Cuillin advice?

[Dave Hewitt]

And for Dave H, ahh I miss The Angry Corrie

Thanks - life moves on, though.

my two tShirts have long since disintegrated.

What size are you? Not sure, but I think I have a few old ones somewhere in a box in a cupboard (provided the moths haven't got at them).

[JohnZD]

Really? Ha ha. I’m a medium tending to large depending on fit.

[BigTed]

Dave
If there is any XXL Angry Corrie T shirts lurking in your cupboard I will take one off your hands for a reasonable price?

Iain

[Dave Hewitt]

If there is any XXL Angry Corrie T shirts lurking in your cupboard I will take one off your hands for a reasonable price

There might be - will have a look and get back to you, also re John's M or L one. Am tied up with stuff today and tomorrow but will have a rummage on Thurs all being well - I think the box is in the cupboard under the eaves in my study, behind about 101 other things, but I should be able to unearth something if it's there. Feels like Antiques Roadshow.

Sorry for the Cuillin hijack.

[benno]

Hi there,

Literally reading this having just finished my Cuillin munros yesterday on Sgurr MC.

Like some above I went for the solo approach - I feel navigation and overcoming the challenges yourself is a big part of the experience so getting a guide to drag me up the hard bits would lack satisfaction. That said, I’m a competent rock and winter climber so have an advantage in that respect. In all I did the 12 munros over 7 outings, some days cut shorter than planned because of weather or head. The hills ain’t going anywhere though!

My outings were:
Inn Pinn (with guide as a child, I was 12…)
Sgurr Nan Gillean to Bruach na Frithe - did an abseil off Gillean west ridge but met a guy who descended the ascent route and then climbed up to bealach a bhasteir to avoid it. This would make it a big day but avoid need for rope.
Sgurr nan Eag and Dubh Mor - plan was for Alastair too but it was far too hot.
Blaven
Sgurr Alastair
Mhadaidh, Greadhaidh, Banachdich - planned to to MC too but the down climb from Dearg was soaked and felt dodgy.
Finally MC.

Tom Prentice’s book was a god-send - I found Adrian Trendle’s a bit too focused on people doing the whole ridge, so wasn’t much use for the bits I did in the other direction or some of the approaches. I also found that some of the challenges were overstated in his book.

It is an amazing place and not like anything else in Scotland, so my advice would be wait for decent weather, start with some of the easier ones like Bruach na Frithe or Sgurr nan Eag, and have contingencies and escape routes in mind incase you don’t feel like carrying on on a particular day. And get used to scree! So much scree!

Most of all enjoy it! I’m going to be on a high for weeks after yesterday.

[benno]

Sorry I meant Blaven or Sgurr nan Eag. Blaven has a nice optional scramble to the south top and then a typical Cuillin scree path descent that requires careful nav so maybe a good way to get into the Cuillin mindset and see how you feel - Sgurr nan Eag you can carry on to Dubh Mor or Alastair (via a G3 chimney on the TD bypass) if you’re feeling psyched.

[JohnZD]

The go to book back in the day (lol I’m only 56) was S P Bull’s Black Cuillin Ridge Scramblers guide. That’s the one with the Gillean West Ridge Gendarme (long since gone, and in many cases forgotten) on the cover.
The West Ridge descent is interesting. 3 of us down climbed without a rope from the furthest west shorter part and thought nothing of it.
Meanwhile the usual abseil down the longer not very vertical bit I didn’t find much fun.

The chimney on the Alasdair SW route I always thought the difficulty was exaggerated

Back on topic

[benno]

The go to book back in the day (lol I’m only 56) was S P Bull’s Black Cuillin Ridge Scramblers guide. That’s the one with the Gillean West Ridge Gendarme (long since gone, and in many cases forgotten) on the cover.
The West Ridge descent is interesting. 3 of us down climbed without a rope from the furthest west shorter part and thought nothing of it.
Meanwhile the usual abseil down the longer not very vertical bit I didn’t find much fun.

The chimney on the Alasdair SW route I always thought the difficulty was exaggerated

Back on topic

It is subjective and personal but I found the wee climb out of An Dorus towards Ghreadhaidh, along with the ridge between there and Thormaidh, to be easier than I had been led to believe by the literature, including on this site. On that day I went north to south purely not to be down climbing that step, but when I got there I was really surprised how short and straightforward it was. Mhadaidh actually felt harder to me and a bit neckier. Same can be said of MC yesterday in that I was surprised to arrive at the cairn having not done anything that felt particularly spicy or necky.

