Looking to continue our 4* tour around Craigallan (our 4* base in the Rucksack Club hut at Ballachulish) we settled on Big Top on the west face of Aonach Dubh. This is the huge, complex wall of rock which dominates the skyline of the lower part of Glen Coe, split into a couple of tottering tiers and riven by giant gullies. Ominous and foreboding in the morning shade, though it looks much more appealing by the time the sun comes round. Here’s a picture taken late afternoon. It’s hard to believe that there are a couple of 500ft 4* E1s lurking on this vegetated hillside, but if you look closely above and left of the biggest central gully (#4)…

… you’ll see a clean cube of steep rock: E-Buttress, home to Big Top and Trapeze.

The best of the rock actually overlooks the gully, facing almost south, invisible from the valley. What you can make out from the parking, only too clearly, is that if that lump at the top has a 160m route on it, it’s going to be quite a slog to get there! It’s barely a couple of kilometers but with over 500m of ascent it’s quite brutal. The excellent path which leads up into Stob Coire nan Beith lulls you into a false sense of optimism. We branched off a bit higher than suggested in the guide, beneath the higher falls, and then traversed onto the slope beneath B-Buttress.

The trudge up vertical heather is truly gruelling, and even slightly sketchy as you overcome a couple of crumbly rock barriers (best on the right) to reach the “sanctuary” of the terrace beneath the upper rock band. There’s actually a decent trod along this (though not for the faint hearted, as a slip would be terminal) and we were pretty pleased with ourselves for matching the 1:30hrs approach to the foot of the route.

You start beneath a huge hanging arete, guarded by overhanging rock and cunningly accessed by a long shuffle leftwards (about 15m) before a corner allows a right-slanting ramp to be reached which you follow to an offwidth squirm behind a huge flake and a stance. Photo below of me in green nearing the top of the corner.

… and one of Paul in a similar spot, just starting the traverse rightwards

You’re in a shallow cave / depression at this point, and you need to avoid the rotting tat up leftwards (evidence of off-route questing) and instead teeter towards the arete proper. At this point there is huge exposure beneath and a very steep pull above, with the combination only slightly mitigated by a decent-looking peg. If the next move is only 5a then it must be at the very upper limit!

The overhanging arete is followed via a series of welcome jugs in truly spectacular positions, to a perched belay with gravity sucking at your heels.

The next pitch moves around onto the huge, hidden sidewall, which it climbs for 40m via a series of steep grooves linked by ledges, before breaking back left for a palatial stance on the arete, complete with its own bilberry patch. A stonker!

The start of the final pitch is obvious enough, up a giant flake. Stepping off the top of this onto the steep wall is both committing and tenuous.

The steepness continues as you traverse rightwards. Paul followed the SMC / Wired Guide in heading all the way right across a chimney before tackling a final vertical wall (all getting a bit urgent as the pump rises!) whereas Rockfax suggests you can finish more directly (which didn’t look any easier!) Either way, 5b seems fair, and wild for E1.

An absolutely magnificent route – better than Trapeze and Yo-Yo which both make it into Hard Rock instead.

There’s even a handy rap point (somewhat confusingly this is about 30m north of where we topped out – more where the direct finish in the Rockfax description finishes). There’s a further rap point about 50m down, which gets you to the ground about 30m from the sacks.

Fab end to a quick 3-day hit, making the most of the weather window.