A Day On The Ben

6:00am Awake and cosy in a borrowed bivvy bag, in the North Face car park.  Birds singing. Crisp cold air as I fold back the top of the bag.  Light the stove for coffee, eat an eccles cake, pack my bag and lock up the car. Off up the track by 7am.

8:00am Allt na Mhullain track. The Ben looming ahead, lots of snow and ice on the ridges and faces. Sun shining, blue sky and high clouds. Marching up just below a jog, sweating freely.

8:20am CIC Hut. Swap running top for dry Merino base layer. Lovely. Crampons & axe out, no other gear needed. Head off into Coire na Ciste.

8:45am Below Trident Buttress. Jubilee Climb is thin & incomplete, so off to Ledge Route. Traverse into No. 5 Gully & climb down to the first ledge.

9:30am Admire the view from Ledge Route over to Tower Ridge. Perfect conditions. Maybe I should have done that instead? No big deal, lots of options ahead.

10:20am Top of Ledge Route. Another eccles cake and a flapjack. Beautiful views all round.

10:30am Down No. 4 gully. Stepped out, and too bumpy to glissade. Stomp down the steps to the foot of North Gully.

11:00am First pitch of ‘Wendigo’. Steep ice but perfect condition, solid and plastic and safe as houses. Using my old Vertiges, and getting first time placements every time. A joy to climb. The neve slope above continues the fun, pure white frozen snow which squeaks as the axes sink all the way in. Don’t fancy the rock pitch above, so traverse easily to the top of North Gully and finish up just above No. 4 Gully.

11:30am Back down No 4. Head over to No. 2 Gully.

12:00 Bit of a slog now. Steep snow up to the gully, stopping often to rest aching calves.

12:30pm No. 2 Buttress looks more interesting than the Gully – three good ice pitches, linked by clean stretches of neve, weaving between the rocks. Looking up, choosing a line, spotting places to rest. Yeah. That’ll go.

1:00pm First two ice pitches over, resting on the neve above. It’s a long way up, sensationally poised above the gully, and looking across to a pair climbing on the other side. The leader pulls off a huge plate of ice. Cue shouting. Lots of shouting.

Above the third ice pitch, more ice tucked away between the rocks. Resting, flexing my ankles to ease cramping calves, wiggling fingers to keep them warm. Really a long, long way down. The ice is even better now though. No hurry, rest and enjoy the position.  Savouring the climb, the views, the conditions, the pleasant ache of muscles working hard.

1:45pm Above the last rocks, steep neve to the plateau.  No cornice. Feeling the effort now, thighs and calves protesting, sweat running into my face, breathing hard. Easy to get sloppy with the axe swings and front-pointing.  Concentrate, make every one count. The gully yawns on one side, and the buttress falls away 200 clear metres below. Don’t stop.

1:55pm On the plateau, flat on my back. Gasping up into the blue sky. Walkers plod past, politely curious. Did you just climb up there?

Yes. It’s fine, really. Solid. 

No problem.

2:15pm Lunch at last, on the summit.  Another bright, clear, sunny day, in the best country in the world.

Winter On The Cuillin

British Summer Time started on Sunday morning, but the weather gods hadn’t got the memo. Looking over from the summits of Kintail, I could see the Cuillin with a top coat of white. So on Monday morning I was off down the road to the bridge and onwards to Skye.

My first goal was Bla Bheinn, so by lunchtime I was parking next to the path to Camasunary. I scoffed a couple of macaroni cheese pies from the Co-op on Kyleakin, (essential complex carbs, really) and then headed off to the bothy at Camasunary. After leaving my sleeping & eating gear there I headed up the south ridge of Bla Bheinn. The ground was bone dry, the grass brown and brittle. I found a decent path on the crest of the ridge, and made my way easily up to the snow line. The gullies on the west side presented stunning views of Sgurr nan Gillean and the whole Cuillin Ridge, snow-crested under Alpine blue skies. I had the hill to myself until the summit, and then saw only 4 other folk. Crossing to the northern (true) summit entailed a slightly awkward step, but other than that it was straightforward. I descended the same way, back to the bothy, arriving back as the sun dropped behind the Cuillin.

It was an international guest list at the bothy – French, German, Czech and Irish. An idyllic starlit evening followed, by the beach, where the French had collected a mountain of fresh moules. They steamed them on the bothy fire and shared them around, along with various beers and whisky.

I got up early the next day, and left the others snoring as I walked back to the car. From there I drove round to Sligachan, and set off into Fion Coire. Here it was another Alpine day – pristine frozen snow, deep blue sky and rocky summits. I plodded up the back wall of the coire, then walked round first to Sgurr a Bastier. Across the coire, Pinnacle Ridge looked fantastic, in perfect winter nick. I traversed around to Sgurr a Fion Coire, and climbed a short gully to its summit, then descended another entertainingly icy gully on the far side. From there, it was an easy plod up to Bruach na Frithe, which gave me a breathtaking view of the rest of the Cuillin, fully iced up from this aspect.

Throughout the day there’d been a haziness in the otherwise clear air, and the faint smell of smoke. Back in the car, I heard about the enormous wildfire just north of Fort William. Other smaller fires were visible on the island and mainland too. I found out later this is traditional, “Muir Burning”, by which farmers and landowners seek to improve the grassland. Traditional it may be, but not a good idea when they haven’t had rain for 6 weeks!

I drove to Carbost, hoping to get into the bunkhouse at the Old Inn, but they were full. The barman recommended instead The Croft Bunkhouse, a few miles down the road in Portnalong. An excellent choice as it turned out, well worth the extra couple of miles. It’s really comfortable and welcoming, with an excellent living room, kitchen and bunks. They also have a bothy and those wee wooden pods that are springing up all over the Highlands.

Up early next day, and off back to the Cuillin. I parked at Glen Brittle and walked up into Coire Ghreadaich. A fairly tedious scramble got me within sight of the west ridge, but thin icy snow made it quite difficult to reach. I climbed a snow gully only to find the rock at the top coated in ice, so had to reverse the whole thing. Another couple of false lines found me frustrated and still below the ridge. Fortunately I spotted a snow slope which then gave me an easy route to the summit of Sgurr a Mhadaidh (pronounced, for some reason known only to the natives, as “Sgurr a Vatay”)

A well-earned sarnie and flapjack there, as I surveyed the rest of the Cuillin. It wasn’t so sunny, but there was still no wind and the snow conditions were excellent. So I set off along the ridge with a spring in my step. I descended to An Dorus, then climbed a good snow slope to the first summit of Sgurr a Ghreadaich (“Hreetay”). It was a huge pleasure to be moving over good steep snow and rock; definitely another Alpine feel to the day. At the main summit I stopped for an eccles cake, but the wind had picked up, so I carried on south along the ridge. After the next summit, the ridge drops steeply before rising again to Sgurr a Banachdaich. The guidebook told me there was no easy way off until Banachdaich, and so I decided to turn around there and re-trace my steps to An Dorus. From there, it was a fun descent down snow slopes to the Coire, and a leisurely walk back to the car.

I spent the evening at The Old Inn first, where I bumped into a mate from Glenmore Lodge, now working for Mike Lates. After that, beer and whisky back at the bunkhouse, with the Czech lads, and an early night.

The next day was my last, as I wanted to head south to Ben Nevis and sample the excellent conditions there. So I was up at dawn, packed and drove back to Glen Brittle. I had a plan to do Sgurr a Banachdaich and then the Inn Pinn. The first leg of this, up into the coire and onto the ridge was fairly easy, and I was at the summit in good time. However there was persistent low cloud over Sgurr Dearg, and a frost on the rocks – not ideal conditions to solo the Inn Pinn! So I set off back down the ridge to Glen Brittle, which gave a few entertaining scrambly bits. Predictably, the sun came out and the cloud lifted, but I didn’t really mind. It had been an exceptional few days, the best I’ve ever seen on Skye, or anywhere else in Scotland for that matter!  Quite a week, and it wasn’t finished yet…