Mountain landscape - Scotland

Coire Àrdair and ‘the Window’ on Creag Meagaidh

Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve near Laggan in the West Highlands of Scotland is described by Nature Scot as “the complete mountain experience. From wild mountain plateau to woodland that’s slowly returning to life, Creag Meagaidh feels like the Highlands compressed into one reserve. The dramatic scenery here includes Munro summits, an exposed whaleback ridge and ice-carved gullies”.

Two of these Munro summits - Stob Poite Coire Àrdair and Creag Meagaidh - are separated by Uinneag Coire Ardair (fondly termed of as the Window), a high bealach - pronounced be-a-lach, meaning a low point, between two hills - that lies 950m above sea level. A friend and I were keen to complete our Munro Round (282 hills over 3,000ft / 914.4m high) and we chose to camp at the Window one Winter after climbing Creag Meagaidh’s third Munro, Càrn Liath. We used our shovels to dig into the snow because of strong gales which had cursed us all day, that buffeted us up top and continued as we set up camp, intensifying through the night.

I created this panorama the following morning, after we’d bailed off Creag Meagaidh’s summit plateau for safety reasons, due to the continued strong winds, which made it very difficult to walk in a straight line in crampons and stay upright on our feet.