It’s my very
sad news to report that we didn’t complete the whole of the ridge Traverse in
Skye.
We completed
7 of the 11 Munros on the ridge and then the stand alone Munro of Bla Bheinn. I
can’t pretend that I am not disappointed not to have done it, we gave it our
best shot, sadly, we just weren’t skilled enough climbers to be able to do it
in the speed required. What is assured is that Guy and I will return to
complete the remaining 4 and we are already looking at the August Bank Holiday
to do so.
As I noted
earlier Guy and I did specifically do a course so that we could learn the
basics of mountaineering and without that I doubt we would have achieved as
much as we did. We knew that the time to learn knots was not on the side of a
mountain, we thought we had done enough, regrettably we had not and the
introduction of the clove hitch, simple hitch, Italian hitch and there was
another which escapes me meant that our progress was not as fast as it needed
to be to complete the whole ridge. It
would be easy to blame others, which would just be an excuse – it was up to us
to learn what we needed and we came up short – pure and simple.
In addition we
were confronted by another hurdle, entirely unexpected – the weather. I had
been crowing in the days leading up to our departure about how great the
forecast looked and the weather was brilliant as you can see in the pictures.
Amazingly it was too good, or at least it had been for the previous two weeks
which meant that many of the sources of water up on the ridge had simply dried
up. At the end of day one we had to make a decision, stop where there was
definitely water, albeit a dribble, or carry on for a further perhaps 4 hours
and gamble on their being a source of water. It was the right decision even if
it did mean we were doomed to failure by the end of day 1.
The story of
the Traverse
Our attempt
began at 7am on Friday 1st June when we left Luton and set the
Sat-Nav to take us to our B&B in Marsco. The first hint of trouble came
around 7.30 when it was announced that the A9 was closed. For those who know
Scotland they will know how important a road that is for moving around,
however, we thought that it would be clear by the time we got there, sadly no.
In itself that wasn’t the problem – the problem was caused by my Sat Nav
sending us a circuitous route. The drive had been uneventful until Glasgow when
suddenly it sent us a different way than expected – all I could hear was Debs,
my wife, saying “Trust the Sat Nav”, - thanks dear! (On the way back I didn’t
trust it and sure enough took an hour and a half off the journey time!!!!!)
We popped in
past our guide who lived in Fort William to do a bit of an equipment check and
agreed he would meet us at our B&B at 5.30am Sat morning where he would
lead us to Grenbittle, drop his motor bike, then take Guy’s car back to our
start point at the famous Sligichan Inn. All that remained was grabbing a bite
to eat and a beer before an early night!
So it was
that on a beautiful clear morning off we set with high hopes.
After a
straightforward slog in to the base of Sgurr nan Gillean the first real test,
Nicholson’s Chimney. We dumped our rucksacks to speed us up and when we got
there it looked brutal and if I am honest, pre my NLP cure of discomfort of
heights I would have struggled. As it was I felt like a mountain goat and
scrambled up no problem and abseiled down after we had bagged the summit of our
first Munro of the day. Once back at the bealach it was time to replenish our
water supplies and grab our rucksacks and head towards our second target, Am
Basteir. In itself that was pretty uneventful except that it gave us our first
view of the true nature of the ridge ahead – I struggle to find words to
describe how I felt when it was there. On the one hand awestruck as it is
without doubt a phenomenal view, on the other, the dawning reality of what an
enormous challenge we were undertaking.
The next
target Bruach na Frithe, was some distance off and this was when we began to
lose serious time as Guy and I were introduced to our various knots as we
joined up, Alpine-style we were told, to each other and the guide as we picked
our route through some incredibly exposed pieces of rock. One in particular
stands out. There was a gap of no more than 4 foot wide to step across; the
problem was the drop underneath the gap was between 300 and 400 feet!
As we
scrambled along there was no doubt that being roped up was slowing us down. Guy
and I agreed afterwards that Spike, yes that really was his name, could have
been less conservative with us, but ultimately he was the guide and we have to
accept that it was his call and that’s what we were paying him for.
Next we
headed towards the fourth Munro, Sgurr a Mhadaidh. There was some heart
stopping moments along the way including Spike having to help out two very
accomplished climbers to pick out a route after they almost came to a grisly
end! In addition there was a moment where I very nearly got stuck. I watched as
first Spike, then Guy made what Spike later described as the crux move of the
day, then simply couldn’t get up a virtually sheer face. It was frustrating as
everything else had been relatively straightforward until then.
