Out Fur a Walk: Skye 2006 Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Nan Eag.

Skye 2006 Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Nan Eag.

28 July 2006 I drove into Aberdeen to pick up Graham T, of the Aberdeen mountain rescue who also worked at the same institute as I did at the time. I filled the car up with diesel at the Propeller filling station in Bucksburn, Aberdeen. At a cost of £36.50 then, £65 ish now. Went round and picked up Graham and his gear. We would be camping at Glen Brittle campsite for 2 nights, we headed off to Skye and got to Glenbrittle campsite in the early evening and set our tents up.

Graham had a book on bouldering so we set off along the path to the point to find these boulders.

This boulder is about 15 foot high.

After messing about at the boulders we headed back to the campsite.

Tried to sit out on a couple of folding chairs I had brought with us but got eaten alive by the bloody midge, so took refuge in the car for a while until we went into our tents for an early night.
Got up early and there was a bit of wind so no midge - yahoo! Hit the showers had breakfast then Graham and I set off up the track heading East behind the shower block.

Destination Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr nan Eag via Coir a' Ghrunnda. This was not long after I had tried to drown myself in the river Dee so I was pretty nervous about river crossings and wide burns. Oh good only 4 burns to cross along this path, hmm.

As we were walking along the south side of Sron na Ciche we could see rain coming in from the sea, I stopped and got my so called waterproof trousers on before it reached us. The heavens opened absolutely peeing it down with nowhere to shelter -great. My fantastic so called waterproof jacket - waterproof to 4m (ha ha) was like a sieve.

Graham had a good jacket on with a pair of shorts and gaiters and he seemed ok. A drookit rat would have been drier than I was and we hadn't started the climb yet.

We could see the corie from a good way off and the waterfall from Loch Coir a' Ghrundnna fast flowing down the rocks.

Getting nearer, a wee bit of a hike to get here.

With the rain going bye the cloud came down over the loch but I had my mountain rescue guide with me so I just followed him. Hard to keep up at times, he was that fast.

He later did the top 2000 miles of the Appalachian trail in America over a few months.

Appalachian trail the red line.

Thankfully the rain went as quick as it had come and we started up into Coir a' Ghrunnda, there is only one direction from here - straight up and it just keeps getting steeper as you ascend.

We followed a path of sorts up the West side heading for the waterfall ahead.

A very wet me in Coir a' Ghrunnda.

It was getting steeper as we made our way up through the corie.

And then you get to this.

The fun bit is scrambling up the waterfall to get to the loch.

We found a route and scrambled up the wet rock which was a tad tricky.

A wee bit tired now so stopped for a breather, still wet through.

Just up from the water fall.

Did I tell you it got even steeper from here up?

The dark Cuillin rocks look like something out of a sci-fi movie, the pinnacles between Sgurr Sgumain and Sgurr Alasdair looked like they were watching us from above.

Sgurr Sgumain left and Sgurr Alasdair right.

Not quite such a dark view looking back down over Loch Coir a' Ghrunnda - that's me coming up.

You get a wee rest along the side of the loch but it gets steeper now.

We would have to tackle that lump in the middle later to get to Sgurr Nan Eag.

We skirted across and up the rear of the corie till we got a flat bit for a break. It was getting a bit windy and I was getting very cold as I was still wet through at this point but by good luck I had kept my fleece in my rucksack and it was dry.

We stopped here, Sgurr Nan Eag ahead.

A few views round the corie next.

Did I tell you it kept getting steeper?

Scrambling ahead just to get to the bealach.

Getting near the top of the corie now and a flat bit, not many of them on this walk.

I can't remember exactly which bit this is but I put it in anyway, it could be looking in the direction of TD gap possibly.

Sgurr Alasdair that way. Gulp!! Don't panic there is a way around but it involves climbing.

We made our way over the bealach and down to the base of Sgurr Dubh Mor with the wind picking up now.

Tricky bits through the rocks and down to the base of Sgurr Dubh Mor and then you see this bad boy in front of you.

There was no obvious path up this at the time we climbed it. Its not far off vertical in some places and getting down is 10 times worse than getting up.

There is a route on Steven Fallons website that shows you a path to get up and down. Link below and select Sgurr Dubh Mor from the Munro list.

http://www.stevenfallon.co.uk/munrosr.html or

http://www.stevenfallon.co.uk/cuillinsouth.html should take you straight to it.

At the base of the climb, yes up there.

I dropped my rucksack for the climb at the base Graham took his as he had a rope in it.

A narrow ledge to start from.

Graham led and I followed quite glad he was here with me as I don't think I would have climbed Sgurr Dubh Mor on my own at that time. Now I would no prob.

We picked our way up to the top into a very strong wind. So strong we did not stand up just shuffled along to the summit.

Graham on the summit wedged in against the wind.

A very happy me on top of my first Cuillin Munro Sgurr Dubh Mor, Holding on tight in the wind. Now we got up here okay but getting back down was a different matter.

Graham led down and we had to change routes a couple of times in order to get back to the bottom. You could just abseil it if you found it too tricky.

The path back to the bealach with Sgurr Alasdiar in the distance.
The path goes off to the left.

A few scrambly bits on the way back to the bealach .

Making my way back to the bealach.

Back at the belach heading now for Sgurr Nan Eag and our second Munro of the day.

Sgurr Nan Eag right peek 924m

We managed to skirt round the big rock seen in an earlier photo and could see slings where people had been abseiling down from it.

It's a steep rocky climb up to the cairn and took a wee while to get there.

Me at Sgurr Nan Eag cairn, Munro No 2

Graham at Sgurr Nan Eag cairn

Graham then came up with the bright idea of going down the south face of Gars-bheinn. We made our way along the ridge and started down the boulder field. It was like walking in soft snow except with boulders sliding along with you. This goes on half way down the slope. A major stepmaster if you were coming up this way.

Not so bad further down when you get into grass but still quite steep.

The little blue dot in the centre of shot is me.

You come down onto a path leading back to Glen Brittle about 6km away.

By the time we got back to the campsite it was chucking it down and we were both tired and wet, well at least I was.

Back at campsite.

Only one thing for it get changed and go to the pub.

We got ready and headed up to Carboost the nearest pub. Had a meal and one pint as I was driving, Graham had several pints and we spent most of the night there.
Back to the campsite and bed. I promised Graham to cook a fry up in the morning.

Cooking breakfast.

After breakfast we packed up the car and headed back to Aberdeen. The one tank of diesel took me back to the Propeller filling station, just over 500 miles. Graham and I split the cost and he could not believe how cheap it was compared to going on the bus as he had normally to do with not having a driving licence. I hope to climb these again some time probably with Brian and the other Graham I walk with at the moment. I will take a rope with me just to be on the safe side.

Most of the pictures are taken on Graham T's digital camera. In 2006 they were not cheap like they are now. I was using a 35mm compact camera.