[prog99]

The chimney on the Alasdair SW route I always thought the difficulty was exaggerated

It is if you fail to find it in the mist after bailing from a very wet td gap! That was a bit of excitement I could have done without when we did the traverse.
It’s actually easy to find and descend from the summit.

[prog99]

It is subjective and personal but I found the wee climb out of An Dorus towards Ghreadhaidh, along with the ridge between there and Thormaidh, to be easier than I had been led to believe by the literature, including on this site. On that day I went north to south purely not to be down climbing that step, but when I got there I was really surprised how short and straightforward it was. Mhadaidh actually felt harder to me and a

I vaguely remember the downclimb into an dorus from Ghreadhaidh to be quite awkward. It was a bit greasy last time which perhaps added a wee extra bit of difficulty.
Agree about Thormaidh, it’s intimidating but on good holds.

The bit that really needs full attention is from Mhadaidh to Bruath na Frithe. There’s a bit less traffic and some bits are really. It obvious.

[Veryhappybunny]

If you get good weather, I would like to shout out for Bruach na Frithe as a first Cuillin. We went up it because it is one of the easiest, but having been up them all, I still think it is the best viewpoint and you suddenly pop up onto the ridge, with the whole main ridge curving before you. Unforgettable!

Other than that we found it very enjoyable picking them off with friends, and using a guide for the last ones (Pinn & McCoinnich, plus Sgurr dubh Mor and round the back of Alasdair). Did the pinnacle ridge with a climbing partner -which was great fun, but there is still a fair bit of dealing with exposure when you're not using the rope.

The weather makes a huge difference though - Sgurr na Banadich was easy in the sun but a bit confusing on a second visit in the clag, and the GPS was less use where a short horizontal distance still gives lots of options.

Enjoy your visit(s). My family is from Skye so I am biased but I love it. But I agree the Fairy pools are best avoided unless you like visiting crowded places.

[The Rec]

If you get good weather, I would like to shout out for Bruach na Frithe as a first Cuillin. We went up it because it is one of the easiest, but having been up them all, I still think it is the best viewpoint and you suddenly pop up onto the ridge, with the whole main ridge curving before you. Unforgettable!

100% agree with this. A great intro to the ridge

The Cuillin are a significant step up in terms of technical difficulty and commitment compared to any munros on the main land, the scrambles are far more commiting and you really need to be comfortable down climbing, as there's no easy way down from all but a couple of them.

Added to that, route finding can be tricky, even in clear conditions so it all adds up to being mentaly and physically tiring, so I'd def recommend ticking them off one or two at a time to get a feel for it before planning any big expeditions.

They are the most amazing mountains and are totally worth putting the time/effort into them. I've scrambled and climbed in the Cuillin many times and they still surprise me with how aggressive, spikey and severe they are every time I return!

I need to plan another trip

[gman]

If you were OK on Aonach Eagach, you shouldn't have problems getting most of the Cuillin done without a guide - I had about the same scrambling experience and did 10 over 3 day trips. I found that the scrambling on the Cuillin was a wee bit soft for the grade, possibly because of the seriousness of the location, but I made sure I had 3 good weather days. The SMC Skye Scrambles book was handy.

The middle 3, Mhadaidh, Ghreadaidh & Banachdich, are a good introduction and there are trip reports here that'll give you an idea of what to expect. If you enjoy scrambling you'll love it. I got the southern 4 and the northern 3 done on the next 2 trips, started at Bruach na Frithe for the northern 3 so I'd be climbing up the chimney to Gillean rather than abseiling.

Haven't done the Pinn, thought I'd teach myself how to abseil for it but I ended up getting into trad climbing and never came back! From what I remember a 40m rope will do it, but there's loads of info out there. Enjoy!

[9queens]

For the average hillwalker (me) Skye is another few levels up and though I managed Bruach na Frithe in bad weather myself my 3 other ascents with a guide (bad weather) would have been 100% impossible if going unguided.
1. Route finding
2. Scrambling, especially down
3. Compass unreliability, real or imagined
4. Weather

Even with a guide my foot was nearly broken when a dislodged football sized rock landed on it.

But it's down to your own competence and what level of risk you're prepared to take.