Sgurr Mhic Choinnich The Cuillin Skye

Sgurr Mhic Choinnich

The Cuillin Skye

26/5/12

  Summer was here at last warm and with the sun shining. I decided to go to Skye and bag Sgurr Mhic Choinnich with the intent of re-climbing the Inn Pin too.

  I had been a bit undecided when to go but with the weather so good and the forecast for the weekend still good I decided to go on Saturday the 26th May. This would be a trip on a tight budget so I left for Skye early around 6am,  and of course not too early that the cafe at Tarve would not be open when I got there. Just on my tod this trip, the others had other commitments. I set off heading up to Huntly from Alford over the Suie hill which was very foggy at the top that morning. I find with the new Fochabers by-pass it's only about 1hour 40 minutes to Inverness now (that is at this time in the morning).  Hardly a car on the road all the way to Inverness where I stopped at Tesco to fill up with diesel as I had a 5p off coupon from the shopping. After filling the car up and buying a Daily Star newspaper I remembered that I had not taken a pillow with me for the night in the tent. A visit to the Tesco store to buy pillows then, which we needed for the house any way. Now with the Daily Star on a Saturday there was a voucher for a free Health Lotto ticket, I had taken it with me into the store to get the ticket. The kiosk where you could get the health lotto ticket was not open yet and I was not standing about waiting for it to open. Armed with my new pillows I headed over the Kessock Bridge on the A9 heading north and breakfast at the Tarve Services. Just in case it was shut for some reason I had had breakfast before I left.

  8 a.m and I reached Tarve Services - time for a bacon roll and a cup of tea. Only thing was I didn't fancy a bacon roll so I had a link or square sausage roll for a change, won't be doing that again. It used to be run by a man and his wife but they have now retired and their 3 daughters run it now. Sylvia and Jemma now own it and Crystal helps them out. Sylvia is the small one Jemma is the chief and Crystal serves some times.

    

This is Crystal.

  I got a bit confused while we were chatting as Crystal used to have blond hair and dopey me kept adding another sister till she told me she had been the blond one.

 After breakfast No 2 I set off for Skye via Achnasheen not stopping for a change at the station. The usual thing happened, the big wide road from Garv to Achnashellach I didn't meet a car - got onto the single track from Achnashellach to Loch Caron and cars everywhere so it was in and out of the passing places with a Merc in front of me. What's new ? lol. We turned off at New Kelso and onto the A890 which had been closed due to a land slide. The Strome ferry was reinstated after about 48 years so you could by-pass the land slide. Turned out to be a big tourist attraction and it even managed to run aground one day.

   When I reached where the land slip had been just through the concrete road and rail tunnel there was new wire link fencing right up the cliff face to catch any rocks falling down onto the road. The railway follows the Loch side but the road climbs steeply up and back down, I couldn't keep up with the Merc on the hills but on the flat the little engine that could was right behind it. I ended up in a queue of cars with the car in the lead going 40mph round this twisty road, got past him after a few miles and the Merc was long gone by the time I got passed. Onto the A97 at Acuhtertyre and heading for Kyle and the Skye Bridge. Not may cars so it did not take long to get to the Bridge and I could see the tops were cloud free, a rare sight on Skye. Headed for Broadford and the Co-op where I finally got my Health Lotto ticket and found out there's a loo in there, very handy. Heading for Sligachan now and just past Luib I came on some local lads doing a sponsored boat pull along the road. They had a big rowing boat on a 4 wheel trailer and were pulling the length of Skye I think - while harassing passing motorist for cash. Of course they were wearing their kilts!

 On to Sligachan and there were quite a few folk at the camp site. Turned off here at the Hotel as I was going to camp at Glen Brittle. There were loads of mountain rescue trucks at the mountain rescue station down the glen - all out training on a nice day. It's an 8 mile narrow single track road down to the camp site and of course you meet a load of cars, so in and out of the passing places quite a lot yet again. When I got down to the entrance to the camp site there were so many cars parked at the entrance it was quite tight to get in, with more mountain rescue down here too. Went to the shop to pay, £7 each now but the pain in the butt lock on the shower/ toilet doors has been done away with - great.

  There was a nice breeze coming off the sea - no midge yahoo. Made it fun to put the tent up.

