Thursday, October 6, 2011

Cuillin Capers

For the week after the sailing meet Ann and John stayed on Skye in what was, even by Skye standards, awful weather. Luckily things cleared up a bit right at the end and gave us a chance to get reacquainted with the main Cuillin Ridge after too long away. We tackled the central section, starting from the youth hostel, and ascending Sgurr na Banachdich by the easy walking route of Coire an Eich. The rain that had started on the drive from Dunvegan stopped and things were starting to look more like the forecast.
The way up

Atmospheric

By the time we topped out it was all getting very atmospheric with clouds billowing around the ridge and clear sky above. Then the scrambling started. Having not done anything serious for a few years we were a bit rusty but soon got back into it with the imposing but easy ascent of Sgurr Thormaid.
The view South from Sgurr na Banachdich
Ascent of Sgurr Thormaid
Then onto one of my favourite sections of the ridge – the S ridge of Sgurr a Ghreadaidh. It didn't disappoint with fantastic situations and some nice exposure. We were getting back into the swing by now and the short, tricky descent into An Dorus seemed straightforward.

South Ridge of Sgurr a Ghreadaidh

Loch Coruisk from Sgurr a Ghreadaidh
Then it was the final summit of the day, Sgurr a Mhadaidh. On the summit we were chatting to Graham from Skye Hi guides who told us the ridge down towards Sgurr Thuilm was not as bad as it looked, so we decided to give it a go. From the start it was surprisingly untrodden and a few shouted route suggestions from Graham kept us on track down what was in places a quite tricky but very good route. Despite our best intentions we couldn't be bothered with the walk up Sgurr Thuilm so dropped into the corrie and wandered out in the warm sunshine.
Sgurr Thuilm from Sgurr a Mhadaidh

The NW ridge of Sgurr a Mhadaidh

 

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