the cullin ridge traverse
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:19 amits 2 30 am when the alarm goes off in my tent at the glen brittle campsite, i get up, get dressed, boots on. what am i doing ? 2 45 and pre packed rucksacs are donned and we set off. im walking with florian my mate from the lomond mountaineering club, and were about to attempt the cullin ridge traverse. this is no ordinary ridge, 22 peaks, 11 munros, 12 km, one of the finest alpine style rock climbing routes in europe, at least 3 pitches of technical rock climbing to grade severe and several abseils thrown in. ive dreamed of trying it, been reading up on it, training for it and here i go im actually going to attempt it.
its a fine night as we head up the path toward coir a ghrunnda, its light enough to see, no headtoarches needed. we leave the path just before it starts to head up to ghrunnda and contour round sgurr nan eag into coire nan laough before ascending up towards gars bheinn. my heads racing, weather forcast is mixed, no wind, low cloud to 700 metres, showers falling as snow to 700 metres but getting progressively better with cloud lifting pm to 950. will we get the weather ? will i be fit enough ? will i bottle the climbs, do i have enough food ?, water ? and will i be mentally strong enough ?. according to one source only 10% of attempts end in success ! minds racing then im at the summit of gars bheinn, its 5 15am, quick bite to eat and its on, were ready to go.......
the cloud came in just as we started off, west over sgurra choire bhig to a bealach and up to the first munro sgurr nan eag. we drop to the bealach garbh choie and already route finding is tricky, we are using the rockfax.com guide and it helps but its tricky in the cloud. we get to the summit of sgurr dubh mor and west back toward the main ridge passing the three pinnicles and over sgurr nada bhein. in no time were at the first of the difficulties the thearlaich dubh gap.
the td gap is just that a gap in the ridge with a 30 metre abseil and the same in a technical climb (severe) out of the bottom. florian sets up the abseil from from a fixed sling at the top of the drop and in no time hes at he bottom. my turn and i join him in the gap. florian then leads up out of the gap, sets up a belay and becons me up. he made it look easy and i eventually manage to get up, my fingers were frozen as we headed up to the next munro sgurr alasdair.
after the summit of alastair its back eastward to rejoin the ridge at sgurr thearlaich, we head northward over bealach mhic choinnich, we then get to the next technical climb kings chimney (difficult), florian leads the climb and i follow and we then scramble up to the next munro sgurr mhic choinnich. the cloud now starts to lift as we round the ridge toward sgurr dearg and the innaccessible pinnacle. the views are spectacular all round and next up is the inn pinn.
on approaching the inn pinn florian suggests we scramble up the crest of the ridge which the guide say is moderate, rather than taking the path up the base on the west side. im really enjoying it now and we arrive at the base of inn pinn. there are 4 climbing the pinn and 2 waiting at the base. lets just solo it michael says florian, it will save waiting on the others and its no more difficult than the ridge weve just come up. ok lets do it i say. the 2 guys waiting gave us the nod and we head up the inn pinn, solo, no rope ! we pass the guys as we go, getting the ok from their guide and abseil off the fixed chain to the bottom. whaaalll, majic stuff, we sit on the crest and take a break in the sun eating and drinking some water, im in my glory 5 down 6 to go.
we set off again and soon arrive at the next munro sgurr na banachdich
its past the 3 teeth and as we head up toward sgurr a ghreadaidh we meet a fellow lomond member david griffiths coming the other way, david gives us a litre of water his best encouragement and offers us a lift from sligachan to glen brittle, all we have to do is finnish the ridge ! so we head for sgurr a greadaidh knowing we have a lift at the end and some much needed extra water. were in good spirits as we reach the summit.