      

Sgurr Mhic Choinnich is the little bump centre of the photo. I was kitted up and ready to go around 11am. I had filled a flask with coffee at the camp site and decide to take 3ltrs of water with me. Two of the bottles had been in the freezer over night so they would thaw out as I walked giving me a cool drink. Boy was it hot. I also had my rope harness and climbing hat to lug so my rucksack was pretty heavy about 14kg. I decided on a long sleeve top so I could cover up if the sun got too bad which turned out to be a good move later on. The path is just behind the toilet block with a lovely smell coming from the drains as I passed. It's a sea level start so  900m + to climb with a steady climb up from the toilet block but on a good path.

  After 3/4 km the path splits, take the left hand path for Coire Lagan. Sgurr Mhic Choinnich was in view as I climbed up the path from the toilet block but quite a way off.

    

Sgurr Mhic Choinnich centre in photo.

Another walker was coming up not far behind me and I ended up walking with him along the path chatting away as we walked. He was a geologist who worked for schools and went on field trips all over Scotland. Bet there's a few jealous teachers reading this bit stuck in their classrooms. He did not have enough water with him and planned on filling up from a burn.

There is a good flowing burn further down but the only running water we could see was quite far up where the steeper climb started.

 

I had been feeling a bit off for a couple of weeks before this climb so I was finding it a slog with the heavy rucksack even on this path plus I knew what was to come ahead.

We found a wee running burn just before the climb up to the Loch in Coire Lagan  and we parted company as he was going up a different Coire from me.  I kept drinking water to stay hydrated in the heat. I was climbing up the steep bit to the Loch in Coire Lagan with very little energy left now and some scrambling to come soon. Just kept chugging along knowing I would be at the Loch soon where I was going to stop for lunch.

 It was great to get the rucksack off for a while but with the heat and the hard climb up to here I found it difficult to eat. Ate what I could while sitting on a big rock watching others swimming in the loch. It was even hotter now in the coire but with a breeze off the sea, so I kept my sun hat on for the walk up to the loch. As I was sitting some guys came back up just to swim in the loch to cool off.

  Just after 1 p.m. now I was still feeling weary as I packed up the rucksack and headed to what would be a killer climb up the An Stac screes. The scree starts around the 600m contour and goes on to about 810m.

  

The light grey line on the left of the photo is the scree. On the other side of the coire is the great stone chute, steeper and longer that the An Stac scree - the stepmaster from Hell.

I've been up that one - you can read an earlier blog of mine about it if you want.

 As I got closer to the scree I could see a guy 3/4 of the way up making steady progress.

The speck 3/4 of the way up is a climber.

The guys that had come back up were now swimming in Loch Coire Lagan cooling off as the heat seemed to be intensified in the coire.

Onward and upward. When I reached the bottom of the scree I thought about dragging my rope behind me to lessen the weight but it would have been in tatters by the time I got up the scree. Got the old climbing hat on and put a bottle of water into my side trouser pocket to  lessen the weight of the rucksack but it still seemed to weigh a ton.

Welcome to the other Stepmaster from Hell in Coire Lagen,  the An Stac scree.

 I was not exactly feeling that great when I started at the bottom of this - tired, weary and hot. The first bit is okay but after the corner the dance starts 1 step forward 3 steps back and at some points I was going down more that up. Loose rocks and gravel, you had to put your foot down then wait to see if it would take off down the slope or not. I tried using my hands and feet but the rocks were  hot from the sun shining on them. So I was digging in my poles to stop sliding down, after a while of this I was getting pain in my wrist from the pressure on the Titanium plates and screws that hold my wrist together. It seemed like I could feel each screw digging into the bones as I fought to stay upright with the scree having other ideas. I tried going off to one side where the rocks were bigger which was a bit better but they just want to slide back down the hill as you stand on them. I was only taking about 3 steps at a time before having to rest at I was cream crackered trying to get up here.

With this in front of me I thought about giving up but I fought my way up to about 3/4 of the way to the top of the scree. Completely shattered now I couldn't go on then I spied hard rock off to the left and decided to get over there for a rest. I had to cross a bit of a gully where there are no rocks left just gravel and that was worse than the rocks.

