Cuillin Ridge Traverse, June 2012
After a sprained ankle scuppered Maria's attempt at the Cuillin Ridge in May, and my attempt with Dave & Brian ended with a bail-out at Sgurr a' Mhaidaidh, there was only one way for us to spend a sunny Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend...
Rather than making an 'alpine start' and trying to do the full traverse in a day, we elected to take two days over it, with a bivvy on the ridge. Day one started with a hearty cooked breakfast at the B&B, after which we headed to Glen Brittle to make a start.
Having experienced the unrelenting scree slopes of Gars-bheinn before, we chose to go up via Coire a' Ghrunnda, leave rucksacks and scramble along the ridge to Gars-bheinn and back.
Looking along the ridge from Gars-bheinn, our target of Sgurr nan Gillean seemed a long way off, but I guess we had two days to get there...
Returning to our rucksacks above Coire a' Ghrunnda, we found the top pocket of Maria's bag open, and her toothbrush, map and other kit lying on the ground nearby - surely there weren't thieves roaming the Cuillin...? Nothing was missing though, and from chatting to some people we met on the ridge who had had their jelly babies stolen, it seems that ravens were probably responsible, looking for food to steal! Pesky birds...
We skirted the outlying Sgurr Dubh Mor, leaving it for another trip (probably via the excellent-sounding Dubhs ridge - a 900m Moderate on perfect Gabbro slabs rising from the edge of Loch Coruisk).
Next up was the T-D Gap. After a short, very exposed section of Moderate climbing, we abseiled into the gap and set up a belay for climbing the off-width chimney on the other side. With Maria's strapped up ankle still not at 100% strength, I was nominated to lead. With a big rucksack on my back, I wouldn't have wanted this ridiculously polished pitch to be any harder - it used to be graded V Diff but these days is considered to be around Hard Severe, which seems a more reasonable assessment.
After the T-D Gap, we scrambled up to the top of the Great Stone Chute, where we dumped our sacks for the quick scramble up Sgurr Alasdair and back.
A short steep scramble led us to the summit of Sgurr Thearlaich, from which some very exposed slabs and ledges lead down to the Bealach Mhic Choinnich. The guidebook talks about 'scary Diff slabs', and says an abseil is probably the wisest choice, but Maria just scrambled on down unroped, so I thought I'd better follow her!
One day I'd like to take a wander along Collie's Ledge, but the direct route to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, up King's Chimney, beckoned. A very enjoyable pitch of Diff, up a crack / chimney, then skirting right on slabs under an overhang, this led to some easier scrambling to the summit.
While packing the rope away, Maria dropped her belay device - luckily it came to a halt within an easy scramble's distance and didn't continue all the way down to Loch Coruisk! On descent from Sgurr Mhic Choinnich there's a (very rare on the Cuillin) short section of walking which gave us a bit of a rest before the ascent up towards the Inaccessible Pinnacle.
An Stac seems to get mixed reviews (maybe it's a wonderful Moderate climb, but most say it's a hideous choss-fest), so we chose to skirt round it on scree-covered slabs leading up to the base of the In Pinn. Arriving here at about 6:30pm, the usual crowds must have all gone back down, as there was no-one else in sight. We dumped our sacks at the bottom of the 'steep side' (west ridge) and wandered back to the start of the knife-edged east ridge. Foolishly I left my jacket in my rucksack and, with most of the climb in the shade and exposed to the biting wind, I was shivering by the time we reached the summit. Happily the summit was in the sun, and a reassuringly solid chain around the summit block provided a reliable abseil anchor.
We then had a short wander down from Sgurr Dearg to the Bealach Coire na Banachdich, and selected a spot to bivvy just off to the west of the ridge. With such dry weather we were a bit concerned about finding water, so after a quick cup of tea I scrambled down towards Coire na Banachdich in search of a stream. We needn't have worried - within 10 minutes I had found a spring about 100m below our bivvy. I filled up numerous bottles and camelbaks before heading back up to the bivvy for some well-needed hot food (real gourmet stuff - rehydrated veg curry followed by a Haribo pudding).
Sunset from the bivvy was an incredible sight, and our down sleeping bags proved warm enough to ensure a good night's sleep despite the sub-zero temperatures. We even overslept, missing the alarms we set with the aim of making an early start.
The next day dawned cloudy and breezy, but still dry and with some sunshine around too. We stashed our bivvy kit among some rocks, ready to collect the next day, and set off with slightly lighter rucksacks onto the ridge up to Sgurr na Banachdich. Our limbs were feeling a bit stiff, so some fairly straightforward grade 2 scrambling was a good way to warm up ready for more challenging peaks ahead.
Some more scrambling over Sgurr Thormaid and past the Three Teeth led to one of the best bits of the whole traverse - the incredibly exposed southwest ridge of Sgurr a' Greadaidh. Although fairly straightforward (grade 3 scrambling) the huge drops to either side of the knife-edged ridge make for an exciting experience!
Exposed, scree covered slabs on the descent from Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh demanded full concentration, and then we stopped for second breakfast at An Dorus before scrambling up to Sgurr a' Mhaidaidh. The next hour or so has some of the most concentrated hard scrambling on the whole ridge, with an exposed slabby descent from Sgurr a' Mhaidaidh followed by the three tops of Mhaidaidh which include sections of Mod and Diff climbing. Carrying lighter packs allowed us to climb unroped, saving time for the tricky navigation which we knew was ahead.
The grassy Bealach na Glaic Moire provided a nice spot for a brief rest and first lunch, before we headed on up to Bidean Druim nan Ramh, where more exposed Moderate climbing and tricky route finding kept things interesting. We soloed past the first set of abseil slings on descent from Bidean Druim nan Ramh, but the rope came out for the first time that day soon afterwards, as we didn't really like the look of the V Diff downclimb before the north top.
An Caisteal provided further excitement, with a couple of airy strides over strange crevasse-like gaps in the ridge, and another abseil down to the next bealach.
Bruach na Frithe gave us a bit of a break from the intense concentration of the previous few peaks, as there was nothing more than grade 1 scrambling on the ascent. Realising we had plenty of time to complete the traverse, and with the weather still looking good, we got the stove out and made a brew on the summit, while looking across to the final two peaks of the day - Am Bhasteir and Sgurr nan Gillean.
After taking a look at Naismith's Route (35m, Severe) on the Bhasteir Tooth, neither of us were really feeling the vibe, so we skirted round and went up the easy scrambling route to Am Bhasteir. That just left Sgurr nan Gillean, and we soloed up the west ridge before standing triumphantly on the summit. It was immensely satisfying to sit there and look along the ridge, all the way back to Gars-bheinn, where we had stood at lunchtime the previous day - it seemed so long ago!
While on the summit we got chatting to a guy who said he'd give us a lift back to our car in Glenbrittle if we bought him a pint in the Sligachan, so we thought we'd better try to keep up with him as he raced off down the east ridge. Having only done a short day's scramble over Sgurr nan Gillean, he was considerably fresher than us, so our walk back to the Sligachan was a bit(!) quicker than it might otherwise have been! However, it was worth it to get back to our car so quickly and we were soon back in the Sligachan, enjoying venison burgers and chips washed down with tasty local ale.
It was a fantastic weekend, and a great way to do the traverse. Having no time pressure meant we had the opportunity to enjoy every peak, and watching the sun go down from our ridgetop bivvy was an experience not to be missed.
