The Cuillin ridge (generally referred to as "the ridge") is considered by many as one of the finest mountaineering challenges the UK has to offer. Taking in 11 Munro's across ~12 km, its not the longest outing by Scottish ridge day standards, but statistics can, and in this case are, deceiving. Once combined with a long approach, lack of water and most crucially, an absolute abundance of technical and exposed scrambling and climbing, the reality is the ridge is the ultimate test for any self proclaimed "mountaineers". Being both ambitious and very self proclaimed, it presented an obvious objective for Rafe and I on our annual Scottish climbing pilgrimage.
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| Making the most of moist day in Ratho Quarry |
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| Ribs and pizza. The definition of a balanced diet |
Our trip began in the same way that most ambition is kindled in the Scottish climbing scene - in a central belt quarry in the rain. Thankfully the rain eventually got heavy enough as to quash any further and we abandoned ship to head home and prepare for the drive to Skye.
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| The main cliff of Flodigarry with Spanstastic being the obvious pillar bridging the gap. The bird nest-free alternative route of Lucy in the Sky is the crackline to the right |
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| Rafe enjoying not having bird vomit on him on Lucy in the Sky |
When we arrived the weather was cool, but dry and generally improving. With the mountains being shrouded in a thick misty blanket (so typical of the climate hereabouts) we opted to go for some sea cliff action on the north east end of island over at Flodigarry. The route we had in mind was the much photographed Spantstastic, an intriguing line up a large triangular cliff that includes its namesake pillar of rock than leans rather alarmingly across a very big sea cave. Unfortunately on the abseil down we noticed that the route was adorned with an assortment of sea bird nests, some of which were harboring eggs so we decided to change tactic (mainly to avoid getting covered in vomit...). The counter line on this part of the cliff which is equally popular is the superb finger crack climb of Lucy in the Sky, which was absolutely fantastic with solid jams and great gear all the way.
With the remnants of low cloud and mist still clinging to the tops of the hills the next day we decided that sea cliffs would probably be another wise choice so headed west this time for a days climbing at Neist. Whilst some would consider climbing on anything other than the Cuillins a lesser day on Skye, in reality Neist has the highest concentration of high quality rock climbs of anywhere on the island and has several kilometers of crags providing many superb and absorbing routes. Our venue for the day was the financial sector on the upper tier as it looked like it would be sheltered from the worst of the wind. Thankfully good weather seemed to prevail for the day and we ticked a number of routes ranging from HVS to E1, the majority of which required quite a forceful approach (to say the least...).
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| Rafe on Venture Capital. One of the best routes we did that day |
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| Rafe following on Earthbound |
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| Rafe on the crux of Insider Dealings |
After a productive day at Neist we made a beeline for Glenbrittle. Whilst not an objective before the trip, much discussion had been had on whether we should make an attempt on a traverse of the Cuillin ridge on the drive up and in the days proceeding. Eventually the draw was too strong so we made a half baked plan to give it a go, which included driving the car half way to the finish and running back to the campsite late in the evening before. Organisation is not my strong point.
The next day dawned bright and clear, and we made great progress up to the first Munro, Sgurr na Eag, where we left our bags and did a quick out and back to Garbh Beinn, the official start. After racing back to get the bags we eventually made it to a very dank TD gap, where Rafe did a great (if not a little comical) job of leading us up through the very greasy chimney crack. The next pitch of climbing on the Kings Chimney of SmC also went without incident, although it was made slightly harder by a big loose block that almost rocked out of the crack about half way up the pitch. One to watch.
The next few sections whizzed past in a blur of heat, mild dehydration (turning to proper dehydration!) before eventually we made it to the final obstacle, Naismith's Route up the Bastier Tooth. Whilst only a severe, its steepness makes it look quite formidable, particularly with tired arms and legs! Thankfully it wasn't too bad with good holds and gear all the way. After a final bit of scrambling we made it to the final summit, SnG and the end of the ridge. Since we were parked at the Fairy Pools, we had to reverse of tracks down the West Ridge and under Am Bastier until we could drop around the flank of BnF. All in all we managed to main traverse in around 12 hours, with the walk in and out amounting to another 5-6 hours so a pretty long day!
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| Success! |
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| Rafe's special edition approach shoe / flip flop cross ridge traverse footwear |
After a more chilled day on the Cioch the day after the ridge, the next and last day was spent at Rubha Hunish on the very northern tip of Skye. This striking mass of sea cliffs looks very unassuming from the south, but upon closer inspection provides probably some of the best climbing we did on Skye. We climbed Master of Morgana first which was loose to begin with, but gradually got more solid as height was gained. The top pitch provides spectacular climbing a series of hand cracks / off-widths before a tussle of a fish through a large and overhanging tapering crack. Brilliant. The last route we did was called Minch and Tatties and featured a terrifyingly hollow "banister rail" along which you had to climb up underneath then swing along to a belay. As with MoM, the top pitched provided much more solid rock, with some amazing hand jamming cracks which would rival in the best route inn a central belt quarry.
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| The stunning cliffs of Rubha Hunish |
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| Moving up underneath the banister rail roof crack on Minch and Tatties |
All in all, another quality trip. Can't wait for next year.
