Skye Weekend

At 8:30am on Friday 9th May I was standing in a packed London Underground from Victoria to Kings Cross during rush hour, by 8:30pm I was standing in the beautiful surroundings of Glen Brittle in Skye eyeing up the Black Cuillins.

The club were booked into the Glen Brittle Youth Hostel, not exclusively, but with us occupying around 75% of the total spaces it felt like our place for the weekend. After the 6 hour train journey, an hour to fling some gear into the boot and a 5 hour drive I was a bit knackered but thanks to some experimentation with wine, whisky and some lethal Czech stuff supplied by Staas I'd forgotten how tired I was and had a grand evening.

On, Saturday the club split into around 5 separate parties, our group headed up Coire a Ghreadaidh towards Coire An Dorus (meaning "the door") to access the ridge and bag Sgurr a Mhadaidh. Skye isn't like anything on the mainland and exposed scrambling is required for multiple sections of the ridge. If the route we did on Saturday was on the mainland it would beat the Anoach Eagach for technicality and difficulty, but since it's on the Cuillin ridge, it's just the middle bit.

We summited Sgurr a Mhadaidh and hung around for an hour dozing in the warm watery sun and just chatting, it was really nice not to be pushing on in a "bag fest". We decided to head North from our summit to experience the middle bit of the ridge that most Munro baggers miss due to the lack of Tick list Munros. Pity the fools (as Mr. T would say) since this middle section is superb with sheer drops, vertical ascents and sloping exposed ledges that had us placing ropes on two occasions. We descended into Coir a Mhadaidh and wandered back round the contour of Sgurr Thuilm and back to the hostel for food and, most importantly, more booze.

Sunday

I was desperate to climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle which is reputedly Scotland's hardest Munro since it necessitates some rock climbing ability and a good head for heights. Sir Hugo Munro himself never bagged this peak due to it difficulty. I teamed up with two of Alex's mates and headed off for the summit of Sgurr Dearg from the Glen Brittle campsite. A good path leads a long way up past Loch an Fhir-Bhallaich but it's then necessary to leave the path and headed straight up the leg wobbling, lung bursting steep scree slopes above to get to the Cuillin Ridge and Sgurr Dearg. Just beyond Sgurr Dearg stands a slender blade of rock in an amazingly unlikely position known as The Inaccessible Pinnacle or "In Pin" for those in the know.

We had discussed the previous evening that we were going to climb the "short side" (don't let that fool you) which is a rock climb of V'Diff grade. This meant that we took climbing shoes and rock protection and having done some climbing we all knew what that grade means. Alex is a much more competent climber than I and so lead the route, even with his experience I could see his nervousness as he started off since the first unprotected steps leads you out into a very precarious position. Once a nut or two was placed he pushed on and summited easily. I followed and, since I was belayed from above, felt much more secure. The climb isn't hard and a grade I've done in the quarry numerous times but the drop and sense of exposure is phenomenal.

I summited and, determined to "stand" on the summit ( a feat even rarer than summiting the thing) posed for photos for evidence. I think I'm in a very small minority of baggers now who've done this. If the day had even a slight wind I wouldn't have attempted a "standy up finish"

We descended quickly and pushed on round to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich which involved a really nasty decent down below the "In Pin" on loose scree over hard rock and a slope than would have you accelerating for oblivion with one misplaced step. The Skye Cuillin Ridge traverse record stands at 3.5 hours by Andy Hyslop and having been there is just mind boggling (normal traverses are around 14 hours for fit experienced walkers with experience moving over difficult terrain).

We dumped our bags at the top of the great stone chute and moved very quickly over difficult terrain to bag Sgurr Mhic Choinnich which took us 25 minutes there and 30 back. Dropping into the Great Stone Chute is a scree running masterclass, keep balance low and go with the flow of loose moving ankle deep rubble down a 30 degree slope, it's weird experience but gets you down quick.

Back to the car for 3:30 and a 5 hour drive home.

One of the best mountain experiences I've had so far, just an amazing place.

(more pics to follow)