't actually the gully, it is that scree path. People slip off that path and into the gully (quite a lot of them!). Thumbs up on the Inreach for backup and also getting proper map skills and practicing them. Well handled, although I think one of your big mistakes was to not continue around and down the Pap of Glencoe path, which is a lot safer and easier (especially in bad conditions when you're really tired). Good video and good analysis (and the headtorch is critical like you say - at least you had two!)

I always take a bivvy and a light down bag, and a foil blanket, in winter.

Why choose the Aonach ridge in winter. It's not a difficult route, but in winter, that can be brutal.

Great vid, in the same spot myself. How do you go about finding partners for mountaineering?

It all depends what your goals are. I always scramble alone, grade three and above, and the only thing I ever learned to do with a rope was abseil.... You Tube, trial and error and common sense. Not fucked up yet in many years, but I suppose I'll only ever fuck up once. The actual roped trad climbing does not appeal to me in the slightest, and nor does venturing outside the UK, and like I said, it's what your goals are.

5:11 pulling myself up on to grassy steps like that sketches me the flip out..... purely psychological but I always feel like I am somehow being pushed away from the rock into the abyss 😂

Great footage! May I ask what cam you use to film? 👍

Wow your story is very similar to mine I started trail running in 2020 lockdown and fell in love with the outdoors this naturally started to involve some scrambling around Peak District developed into many scrambles in and around Tryfan and the glyders we are now doing the grade 3 routes free solo Crib goch also did it for me I just wasn’t satisfied after literally flying over it need more !

I'm an Italian climber and mountaineer. I think your video is very honest and describes well the path that many take to approach mountaineering. Taking all the steps without rushing, building a good base of theoretical knowledge and experience in the field is the key to enjoying this discipline. I have never climbed in the Scottish winter, but one day I would like to try. Those places look so beautiful!

This was exactly what I needed to hear.. thank you Charlie

Epic video Charlie! Easily my favourite scramble in North Wales.

The perfect video what I was looking for for my progression currently at grade 1 scrambles

First off. Fantastic video. Editing is top notch Secondly. Is this also known as pinnacle scramble? A grade 3+?

This subject is so gatekept these days due to its very steep learning curve. You wish you could step up your hiking game, want to do something more adventurous, know that it implies a rope and a helmet but there are so many variables. I started climbing in a mountaineering club aswell but it took me a lot do develope my own set of safety rules. Even though it seems widely spread across yt and the internet, it is still really hard to get started. at first it seemed very scary to me because I always needed validation on the techniques I was using

Top Rope until you're comfortable on 5.10, then go Alpine Rock Scrambling.

You were lucky that you had someone at the top to rope you up. Honestly, just looking at that from the bottom, I would never have scrambled up that to start. I'm a rock climber but I'm very cautious. That top looks like a class 5 to me, a low class 5 but still a 5. (Edit: I'm in the US)

The balls on you! Thank you for posting this video, I would never have the courage to put something on the internet but yeah you can see when your knees start shaking so great decision!

I was thinking of doing this but that music has terrified me 😂

You are lucky you started when you did. I caught the alpine bug when I was 54. Better late than never. Love being in the mountains. Have to do a trad course though. ATB from Norway 🇳🇴

I’m part of the army mountaineering association I would love to join an “active” civilian club aswell, what club is it your a part of?

Hi Charlie, i wonder what camera do you use for filming? And helmet mount? Appreciate the content! Thanks!

Fascinating. Pity I’m even older….

This is not scrambling mate..find a rock climbing partner before you get into trouble.

Ive got the bug after striding edge too. Ive only done that, jacks rake lords rake but want to move to grade 2s its such a buzz. Pinnacle ridge at the lakes is my next.

so inspirational. see you outdoors!

Got to take your time and not rush routes, If in doubt rope up. Even on your own you could use an old climbing nut, big chunky one and ab off if you get Craig fast. Means carrying weight but its a fail safe option. I've been Craig fast and had to climb out of it . Climbers never want to ring that helicopter, I climbed the Ben at night to do tower ridge in the morning, went off the path and ended up in that gully at right hand side of the path. Made it to the lake using the moon as my touch compass. Never been as happy to see flat ground camped near the path and got woke up at 6 with walkers. Did the tower and the arret to the other hill across but that gully at night nearly got me.

sick dude ty for the video