The Cuillin ridge
Back in April 2015 I planned a mountaineering trip up to Scotland with my friend Tim Harrop to climb the Cuillin ridge. Our intention was to head over to the Isle of Skye and attempt a traverse of the Black Cuillin mountains. The weather usually plays a huge part in planning any such trip and the mountains are often cloaked in cloud and rain. The forecast was spectacular and this fuelled our excitement about the adventure. The Black Cuillin range is the most complex and technical mountain environment in the British Isles, with its jagged rocky ridges dropping straight into the beautiful Hebridean Sea providing the setting for a unique mountain experience.
The Dubh slabs
The Black Cuillin contain 12 of Scotland’s 283 Munros (a mountain with a summit height of more than 3,000 ft) and these are acknowledged as the hardest to attain and linking them is even tougher, with many narrow ridges to scramble and concentration required on every step. A traverse of the ridge is no mean feat. There are 12km of continuous scrambling mostly along a narrow crest with concentration required on every step. This takes approximately 9-15 hours to complete in ideal weather conditions and that’s not including the long approach and descent adding another 6 hours.
With all this in mind we decided on a ‘warm up’ mountaineering day taking in Blaven (929m) and traversing the impressive summit of Clach Glas in the Black Cuillins but which lies away from the main ridge. This traverse is a superb outing combining exposed scrambling and easy rock climbs along a complicated ridge. We lunched on the Putting green after descending The Imposter (which is climbed grade moderate). One final easy grade rock climb saw us reach the broad ridge of Blaven.
The Inaccessible Pinnacle
The time came for us to plan how we would tackle the main Cuillin ridge. Tim had been to the area before and said an ascent via the Dubh slabs after a boat ride across Loch Scavaig from Elgol is an amazing approach which we eagerly pursued. We left the van at Sligachan hotel and hitched around the following morning making for easier logistics for the traverse. After the rib ride across the Loch we ascended the Dubh slabs, a 35 degree rock slab climbing from sea level to 700m. This was an impressive ascent and the rock was positive and grippy.
Boat ride across Loch Scavaig
After our first abseil off the summit of Sgurr dubh mor we were on the main ridge.
We made a bivvy after climbing the TD gap which Tim led (he’d packed his climbing shoes purposefully). On awaking the following morning the weather had come in and cloud shrouded the summits obscuring our view and making our progress slower as route finding is notoriously tricky. The ridge continued and we scrambled, climbed and abseiled our way northwards before leaving the ridge as dark fell at Bruach na frithe.
One of many abseils
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