It was now
approaching 6 o’clock in the evening and I (I am very proud to say) spotted
some water below us. Spike wanted to investigate an alternative, but returned
empty handed, so the decision was made that a nearby bank of grass would
provide our mattress for the night and so we settled down to a rustic dinner of
pasta, fresh fruit and dried fruit and nuts.
Guy was
clearly in the mood for a nap as he dropped off before the cooking was
complete!
No romantic
notions of sing songs round the fire, we were just grateful to get our heads
down for a while. As the sun began to set the temperature began to drop and I
was grateful for the warmth of my sleeping bag. I woke up around 10.30 to
discover that Guy was still awake and so we accessed a rather fabulous luxury
he had taken with him – a dram! If nothing else it helped us to get some more
sleep.
So we awoke
around 5.30 and grabbed some food and a cup of tea and broke camp before 7. It
took a wee while to get the heart pumping and banish the remaining chill from
the air but we had soon conquered Munro number 4.
Next up was Sgurr
a Ghreadaidh. By now both Guy and I were being given more leeway so there was
less need to be roped up and we made better time. Now the Inaccessible Pinnacle
was in sight and even at a distance we could see people on the top. It was
quite a sight.
As we
ploughed on we met many climbers coming the opposite way telling us of queues
of up to 45 minutes to climb the Inn Pinn, not what we needed to hear really.
Once number five
was done, Sgurr Na Banachdich, number 6 was comparatively uneventful and we
made our way towards the legendary Sgurr Dearg a.k.a.The Inaccessible Pinnacle.
It’s an iconic piece of rock planted right at the top of an iconic ridge. In
all our preparation this was the one that we felt would be the most challenging.
Frankly the pictures available on the net and taken by me just don’t do it
justice – it’s enormous and imposing. The shock was, after two days on the
ridge it held absolutely no fear for me. In the pub on Friday night we met a
climber who had done it and he had said it’s a long way down on one side and on
the other side is infinity – he wasn’t wrong! As we roped up and Spike took off
to lead, I hugged Guy and said, “We are doing this, see you at the top”, a
short time later and there we were. It speaks volumes that I am now confident I
could now climb up it solo i.e. without ropes! Going down I spotted a young
lassie, Pam it transpired, and asked her to take a pic of us coming down –
arguably they are the best of the lot.
Once down we
took the decision to head down. It would not have been possible to finish the
remaining four, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, Sgurr Alasdair, Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr
nan Eag before dark, so Guy and I agreed we would revisit those at some future
point with my brother, an experienced climber, to assist.
It was a long
trudge back to the bike and it speaks volumes of the mountaineers’ culture that
I decided to try and hitch a lift back to the B&B and got back before Spike
and Guy got to the B&B!!!!
After a bath
(boy were we glad to have access to that) it was off to the pub to enjoy a few
local beers and a few drams and a rather marvellous dessert.
After the
ridge
On the Monday
we decided to take on the stand alone Munro, Bla Bheinn. After a hearty
breakfast we set off at a much more leisurely time and started the ascent
around 10.30am. Once again a stunning day greeted us and in terms of view, the
best Munro on Skye.
The first hour or so had both of us thinking that this was
perhaps the easiest one we had ever done. The final drag of around an hour to
the summit put paid to that graphically illustrating that EVERY Munro deserves
respect. Two solid days of climbing on top of the ascent were taking their toll
as I reached the summit crest, but as soon as I did, the fatigue and pain were
gone as I was greeted by a stunning panorama of the Cuillin Ridge to the north
and to the South, a full 90km away, Ben Nevis was clearly visible with its snow
covered top – a truly amazing sight and certainly my camera couldn’t do it
justice.
At the top of
Bla Bheinn there are actually two summits and to get to the other required what
on previous expeditions may have been described as a bit of “willy tingling!”
to cross between the two. The experience of the previous two days though had
stood us in good stead and frankly it was a dawdle this time.
After the
second summit was conquered it was back to the car and as I got to the car I
could not resist a quick blast of “God Save The Queen” by the Sex Pistols – it seemed
appropriate.
Final
thoughts
Sitting in
the Old Inn, Carbost on our final evening we reflected on what might have been,
no regrets simply that we did come pretty close to completing a truly epic
adventure. We won’t be beaten and whether it’s August or next spring we will be
back to do the final four. It would be remiss of me not to refer back to an earlier post when I referred to the advice I received that post Skye was ideal for robbing a bank - the following picture says it all!
So far I have
raised £600 which will be split equally between Rett UK and the video coaching
fund for our squash juniors. Thanks very much to everyone who has so generously
donated so far, there is still time to donate, simply click below.
Many, many
thanks.