we go past the wort and downclimb into an dorus, its a short scramble to the next munro sgurr a mhadaidh. the next section toward bruach na frithe was long and tough lots of scrambling, 4 abseils and tricky route finding even in clear conditions. i was dying to get to bruach na frithe, in my mind that would be me getting toward the final lap so to speak, a litttle boost, but it was a slog and it was with tired legs we arrivved at the summit. someone had tied some bunting from the trig point to the cairn, the sort you see on the himalaya, i think there is little prayer writing on them and it perked me up no end getting to that summit.
well if i thought it was all downhill from her i was wrong, the guidebook says, the final push to the finish (and the sting in the tail), the climb of am bhasteir marks the end of the technical difficulties. how right it was we got to the tooth and what an imposing site. i thought it impassable, we couldnt see the route up, we headed to the south east of it to were it says a moderate climb would take us up, but we couldnt see it. we decided to take the detour around the west side of the tooth descending the scree and re ascending to the bealach a bhasteir. we left our packs at the bealach and headed up to the summit of bhasteir.
we got our rucksacs and made for the finish, on the ridge towards gillean the cloud starts to come in and as i look back to am bhasteir the cloud drifts over the summit, its beautiful, i turn round and head for the final munro sgurr nan gillean a great scramble up a chimney then takes you through the needle, and were there the summit, the finnish !!! we done it, its 8 30 pm its took us 15 hours from gars bhein, but its was worth every minute.
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after the joy of finishing we still had to descend. we headed of the south east ridge, tricky downclimbing and navigating. it was a long 2 and a half hour descent legs were heavy feet on fire and the sligachan hotel wasnt getting nearer fast enough, as we aproached the bridge before the hotel our angel from the north ( well northern ireland) david griffiths was waiting for us, fresh water and some crisps in hand, he loaded our packs into his car and drove us the 100 metres to the pub at sligachan were he got us a beer and toasted our success before driving us back to the campsite in glen brittle. what a star he was thanks david.
we got to the site and i just crawled into my sleeping bag, knackered but absolutely elated, i had done it, all that reading, planning, waiting, it all came together that day and luck was on our side i would recomend it to anyone, just give it the respect it deserves!! good luck
its a fine night as we head up the path toward coir a ghrunnda, its light enough to see, no headtoarches needed. we leave the path just before it starts to head up to ghrunnda and contour round sgurr nan eag into coire nan laough before ascending up towards gars bheinn. my heads racing, weather forcast is mixed, no wind, low cloud to 700 metres, showers falling as snow to 700 metres but getting progressively better with cloud lifting pm to 950. will we get the weather ? will i be fit enough ? will i bottle the climbs, do i have enough food ?, water ? and will i be mentally strong enough ?. according to one source only 10% of attempts end in success ! minds racing then im at the summit of gars bheinn, its 5 15am, quick bite to eat and its on, were ready to go.......
- cloud sets in over sgurr nan eag as we start off from gars bhein
the cloud came in just as we started off, west over sgurra choire bhig to a bealach and up to the first munro sgurr nan eag. we drop to the bealach garbh choie and already route finding is tricky, we are using the rockfax.com guide and it helps but its tricky in the cloud. we get to the summit of sgurr dubh mor and west back toward the main ridge passing the three pinnicles and over sgurr nada bhein. in no time were at the first of the difficulties the thearlaich dubh gap.
the td gap is just that a gap in the ridge with a 30 metre abseil and the same in a technical climb (severe) out of the bottom. florian sets up the abseil from from a fixed sling at the top of the drop and in no time hes at he bottom. my turn and i join him in the gap. florian then leads up out of the gap, sets up a belay and becons me up. he made it look easy and i eventually manage to get up, my fingers were frozen as we headed up to the next munro sgurr alasdair.
- florian leads the climb out of the gap
after the summit of alastair its back eastward to rejoin the ridge at sgurr thearlaich, we head northward over bealach mhic choinnich, we then get to the next technical climb kings chimney (difficult), florian leads the climb and i follow and we then scramble up to the next munro sgurr mhic choinnich. the cloud now starts to lift as we round the ridge toward sgurr dearg and the innaccessible pinnacle. the views are spectacular all round and next up is the inn pinn.
