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After noticing a gap in the weather for the upcoming days, I decided to pack my bags, pack up the car and take an adventure back to Skye to conquer my final Skye munro after having completed the ridge the previous week. This had been on the to do list for quite a while now, however, I wanted to make sure that it was climbed on a clear day as I had high expectations for this peak...
After the 3 hour drive out West, the heat hit me immediately after stepping out of the car. Clear skies, no wind, no midges and heat - unheard of in Skye! Luckily I had prepared for the occasion and had packed several litres of water, suncream and shorts, despite the short climb ahead of me. One thing I have learned when it comes to water, is that it is definitely better to have too much than too little in summer as I have underestimated how much I need on several occasions, leaving all the work to my trusty filter straw in a dodgy and awkward stream.
The ascent was fairly straight forward and followed a decent path for the first mile or so. It was a great feeling being back on this side of Skye after passing through during the trail in May and staring up to Bla Bheinn in complete awe. We had considered climbing Bla Bheinn as part of the Skye trail but as it was just our first long distance walk, we went easier on ourselves to get used to walking with a heavier pack.
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Before I reached the boulder, as Walkhighlands had described, the path veered of slightly to the right and almost became pretty indistinct. I did notice a couple of walkers continuing past the boulder but I continued on with the route described on Walkhighlands. To avoid climbing directly up the scree slope, I stuck to the left of it and pretty much scrambled my way up the side, personally I find a scramble a lot easier than a dodgy scree slope. Once I had reached around the 700m mark, the views back across the island in the Broadford direction were super rewarding with half a cloud inversion over Broadford present.
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- View of Bla Bheinn during ascent
The final ascent was again pretty indistinct but I did enjoy the little scramble up the Cuillin rock reminding me of the fascinating adventures I had had the previous week. And just like that, the ridge line hits you like a ton of bricks. Words cannot describe the feeling I had when I reached the summit trig witnessing the Cuillin ridge for the first time from that angle...
It's truly captivating.
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- Half cloud inversion looking back towards Broadford
Pictures just do not give the same feeling as what it's like to actually witness it in real life.
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- Summit Panorama
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- Cuillin ridge line from the summit
Such a memorable experience.
I honestly sat up there the whole time in complete awe at what I had just experienced. The best thing about solo munro adventures is that you can take all the time in the world to fully take in the moment and enjoy it without having the pressure of having to stay for so long. In that moment I just felt so alive and was just happy that I got to experience that moment solo. I sat up there for around an hour or two just journalling about what I had just experienced, had a couple of snacks and just chilled in the sunshine.
As I was solo at the summit, I took a couple of photos for a lovely couple and they were nice enough to offer to take an epic summit panorama which to this day remains my favourite photo. I love the hill walking community!
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- Trig point views
After feeling the sun soak through the exposed skin on my back that I couldn't reach with suncream, I made the sad decision to leave the view behind and descent before the afternoon heat kicked in. The descent was a little more tricky as I didn't really realised how steep the incline really was. Again I avoided the scree slope on the way down too and just stuck to scrambling down the rock at the side of the scree. The rest of the descent was back along the same path I had come up and I just spent the whole time in disbelief at what I had just seen. I just remember smiling to myself the entire time - life felt great...
All until I put my garmin GPS tracker on the roof of my car whilst I took my kit off and stupidly drove off with it on the roof! What an idiot! Luckily after hours of endless searching back and forth along a section of the Torrin road, I found it lying at the side of the road in perfect condition, not even a single scratch! Phew, that was a close call.
After the tiring search party for my garmin, I set up my tent behind Torrin next to a small stream, cooked my dinner and pretty much fell asleep the minute I zipped up the sleeping bag.
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- Panorama
Onto the next adventure......