 Got onto a rock and took my jacket out of the rucksack and put it on with the hood up to get shade from the sun. Tried to eat but when you are exhausted with a dry mouth it's very difficult, but I sort of  managed to eat a roll with ham. While I was sitting recovering I could see a guided party coming down off Sgurr  Mhic Choinnich

 This  was handy as I saw what route to take up and down. Still trying to decide where to go up or down I lay there for a good while recovering. Another guided party came down past me  and the guide who I spoke to said " That's an Aberdeenshire accent " he was from Tarves leading a party up there that day.  I filmed a bit of Mhic Choinnich  with the party coming down and took a  few photos. There were a few people on the great stone chute but they looked like tiny dots on it.

After a good while recovering I decided to go up as it was not that far to where I could dump my rucksack. The guided party that had been on Sgurr Mhic Chionnich was now  coming down the scree and I had to watch out for flying rocks, so I decided to stay put till they had passed.

The last bit of scree before I could dump my rucksack.

The guided party heading down the scree.

Even after my extended break I was still shattered as I fought my way up the last bit of scree - it had taken me an hour and a half to get up 250m of scree.

  As I approached a very small cave big enough for a couple of rucksacks there were a few climbers coming back down from Sgurr Mhic Chionnich. A girl in the party looked down to where I was and asked where they should go as there was a big rock formation right ahead of them. I shouted and gestured to them to come down to where I was and that there was a path up An Stac and to the Sgurr Drarg from here.

Boy was it hot as the wind had dropped down a bit on the ridge now. Dropped the rucksack down in the cave and sat back out of the sun.

 They stopped to chat to me, the bloke was very thirsty so I offered him a coffee from my flask which I had lugged up here. He was sure glad of it as it was still nice and hot. The girl didn't want the coffee as she said it would give her the shakes and dehydrate her more. It certainly perked the bloke up for the climb up An Stac and Sgurr Dearg, then they went on their way and I got the rope and harness out of the rucksack.

 I had a muck about at home to see what would be the best way to carry the rope and found that if I just coiled it in a circle I could sling it over one shoulder. Got the harness on and took a couple of slings just in case then stuck a bottle of water in my trouser leg pocket and set off  for the summit, not much energy left now and it was up hill through the rocks.

This is what I faced ahead - LOL.

I kept chugging along feeling shattered with the sun still beating down. Unfortunately you have to go up then back down to get round Rotten Gully which you can see just 1/2 way up the left side of the above photo.

      

Rotten Gully - a wee bit of a drop on the other side.

I also could see what I thought to be Collies or Harts Ledge from here I think it's the yellow narrow path in the middle of the next photo.

Graham asked me if I had gone on Collies Ledge when I was home and my reply was I ain't that brave!

When I got to the bottom end of Rotten Gully I had to climb back up which is hard work when you're shattered.

Up there then - well I had got this far. I did not take my poles with me on this bit but they would have been handy up here. The real climb started at the bottom of that big lump you see ahead.

The first of the real scrambling starts here.  Took me 30 minutes to get to the top from here.

Yes up here ! this was getting interesting now, I like scrambling but being so weary I took my time and made sure I got good hand and feet holds.

More up through this bit.

Nearing the top of the first section.

I I think this might be the start of Collies Ledge - but I could be wrong.

It's like this all the way to the summit.

Got a great view back over to the Inn Pin and climbers on it from here.

The Inn Pin

The summit came into sight ahead but there is one really narrow bit you have to cross where the ridge is only about 3 foot wide with huge drops either side, you could jump it but I just went down a bit and back up. There is a bit of a path now and again.

I was begining to think I would never get to the summit about here just as it came into sight ahead. There are crampon marks on the rocks up here,  not a place I would go in the winter I don't think. With me not eating much and dehydration my waist size had shrunk so my trousers and harness kept heading downwards with me having to pull them back up. You don't really want your trousers to fall down as you're making a move on rocks.

Summit getting close now, just keep putting one leg in front of the other to get there.

The next bit gets interesting as you have to cross the rock face which slopes steeply down to the left in the photos.

If you think this is steep have a look at the next photo.

The way to the top is straight ahead and round the left hand side of the big rock at the top. If you were up here in the wet or ice you might well have brown trousers getting over this bit, bad enough in the dry as the slope to the left doesn't stop for a few thousand feet. That big rock at the top is about 20 feet high but the photo doesn't give it much scale.

