An Teallach

The Corrag Bhuidhe pinnacles demand exposed scrambling along a crest with drops of hundreds of metres on both sides — An Teallach is the kind of mountain that makes experienced hillwalkers reconsider their definition of 'comfortable'. The name means The Forge, and the summit feels hammered.

An Teallach in Wester Ross is often named among the finest mountains in Scotland, its pinnacled sandstone ridge offering scrambling that tests nerve and technique in equal measure. The traverse of the Corrag Bhuidhe towers grades as a moderate scramble in good conditions, but exposure, loose rock and Highland weather that can go from clear to zero visibility inside an hour raise the real stakes — bypass paths flank the pinnacles for anyone wanting the ridge without the knife-edge. Toll an Lochain, a dark corrie loch, sits cupped in the mountain's eastern face like a mirror laid face-up, and the two Munro summits look across half of Wester Ross when the Forge's weather allows any view at all.