The climb up this hill proved to be a test of endurance under conditions of bad visibility, wind and rain. Let’s begin at the start, though. We set off one morning from Glen Brittle House and headed across the moor on the path that rises more or less gently towards Corrie Laggan. Once past the Eas Mor we reached the base of the clouds and were soon engulfed by the white and increasingly moist stuff. The path climbed steadily past Loch an Fhir-bhallaich, levelled off a bit and then we met the path coming up from the Glen Brittle Campsite.

We continued uphill, climbed up some scree-covered rock slabs and arrived at Loch Coire Laggan soon. Once at the outflow of the Loch we stuck to the south shore until we reached the point were the Great Stone Shoot ends among boulders. Due to the bad visibiity we were not 100% sure at first that we climbed the right scree slope but further up it became obvious that many other climbers had suffered on this ascent before. For suffer we did, too, since it was more or less a matter of two steps forward and one and a half backwards again. The scree was very steep, unstable and climbing it was extremely exhausting. But then we reached the part of the shoot were the walls of Sgurr Alasdair and Sgurr Thearlaich move togehter closer and the gap between the two summit was becoming visible further up. The wind picked up once we got close to the beallach. We sat in a sheltered spot and rested for a few moments. Then we tackled the final 30 or 40 metres of the summit ridge which was quite slippery under these wet and windy conditions. On the way up we met a group of Englishmen we already had talked to when we climbed Sgurr nan Eag.

At the summit we congratulated each other on having gained the highest point of the Cuillin and headed back home again straight away. The run down the … [Read More]

The first day of hiking on Skye in 2007 saw Frank and me tackling the three Munros of Corrie a’Ghreadaidh. From the Youth Hostel in Glen Brittle we walked up the path into the corrie, just as Mike and me had done four and a half years earlier (life’s ticking away, pal). After a mile or so we located the junction with the return path coming out of Corrie an Eich. We continued on the main path, however, later crossed the Allt a’ Choire Ghreadaidh and climbed into the upper corrie. From the flat section of this magnificent arena we watched a group of hikers tackling the northwest ridge of Sgurr a’Mhadaidh – certainly an entertainig scramble.

For us, however, it was up the stone shoot and rocky terrain to the An Dorus col. From the col we climbed up to the summit of Sgurr a’Mhadaidh in five minutes. Instead of enjoying the views we put on our protective plastic as it started to rain. Sleat was beating down on us. Luckily this was only a short shower. The clouds and fog stayed with us for the rest of the day, though. Blimey! So it was back to an Dorus – the last few metres being quite slippery after the shower. Then we climbed the entertaining north ridge of Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh, passed the deep cleft and The Wart and touched the summit cairn(-let) of our second Munro of the day. No views but also no wind. You have to be content with what The Cuillins give you :-).

The continuation along the southwest ridge was an exceptionally interesting climb – at least for hikers like us. Constant handwork, some minor difficulties and loads of fun. Then the ridge widened, the fun was over and we soon we passed the three teeth of Sgurr Thormaid and climbed to the summit of this hill. A little pause. On we went down the southwestern side of Sgurr Thormaid and then the final steep slope beside the cliffs of Sgurr na Banachdich had to climbed before … [Read More]

The first day of hiking on Skye in 2007 saw Frank and me tackling the three Munros of Corrie a’Ghreadaidh. From the Youth Hostel in Glen Brittle we walked up the path into the corrie, just as Mike and me had done four and a half years earlier (life’s ticking away, pal). After a mile or so we located the junction with the return path coming out of Corrie an Eich. We continued on the main path, however, later crossed the Allt a’ Choire Ghreadaidh and climbed into the upper corrie. From the flat section of this magnificent arena we watched a group of hikers tackling the northwest ridge of Sgurr a’Mhadaidh – certainly an entertainig scramble. For us, however, it was up the stone shoot and rocky terrain to the An Dorus col.

From the col we climbed up to the summit of Sgurr a’Mhadaidh in five minutes. Instead of enjoying the views we put on our protective plastic as it started to rain. Sleat was beating down on us. Luckily this was only a short shower. The clouds and fog stayed with us for the rest of the day, though. Blimey! So it was back to an Dorus – the last few metres being quite slippery after the shower. Then we climbed the entertaining north ridge of Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh, passed the deep cleft and The Wart and touched the summit cairn(-let) of our second Munro of the day. No views but also no wind. You have to be content with what The Cuillins give you :-).

