0:08:50 > 0:08:57.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20In 1906, the British Aluminium Company
0:09:20 > 0:09:24opened a smelter here in Kinlochleven, and in doing so,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27they turned what was a quiet West Highland village
0:09:27 > 0:09:28into a factory town.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Now, 100 years later, the smelter is gone.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34It's all closed, and the village has had to reinvent itself,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and it's done that quite successfully.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38It's been quite fortunate that the West Highland Way
0:09:38 > 0:09:41passes through the village, bringing a lot of trade and custom.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42The Ice Factor in the village,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46with its ice climbing walls and climbing walls and shop
0:09:46 > 0:09:49has been a great success, a great draw to climbers.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52And the natural position of the village is fantastic.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Couldn't be better. Marvellous mountains all round it.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56A handful of Munros, a few Corbetts,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59great woodlands for people mountain biking.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02So it really is a very fine adventure centre nowadays.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05And it's a great point for the start
0:10:05 > 0:10:07of our walk into the Mamores this morning.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I'm really disappointed it's so hazy today,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21because I always think the view behind me
0:10:21 > 0:10:24is one of the finest views in the Western Highlands.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28It's the head of Loch Leven, flowing between Mam na Gualainn on the right
0:10:28 > 0:10:30and the Pap of Glencoe on the west,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33and to me it always looks like a Norwegian fjord
0:10:33 > 0:10:35biting its way into the land.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38It has a kind of oceanic quality,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and I can't help imagining a couple of war galleys
0:10:41 > 0:10:43sailing through the narrows,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48their sails unfurled in the wind, heading out into a western sunset.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51But I'm just a great romantic, I'm afraid.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10We're heading for Sgurr Eilde Mor,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and it's just round the corner up there,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16just where that track eases its way round the contours.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18And it's just on the other side of that hill.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Sgurr Eilde Mor lies at the eastern end of the Mamores ridge,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37that great mountain wall that forms a barrier
0:11:37 > 0:11:40between Glen Nevis in the north and Kinlochleven in the south,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44and on that Mamores ridge, which is eight miles long,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46there are no less than 10 Munros,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51and Sgurr Eilde Mor is a wee bit like a sort of afterthought,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53a bit of an addendum right at the very end.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55The first time I climbed Sgurr Eilde Mor,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59I remember coming off the main Mamores ridge down to the loch
0:11:59 > 0:12:01and then up onto the summit,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03and I'll tell you, my legs were like jelly.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05So I hope today when I get to the summit,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07my legs won't be quite so jelly-like,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11because we're paying the hill the ultimate compliment today -
0:12:11 > 0:12:13we're going to climb it on its own, and I'll tell you,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15it's no less than it deserves, cos it's a great wee hill.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28This is Coire an Lochain, and it's a beautifully atmospheric place.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31It really is just this little sort of niche in the hills.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Up there behind me is Binnein Mor.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37That lovely hill across there in the sunlight is Binnein Beag,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42and beyond it is the Grey Corries on the other side of Glen Nevis.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45And this lovely cone shape here in front of me
0:12:45 > 0:12:47is Sgurr Eilde Mor itself.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51And I can just see someone right on the summit.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52Now, as I'm standing here,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I can hear red deer stags roaring in the distance,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and there's a real kind of mystery to the place.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01And let me tell you something else that makes it even more mysterious.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04On the way up here today, I met some climbers
0:13:04 > 0:13:05who had been camping up here,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and I'm always amazed at the games climbers play.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11They told me it was quite important to be on this hill today,
0:13:11 > 0:13:12there's a special significance,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16because this is the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24And the height of Sgurr Eilde Mor is 10-10 metres.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Now, that's just a wee bit Da Vinci Code-ish, isn't it, eh?
0:13:27 > 0:13:31I just wonder what's going to happen. I wonder if it's some kind of omen.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54We're on the final 300 metre stretch now.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57The summit slopes, and my legs haven't quite turned to jelly yet.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05When you come up from the loch and you start to climb,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07it seems fairly easy at first,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11and then you realise you've got a lot of moving scree to cross,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and that's always quite difficult.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15It's loose, it's a bit greasy,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19and you seem to take three steps up and two steps back down again.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26But eventually, you get onto this lovely tight and narrow ridge,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and you get this real sense of height and exposure,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33and I think it's because there's no mountains immediately next to you.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35You get this sense of spaciousness.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37And that makes it fantastic.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41And, of course, it's a summit that's at the top of a steep ridge.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42It's a proper pinnacle,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45and seems like a proper archetypal mountain summit.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55Whoo!
0:14:55 > 0:14:57What a fantastic hill.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59What a fantastic day.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00Sgurr Eilde Mor.
0:15:00 > 0:15:031,010 metres above sea level.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06And you know, walking up the hill there,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10I was thinking about Kinlochleven and its changing face,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13and I remembered the words of Patrick MacGill,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16who was a writer who worked on the Blackwater Reservoir
0:15:16 > 0:15:20that served the aluminium industry at Kinlochleven 100 years ago.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23And he described these hills as
0:15:23 > 0:15:26"looking down on us like brooding witches,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30"implacable, inscrutable, timeless."
0:15:30 > 0:15:33And long may they continue to be just that.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd