Day fourty-seven - Friday, the Cuillin Ridge attempt

Alarm went off at 0430 after a fitful nights sleep. My feet got really cold around 0200 so had to put my thick socks back on! Heated some water in the porch for porridge - in small disposable pots, good find in the supermarket. Filled up Mike's mini-thermos with coffee, however at the time didn't realise that the coffee sachets came with sugar so when we tried it a few hours later the added Splendour sachets made it almost undrinkably sweet!

Bags/mats away, tent down by 0500. Stashed all our unwanted kit in the big dry bag and piled some rocks on it so it wouldn't blow away. We'd camped in a handy little dry stone shelter, walls only around a foot high but still made a difference. Set off in the dark with torches to climb the last 200m up steep scree to gain the ridge. Once there we dumped the bags and set off south. The one problem with camping where we did is that it meant doubling back for the first section, adding about an hour onto the time but it was a very convenient place to camp and we thought it was worth it. Over Sgurr Nan Eag, the first munro, we carried on in the faltering sunrise to gain Gars-bheinn, the 895m start point of the ridge. Stop watch was started! By then it was light and on the descent back north we met a team of three who had set off from Glenbrittle campsite at 0300... Crazy early! Back onto Sgurr nan Eag I was glad to be heading in the right direction. It looked like we were first in the queue, with the team of three around 30mins behind us and then another pair behind them.

Loch coir a'Ghrunnda, the spot of our camp. Sgurr Alasdair behind, 993m and the highest point on Skye

Picked up the bags and stopped for a pot of yoghurt and a drink. We had 2L of water each, a pair of cheese/salami sandwidges and lots of oaty snack bars. The weather was overcast but at least not raining. Up onto Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn we then cut east to gain the summit of Sgurr Dubh Mor (944m) and the second munro, a bit of a diversion off the main ridge but required to tick the summit! The next challenge was the infamous TD gap. A short abseil down, followed by a Hard Severe climb up the other side.

Mike abbing into the TD gap (I think!)

I lead the HS up the other side of the TD Gap, felt pretty tough in big boots and bags - there was a big ledge out left that I had to mantle onto, felt thrutchy and lots of grunting! Before long topped out and belayed Mike up. Next we summitted Sgurr Thearlaich and nipped west to tick Sgurr Alasdair (993m) and the highest point of the ridge. Three munro's down we were going well but due to the damp rock we moved together over the next section and were losing time.

Coming down off Sgurr Thearlaich we descended to a bealach to be greeted by King's Chimney staring down at us. This is given Diff in our little guide - bollocks!! Felt at least VD/easy severe. Mike scrambled up to the base and belayed me as I did battle - definitely glad to have the gear with me as I puffed my way up the slimy corner. Lots of tat (fixed slings left by other teams) at the top and I belayed Mike up. When he was around half-way the first bout of rain started, pretty heavy and some of it fell as sleet, hitting my legs as wet snow before melting. Air temperature must have been pretty near freezing and hands got pretty cold on the climb. I'd been wearing some fingerless sailing gloves up to now which turned out to be a good idea as the rock had lots of little crystals and shredded our hands.

King's Chimney, the groove to the right of the flat upper face - not a Diff!

Sadly the rain continued for an hour, and we stayed moving together as we climbing An Stac, a crumbly moderate. I felt pretty insecure on this, so was glad when Mike took over the lead. The rock was poor and there was not much in the way of gear, coupled with rain and wet rock = lovely!

Somewhere between King's Chimney and the Inn Pin - weather cleared temporarily = photo op!

Summitted this before long and dropped down the other side to face the Inaccesible Pinnacle - the only munro that you have to rock climb to get to the summit. Poor visibility at this point as we were enveloped by cloud. I led off first, moving together up the moderate south east ridge. Mike leap frogged and we topped out on the Inn Pin, munro number five. Felt great to have finally topped out on a summit I'd heard so much about! I abbed down the north west side and snapped a pic of Mike shortly after, halfway down the ab. Grim weather, cloud closed in. Probably made it much less scary as couldn't see the drops!

Mike halfway down the Inn Pin abseil, grim weather

Thankfully the rain stopped as we continued north to Sgurr na Banachdich, the weather even cleared to give us good views down into the valleys. I'm sure in Sligachan there was bright sun, but the ridge seems to attract the clouds and rain! Summiting Sgurr na Banachdich (965m) was our sixth munro, but by this time we were well behind schedule. The slow walkers time to here was 6h30m, and we'd taken more like 7h15m. I think this was due to the rain and our consequent decision to stay roped up for a lot of the technical ground. We were roped together from the TD gap to the Inn Pin which inevitably slowed us down. In my head I was feeling pretty down at this point, pretty soggy and knowing that we were unlikely to be able to do the whole traverse. I also started doing some maths in my head and realised that even if we completed in the average walkers time of 14hrs we didn't have enough daylight (sunrise 0630, sunset 0720). I asked Mike "How far do you think we'll get?" hinting that I didn't think we'd manage the whole thing - he replied "I've enjoyed the climbing so far" - completely dodged the question!

Nice views in the cloud breaks

Mike at one of the bealach's - respite spots inbetween the technical ground 

We carried on, navigating through the complex route finding to the summit of Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh (973m) then Sgurr a'Mhadaidh (918m). After this came the three tops of Mhadaidh, where we had another 30minutes of rain. This did have some advantage however, as Mike had run out of water and we were able to fill a bottle in about 30s with run off from the rocks! One of the main problems on the ridge traverse is reputedly a lack of water - not on our trip! Also along this section I scrambled up to another knife edge ridge point and looked down to the other side to see my first ever brocken spectre! Was too slow to get a photo but looks like this... It's a weather phenomenon where the sun behind you casts your shadow onto mist below, and a circular rainbow forms around it. I'd never seen one before! Quickly called Mike over but when he got close it disappeared. Excitement over we descended to the bealach na glaic moire, a nice resting spot where the weather improved and we refuelled with some sandwidges and snack bars.

Heroic poses, looking back at Sgurr a'Mhadaidh (I think?)

Check out the leggings!

We had a decision to make, as we were still behind the slow walkers time at this point. There was an escape route to the west here, or if we carried on the next place to bail would be off Bruach na Frithe where it would be possible to walk back to the car, however this was still ~3hrs away and it was getting late by this time with sunset at 1920. We opted to press on, as we could walk back to the car in the dark and if we bailed here we would have had no shelter at all (tents at the lochan and car in Sligachan).

Next up was the supposedly complicated route finding on the traverse of Bidein drium nan Ramh but this posed little problems and before long we topped out on Bidein, not a munro at 869m. Getting off this would have been tricky as it involved downclimbing wet slabs; fortunately there were two abseil points complete with tat that we abbed off down into the bealachs. Up over the north summit we then did battle with An Caisteal. Descending from this a short down climb section to the next bealach was a bit spicey. Climbing out the other side we paused for a drink and looking back were both pretty surprised at what we'd downclimbed, looked pretty nails from the other side with big drops if you slipped. Up to here I'd been operating almost on autopilot, just getting on with each small section without contemplating the route as a whole but thinking back we'd covered some pretty complex ground in less than ideal conditions. I realised then why the route had such a reputation - it was all pretty serious!

Mike on the last climb up to Bruach na Frithe, cloud closed in again

The last climb was steep but straightforward considering the ground we'd previously covered and before long we were atop our last munro, Bruach na Frithe at 958m. This was munro number nine of the day, with only two more on the ridge ahead of us, Am Basteir and Sgurr nan Gillean. However the next section involved a technical climb up the Bhasteir Tooth and it was already 1900 when we stood on the summit of Bruach na Frithe. This was 12h15m after leaving Gars-bheinn, the start point, so although we had made up time on the last section after the weather improved, the next and final section was projected to take 2-3 hours. With only 20mins before sunset it was an easy decision to cut off north and back to the car at this point.

Summit of Bruach na Frithe, our ninth and last munro

Despite bailing off the route without completing the last section it didn't feel like a failure. Two factors had conspired against us - the weather and the daylight hours. Weather wise I'm glad we sacrificed speed for safety when we roped up between TD gap and the Inn Pin due to the bouts of rain/sleet. In hindsight the shorter daylight hours of mid-September made a one day attempt pretty ambitious. Both factors taken together I think we did well to get as far as we did, and we descended in good spirits.

The descent into Fionn Choire and the spring

Satisfied with our effort we dropped off into Fionn Choire and located a spring where we rehydrated before dropping down north to join the path back to Sligachan. The sunset was spectacular to the west, looked like the sky was on fire.

The long walk back along Allt Dearg Mor was pretty brutal - knees aching and soles of my feet burning. The last hour was in the dark with torches. We arrived back at the car around 2100, having been on the go for around 16hrs, 12h15m of which was on the ridge itself. We traipsed into the Sligachan bar and ordered a celebratory pint - never has ale tasted sweeter! Quickly ordered food, thankfully we'd made it before the kitchen shut! Venison burger and chips. Ecstasy on a plate.

Mike, with a grimace of pain, pint in hand, having done battle with the Cuillin!

Having taken our boots off for the bar we had to squeeze tired feet back into them before making our way over to the hotel reception. A quick enquiry about a twin room rendered us both incredulous at the price of £130 a night. Guess it was back to the car - no other option as all our camping stuff was at the 700m lochan! We piled our stuff into the boot, cranked the seats as flat as they'd go and collapsed into an exhausted slumber.