The continuation along the southwest ridge was an exceptionally interesting climb – at least for hikers like us. Constant handwork, some minor difficulties and loads of fun. Then the ridge widened, the fun was over and we soon we passed the three teeth of Sgurr Thormaid and climbed to the summit of this hill. A little pause. On we went down the southwestern side of Sgurr Thormaid and then the final steep slope beside the cliffs of Sgurr na Banachdich had to … [Read More]

This was to be the day of a great outing in the Cuillins. Sgurr nan Eag, Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Alasdair in one go. So with a lot of energy we started our hike from the public car park close to Glen Brittle camp site. We passed the toilet block of the camp site and climbed up the path leading to Coir’ a’Ghrunnda.

At some intersection we missed the upper branch of the path and so we finally got to the flattish area where the Allt Coir’ a’Ghrunnda has already emerged from beneath the great slabs. Admitting navigational defeat we climbed the great glacial slabs (real fun, impressive terrain), headed in a northerly direction and rejoined the path leading to Loch Coir’ a’Ghrunnda 150 m higher up. Once on the path we followed it through a jumble of big boulders to a final rising on a rocky section by the Allt (optional scambling) and strolled into the bowl of the marvellous corrie. Pausing for a few minutes we took in the views which were obstructed by low clowds most of the time, however. Passing the loch on its northern side we than continued up very bouldery terrain (rough, rough volcanic rocks – my gloves and my trousers suffered a lot) to the beallach north of Caisteal a’ Garbh-choire, climbing through a rock window just at the beallach. A cool terrain for sure.

Then we bypassed Caisteal a’ Garbh-choire on the north side and headed due south up the ledges of the south/southwest ridge of Sgurr nan Eag. This was an entertaining climb/scramble of sorts, with the path appearing and disappearing in the clouds and mist. The wind had picked up considerably and some precipitation had made the rock slippery. On we climbed over one, two or three false summits until we reached the highest point of the hill. We rested in the lee below the summit for sandwiches and tea and exchanged a few words with a couple of friendly English walkers. Unfortunately there were no views to be … [Read More]

1995 Nachdem Cord wegen Knieproblemen ausfiel – ich laborierte zwar noch an der Bänderdehnung, die ich mir wegen lustiger Videoaufnahmen (Rinderwahnsinn) zugezogen hatte – wollten Alex und ich mal einen Berg auf Skye besteigen. Vom Sliagachen Hotel aus sprinteten wir zum Fuss der Cuillins. Das Tempo drosselten wir erst wieder als vor uns eine 20köpfige Gruppe an einer engen Aufstiegsstelle nicht vorwärts kam. Es gab einige nette Scrambles und kurz vorm Gipfel noch einen Traudichschritt bzw. Bad Step. Auf dem Gipfel selbst herrschte drangvolle Enge (es war ein Sonntag). Es gab nur einen Weg zurück – den, den wir gekommen war. Abschließend nahmen wir noch ein Bier im Sliagachen Hotel zu uns. (RachefürSchumi-Tour mit Jacke vergessen Memorial und abholen am nächsten Tag).

2000 Staying at the Sligachan Hotel for four days with Stephanie and Fiona I had set my eyes on the three Munros lying south to south-west of our lodgings. On a fine sunny early Saturday afternoon at 1pm I set out from the Hotel walking up the easy path to the waterfalls of the Allt Dearg Beag where a small footbridge crosses the burn. In contrast to what the maps show the path up into Corrie Riabhach is quite well worn and obvious. In the upper part of the corrie, however, I had some minor problems finding the easiest route up to the south east ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean and a little enjoyable scrambling followed. Once on the ridge I paused to take in the panorama of the Cuillin ridge stretching out before me to the south-west. I met a few other hikers on the south-east ridge who were already on their way down the hill and found my way up to the summit of the Sgurr by first following the crest of the ridge and then walking over some bands of rock on the left-hand side of the crest. The tiny summit plateau was all mine. What a privilege – nobody there. I paused for half an hour and enjoyed the scenery from this marvellous viewpoint. … [Read More]