The Traverse of the Cuillin
by Darrell Morgan
Our fourth visit to Skye at last provided perfect weather for an attempt at the ridge. We arrived on Saturday for the AAC meet at the delightfully refurbished Skyewalker Hostel in Portnalong. The forecast was excellent for the next three days.
There are two ways of tackling the Cuillin traverse; a 16-20 hour day, or by using two days with an overnight bivvi. The first option gives a very challenging mountaineering day but means one is always rushing. The second option allows a more leisurely and enjoyable experience but entails carrying extra bivvi gear. We chose option two and spent the Sunday exploring the ridge near the Inaccessible Pinnacle for a suitable bivvi site. We left four litres of water and a bivvi tent ready for the next day. On Monday morning we had a lie in, a late breakfast and eventually left Glen Brittle at noon. Due to the incredible dry spell on Skye the path leading across Coir' a’ Ghrunnda towards Gars-bheinn was very dry. In the past we have had to avoid boggy patches, and have got wet boots before getting anywhere near the ridge. The slopes up to Gars-bheinn were a real toil but seeing a deer enlivened our spirits. Three hours leaving Glen Brittle we were ready to start the ridge.
The section to Sgurr nan Eag involves wonderful ridge walking and a little scrambling – anywhere else this would be a classic ridge walk in itself. We traversed Sgurr a’ Choire Bhig which entailed an abseil, but this can easily be bypassed. After Sgurr nan Eag there are few problems until the TD gap is reached.
In the past we have explored most parts of the ridge, but this was our first encounter with the TD gap. A party of three were abseiling in front of us. The descent gully leading down and across to Sgurr Alasdair looked loose and appeared to involve a great loss of height, so we set ourselves to climb the gap. In fact it was fairly easy, even with a pack on. There is a tricky mantel shelf to finish though so be aware. Emboldened from the climb we quickly despatched Sgurr Alasdair and Sgurr Thearlaich. The scramble from the col onto Sgurr Thearlaich involved one hard move and the descent off was quite tricky. We stuck to the Glen Brittle side, keeping high. We were now faced with King’s Chimney leading up to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich. We had done this section of the route before in misty conditions when we had difficulty finding the route onto Collie's ledge. Today access was obvious and we scrambled to the base of King’s Chimney. The corner crack was nice and easy and a quick airy traverse beneath the overhang led to the top.
The arête of An Stac is very exposed and can be avoided by a rising gully slightly to the left. Otherwise the scrambling up to the ‘In Pin’ is tremendous. We tied on and moved together up the ‘In Pin’ itself, which we had t o ourselves. The sun set as we abseiled off and we sat in our bivvi site eating soup, noodles, cake and custard, watching the view.
As soon as the sun went down the wind started up and we managed very little sleep. The following morning we were packed and ready to go by 05:00. The first 3 hours flew by with very easy scrambling, across Sgurr na Banachdich, Sgurr Thormaid and Sgurr a’ Ghreadaidh. We passed several other parties bivviing on the ridge. Next came some excellent sustained scrambling over the first two tops of Sgurr a Mhadaidh. We found slings in place at the top of these scrambles suggesting some difficulty in down climbing.
The descent from the first summit of Bidein Druim nan Ramh involved tricky route finding (stick to the top of a very exposed slab that slopes down to Harta Corrie and you will find abseil slings in place if needed). We abseiled from the second top. This section of the ridge over Sgurr a Mhadaidh and Bidein Druim nan Ramh seemed to take ages, with the steep descents proving particularly tricky.
We couldn’t resist the scramble over An Caisteal and found a very awk¬ward abseil under a shelf.
We paused for lunch at the top of Bruach na Frithe and looked ahead. Naismith's route on the Basteir Tooth had been on my mind all day. We quickly scrambled up Sgurr a Fionn Choire and then made our way to the start of Naismith's route. I found the climbing very exposed and the protection for the first pitch was min¬imal. The second pitch was better protected but much more physically tiring and I was relieved to pull over the top. Between the Tooth and Am Basteir there is a difficult exposed move which may need a rope.
We found the scrambling up Sgurr nan Gillean delightful, although we have found this difficult in the mist in the past. We threaded the window and arrived at the summit at about 1:00pm. There was only one other person on the summit and it turned out that he was a fellow member of the AAC. He kindly offered us a lift back round to our car in Glen Brittle. What a stroke of luck!
The inappropriately named tourist path off Sgurr nan Gillean proved tortuous, but the promise of refreshment in Sligachan kept us going. We arrived at the hotel at around 16:00.
On timings, the first day took 9 hours and the second 11 hours, however, we did have glorious weather which encouraged numerous photo opportunities. Equipment wise we took a 30m rope, harnesses, helmets, seven nuts, six quickdraws, screwgates, slings, a stove, carry mats and a bivvi tent. We didn’t carry sleeping bags and used our down jackets to save weight and room in our rucksacks.
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Last updated: 05 December 2008