Blà Bheinn, in perfectly timed weather

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This day was the first full day of my stay with the Glasgow University Mountaineering Club at Sligachan campsite on Skye. The weather started out horrendously, with spells of wind and rain coming down on the camp. I was not without a plan for the day, however, as me, Theo and Rhys were set on leaving on a minibus to begin Blà Bheinn in the mid afternoon, when the weather was forecast to get better.

The Blà Bheinn car park

Clouds over Blà Bheinn

The three of us dropped into the Blà Bheinn carpark at 13:45ish, beginning our walk at 13:55. The short delay proved to be well timed as the rain stopped completely shortly after we got onto the main path. Blà Bheinn's top was inside a cloud at that point, but as we crossed the river around 13:35 and begun the steeper ascent into Coire Uaigneich, we noticed the clouds were getting higher, right on time for us.

Some scree going up Blà Bheinn

Rocky formations

Me, Theo and Rhys got deeper into Coire Uaigneich and, after a brief moment of navigation confusion, we ascended up the buttress. The path led into a narrow port of scree at 15:17, accompanied by a light scrambling option to the left. Unlike the other two, I chose the scree option. After that, we continued up the steep path, scrambling at certain points before we got to a final stretch that led us to the summit of Blà Bheinn, which we reached at 16:18.

The Blà Bheinn summit

While walkers we passed had failed to get a view, we had arrived at the perfect point, witnessing the rest of the Cuillins as the clouds lifted from them in the distance. The wind levels were relatively low, even when we were now out of the shield of the mountainside that we had been gifted with on the way up. We stood and admired the view for a good twenty minutes before we began our descent back towards the carpark again.

Clouds over some of the Cuillins

And they're gone

Spot the Inaccessible Pinnacle

The way down felt easier than the ascent, and the clearing sky gave us nice views of the distant islands of Rum and Eigg. We sped down the buttress, where I chose scrambling over scree this time and the other two chose the opposite. We ultimately made it back to the car park at about 14:00, about 5 hours after we started.

Islands in the distance