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.
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
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino60/sets/72157629920008552/
Flicker link
The
End
Dino60
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