Cuillins with Winky (part 1)

There comes a time in every would-be Munroist's life when the challenge of the Inaccessible Pinnacle must be faced!  I had stood at the base of its west face back in 2003, and knew then that I would need some experienced assistance to get up there (and back down) in one piece.  And so it was that Iain and I hired the services of Winky O'Neale for a week in late May 2005.

Day 1:  Sunday 29th May


Sgurr a'Mhadaidh, 
Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh and 
Sgurr na Banachdich


We met up with Winky in the pub at Carbost on Saturday evening, to get to know each other, and to make plans for the next day.  "Meet at Glenbrittle Youth Hostel at 9.30am".  That suited us fine, as we would be staying there on Sunday evening.  


Wandering back to our B&B, we hoped the sign on the Free Church was not an omen!  At least, not in the sense implied by the sign!


So, next morning, off down to Glen Brittle to meet up with Winky and her friend, Donna, who was to be climbing with us.


The plan was to complete a round of 3 Munros: Sgurr a' Mhadaidh, Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh and Sgurr na Banachdich. This would involve some scrambling, but nothing too extreme, so was obviously a god choice for Winky to check out our capabilities.

The cloud was low, but with only occasional light showers as we trudged for 2 hours up the path into Coire an Dorus.   Form the coire, we struck up a steep scree covered rocky cleft on our left towards the lowest point on the Sgurr Thuilm - Sgurr a'Mhadaidh ridge.  


Now it was time for climbing gear before a further steep scramble on greasy rocks took us up to the summit (12.30).

I don't remember much detail of the next couple of hours as we scrambled, roped up for security,  along the main ridge south from Sgurr a' Mhadaidh, except the continual need to concentrate on hand and foot, with abysmal drops to left and right, hidden in the mist.  Great fun, though!  


Tricky descents into the two notches of An Dorus ("the door") and Eag Dubh ("black notch"), then back up the other side.

We continued on, engrossed, over Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh, then its south top, then top Sgurr Thormaid and eventually to the top of the 3rd Munro, Sgurr na Banachdich (3pm).  


All the time, there were only occasional glimpses of the valleys below - like this view down into Loch Coruisk from a point on the ridge near Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh.

From Banachdich (left), we descended easily down rough screes back to Glen Brittle.  


"Tomorrow?"  


We had passed the first test, and the weather forecast looked reasonable - so a round of Coire Lagan was proposed:  Sgurr Alasdair, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich and the dreaded Inn Pin!


"Would we have a chance for a practice abseil before the Inn Pin?"  "We'll see" was the enigmatic reply!


(written 23/01/10)