 Some how I reached the top around 4.45 p.m. and plonked my camera on the top pointing at me with the self timer going, (which I seem to be able to work now) with

Sgurr Theearlaich and Sgurr Alasdair behind me.

Not the sharpest of photos - no wise cracks now!

The way back and the top cairn of Sgurr Mhic chionnich. There is a memorial plaque here but I did not read it, not much energy left now to move about. Started thinking about a nice pint of Guinness about here and it's medicinal properties - well you used to be able to get a prescription from the doctor for it long ago. My mouth was very dry and my frozen water had thawed out a good while ago.

Sat for a while and watched a party getting ready to climb Sgurr Thearlaich.

    

A couple of other climbers were coming up to the summit as I started down, slowly I might add. Thought I might have to abseil down the big rock climb near the end but it turned out to be easier to go down than come up in some of the scrambling. I had taken the rope with me just in case - a bit like a security blanket really. If I had got stuck or nervous about parts of the descent I could always abseil it. Passed the two climbers near the summit but they were not the chatty type just a nod as we passed. The only bit that was tricky is when you get back to the 3 foot wide bit but if you drop down the Glen Brittle side a wee bit you get across no bother. I could see a guy coming up the scree no shirt on and scrambling up bent over using his hands and legs, he made good progress too. Until I think he ran out of steam and came to a halt around where I had. 

  Took me nearly an hour to get back to my rucksack and the climb back up the side of Rotten Gully was hard with no poles. If I ever go up there again and it's a big if, I am taking my poles to the bottom of the big rock past Rotten Gully. I plonked myself into the wee cave out of the sun and tried to eat a bag of crisps to get some energy, it felt like I was eating broken glass as my mouth was so dry now. I had planned to go up to the Inn Pin but there was no way I had the energy to climb up past  Ann Stac let alone climb the Pin.

Nothing for it but pack up the rope and gear and head down the An Stac scree  -something I was not looking forward to.

    

Let's slide.

    Well blow me it turned out to be a doddle as the rocks just slid along with me, only thing you had to watch was not to get too fast as the big rocks came too. One and a half hours to climb the scree and 20 mins to get down. Only thing being with the sun beating down all day Coire Lagan had turned into a storage heater hot, hot, hot down  here now. As I was feeling so crap now and found it difficult to drink water too with a mouth as dry as toast I resorted to a trick I came up with on the Fisherfield walk last year, fill your mouth with water and just keep it there as long as you can. It gets a bit hot after a while and you end up spitting it out but some trickles down in to you.  I had met a guy around here on the way up and he was feeling sick after drinking 3ltr's of water to keep hydrated in the heat. Well I was not feeling too bright at this point so it was plod mode from here to the camp site, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Down by the loch and I stopped for a wee while to try and gather up some energy from somewhere. There were still climbers coming up even at this time of day, 6.30 p.m. now. One bloke heading for the Great Stone Chute had a bed roll with him I think he planned on spending the night on the ridge.

   I set off down and into the waterfall out from the Loch to cool my feet down and poured water over my head to cool down. With just under 4 km to go to the camp site from here on a rocky path with a wee bit of scrambling down from the loch I decided I was never going hill walking again!. The wind had dropped now and there were a few midge about, I just kept walking slowly I might add but at least it was down hill.

  

A very welcome sight, the camp site ahead. Still not sure how I kept  my legs moving forward. I am sure they were on automatic as it was difficult even to think at this point.

Got down to the camp site with the welcome smell of septic tank at the toilet block, only 50 m to go, damn up a wee hill though. Back at the car dumped the rucksack on the grass and dug a chair out of the boot and sat down completely exhausted now. I would say that this could have been the hardest walk I had ever done. Partly due to the fact that I had not been feeling 100% for a few weeks plus the intense heat plus the heavy rucksack with the rope and climbing gear plus dehydration making me feel sickish too.

  Sat for a while till I could move again and dug a soft moist cake out of the boot for something to eat - big mistake there, that tried to come up quicker that it went down  diving behind the car retching out of sight of the other campers I managed to not be sick. 7.20 ish now and thinking about Guinness again knowing it would make me feel better.  I decided to go for a shower and headed very slowly down to the toilet block, I had been at this site before and there are powerful showers here - damn a queue for the showers with a couple of blokes waiting. No seats in here so I just slid down the wall and sat on the wet shower block floor till a shower became available. Someone had left shower gel hanging in the shower which was nice and refreshing to use. I had taken a change of clothes with me down to the shower block for after I'd freshened up. Then I went back to the car and sat in the seat outside with a light breeze blowing still. There were a couple of guys next to me sorting out climbing gear for the next day, trying to work out how to split up the weight between them, still not able to eat I was busy thinking it was 8 miles to the pub !