- sgurr alastair
on approaching the inn pinn florian suggests we scramble up the crest of the ridge which the guide say is moderate, rather than taking the path up the base on the west side. im really enjoying it now and we arrive at the base of inn pinn. there are 4 climbing the pinn and 2 waiting at the base. lets just solo it michael says florian, it will save waiting on the others and its no more difficult than the ridge weve just come up. ok lets do it i say. the 2 guys waiting gave us the nod and we head up the inn pinn, solo, no rope ! we pass the guys as we go, getting the ok from their guide and abseil off the fixed chain to the bottom. whaaalll, majic stuff, we sit on the crest and take a break in the sun eating and drinking some water, im in my glory 5 down 6 to go.
- soloing the inn pinn !!!!
we set off again and soon arrive at the next munro sgurr na banachdich
- the view back from sgurr na banachdich
its past the 3 teeth and as we head up toward sgurr a ghreadaidh we meet a fellow lomond member david griffiths coming the other way, david gives us a litre of water his best encouragement and offers us a lift from sligachan to glen brittle, all we have to do is finnish the ridge ! so we head for sgurr a greadaidh knowing we have a lift at the end and some much needed extra water. were in good spirits as we reach the summit.
- view to sgurr a ghreadaidh
we go past the wort and downclimb into an dorus, its a short scramble to the next munro sgurr a mhadaidh. the next section toward bruach na frithe was long and tough lots of scrambling, 4 abseils and tricky route finding even in clear conditions. i was dying to get to bruach na frithe, in my mind that would be me getting toward the final lap so to speak, a litttle boost, but it was a slog and it was with tired legs we arrivved at the summit. someone had tied some bunting from the trig point to the cairn, the sort you see on the himalaya, i think there is little prayer writing on them and it perked me up no end getting to that summit.
- view toward bruach na frithe
- ridge towards bruach na frithe
- florian on the summit of bruach na frithe
well if i thought it was all downhill from her i was wrong, the guidebook says, the final push to the finish (and the sting in the tail), the climb of am bhasteir marks the end of the technical difficulties. how right it was we got to the tooth and what an imposing site. i thought it impassable, we couldnt see the route up, we headed to the south east of it to were it says a moderate climb would take us up, but we couldnt see it. we decided to take the detour around the west side of the tooth descending the scree and re ascending to the bealach a bhasteir. we left our packs at the bealach and headed up to the summit of bhasteir.
- the summit of am bhasteir
we got our rucksacs and made for the finish, on the ridge towards gillean the cloud starts to come in and as i look back to am bhasteir the cloud drifts over the summit, its beautiful, i turn round and head for the final munro sgurr nan gillean a great scramble up a chimney then takes you through the needle, and were there the summit, the finnish !!! we done it, its 8 30 pm its took us 15 hours from gars bhein, but its was worth every minute.
- cloud over am bhasteir
- success, me and florian on the summit of sgurr nan gillean
after the joy of finishing we still had to descend. we headed of the south east ridge, tricky downclimbing and navigating. it was a long 2 and a half hour descent legs were heavy feet on fire and the sligachan hotel wasnt getting nearer fast enough, as we aproached the bridge before the hotel our angel from the north ( well northern ireland) david griffiths was waiting for us, fresh water and some crisps in hand, he loaded our packs into his car and drove us the 100 metres to the pub at sligachan were he got us a beer and toasted our success before driving us back to the campsite in glen brittle. what a star he was thanks david.
we got to the site and i just crawled into my sleeping bag, knackered but absolutely elated, i had done it, all that reading, planning, waiting, it all came together that day and luck was on our side i would recomend it to anyone, just give it the respect it deserves!! good luck
.
. Don't think I'll ever do this in one as not a fan of abseiling 
.
She reckons that she will be more ready for it August.