   Well did the wind not drop down completely then and in Skye that means look out you're about to be eaten alive. I went round the tent to a face full of female damn Midge, that was it, pulled the tent down as fast as I could and threw it into the back seat of the car - didn't even rolled it up. Campers were begining to do the Midge dance then scratch and dive into their tents. So I set off for Carbost and the pub 8 miles away up the single track road, still thinking sod this hill walking I won't be doing that again. Playing wallop the midge in the car - little buggers get everywhere.

 Turned down at the end of Glen Brittle for the pub and stopped to photograph a boat silhouetted in the loch with haze of the water.

Have this on my desk top now as a background.

   Got parked down from the pub as it was quite busy and got a seat at the bar decided on a 1/2 pint of Guinness just in case it would not go down. But bliss a nice cool drink of Guinness sliding down a treat just sipping it of course.

  Well there sat at the end of the bar was Tony Hanlay  the mountain guide who had taken me up the Inn Pin speaking to another guide about a rescue that had taken place that day. Some poor soul had lain down in the sun and fallen asleep, upon wakening up he had turned into a lobster with serious sunburn. The police and ambulances had been  in attendance and with all the different mountain rescue groups out on the hills training I don't think it took long to get to him. Said hi to Tony and he remembered me from two years before and we chatted away for a while. Feeling a bit better now I chanced a second 1/2 pint and bought Tony a pint too as he had taken me and Brian back up to the Pin on separate occasions after our failed attempt on our first go due to bad weather, which he remembered about too. With all the hundreds of people Tony guides I was surprised that he remembered it.

  Head for home. As you get out of the pub there is a flight of steps to climb back up to the road, they were tough to climb with weary legs. Headed for Sligachan  with the sun begining to go down, I stopped to take some photos of Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Basteir and Bruach na Frithe with the low sun on top.

Panorama

Most of the shots you see of these hills are taken from Sligachan . This was taken further along the road to Carbost.

 Sun going down and heading home just before Broadford took this photo in the sunset looking north.

Onto the Skye Bridge and the mainland at Kyle, with one more stop then to take a photo of the Skye Bridge in the sunset.

There are a few more photos on Flicker, I've put a link at the end.

Headed for home, back of 10 pm, now feeling okay to drive. I was still taking drinks of water to re-hydrate myself. I planned to drive for a while and then pull into a lay-by for a sleep somewhere down the road. 

  Decided to go back on the Loch Caron road and turned left at Auchtertyre onto the A890 and the road to Achnasheen. No traffic now, I passed a few camper vans in lay-bys. Kept on driving till I hit the single track road and came to where Brian and I had parked to walk to Maol Chean Dearg and pulled in, it was around 11pm now and dark. Jumped into the sleeping bag in the passenger side and found my new pillows, I did sleep on and off. I kept having to drink as I was still very thirsty so I had to get up and go into the boot to find a bottle of water around midnight so Icould keep drinking. 1 am, awake again now I decided to drive on. Heading along the straight road from Achnasheen to Garve I decided to only go 50 mph with good reason, I was worried about deer on the road at this time of night and it was not long before I came on a massive Stag crossing the road in front of me, there were quite a few deer  on the road by the time I got to Garve, and all the matrix signs down the road warned of deer on the road.  I had to dodge around the remains of a deer just about Inverness airport but after that there was nothing. Got home at 4 am - 23 hours after I had left. I went to bed and slept well till about 9.45 am.  It took me a couple of days of drinking liquids before I stopped feeling thirsty. (Now about never going up a hill again.) Well I almost went with the Y.M.C.A to Glen Coe but it was cancelled and I am waiting to hear from Graham if he can make it out this Sunday for a walk! Hill walking is a bit like a drug, it will try and kill you but it will draw you back to it no matter how knackered you were on the last walk. I have been feeling much better lately, not sure what was wrong with me for that few weeks.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino60/sets/72157629920008552/
Flicker link

The End

Dino60