Fun in the Clouds on the Cuillin

[mrssanta]

Day two of our fab week.
Set off at 8am from the Youth Hostel. It's affy early for me, usually I am in the shower about this time of day. But it was a fine morning with some high cloud brushing the tops of the hills

from the campsite at 7am

We set off up the path towards Coire a'Greadaidh and after a mile or so took a right up a less obvious path going up into Coir'an Eich. This path wound up to the left and onto the northwestern shoulder of Sgurr na Banachdich.
It's not too hard a scramble up to the top here, and we got to our first summit at about 11am.
Most of the day we were above the cloud base although the weather was not at all bad, so no stunning views today I'm afraid.

Me and Himself on the summit of Sgurr na Banachdich. both looking reasonably happy, nothing too scary so far.

After the summit of Sgurr na Banachdich we retraced our steps a small distance then dropped down onto the main ridge and bypassed the Three Teeth on the eastern side. Narrow ledges with invisible drops making for much scariness. I loved every minute of it. But this was the point at which Himself was pulled to the front of the group for maximum moral and practical support. It doesnt look very far on the map but it took us two hours to get to the next summit, which was Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh.

me on the top of Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh. Why am I not grinning on this picture?

Then picking our way along the west side of the ridge there was a sudden brief breaking up of the clouds, revealing Sgurr Eadar da Choire sticking up from the coire below. Very dramatic and beautiful.

the best view we got all day. Makes it all worthwhile.

We made our way down to the bealach between Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a'Mhadaidh, which is called An Dorus or the Door. bit of a draughty doorway and on both sides looked like a chute down into nothingness!!

That's where we are going down later. Oh, right!!

There was just about room there for all seven of us to find a safe place to stand, and we left our packs there while we scrambled up the last exhilarating 10-15 minutes up to the top of Sgurr a'Mhadaidh.

That's better. top of Sgurr a'Mhadaidh

from there retracing our steps back to An Dorus and a lovely walk out via Coire a' Ghreadaidh to the Hostel in good time for tea. there are some lovely waterfalls and views from this path.

view back up to An Dorus from below

pretty burn in the corrie

Beautiful waterfall in the gorge

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, looks like it's been sunny all day

day_2(1).gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Time for bed now, will try and post the next instalment soon which involves the INN PINN, oh yes!!

[morag1]

Well done Mrs Santa you must have been tired after your day on Sgurr Alastair yet you still managed to get out and go this

Well done to Himself also

[jonny616]

Well done. All these Cuillin reports are making me jealous

[Ranger]

Bla Bheinn aside, this is my final section of ridge to do!
Was weighing up whether to tackle them seperately for two reasonably straightforward days, or go for them in a one-er and take on the narrow arete

How did the ridge from Banachdich to Ghreadaidh compare with other sections you've done? (e.g. Sgurr Alasdair summit ridge, Summit ridge of Mhic Choinnich/Am Basteir etc...)

Cheers

[BoyVertiginous]

Great stuff, looks magnificent. Though you do appear to be clinging to the cairns for dear life, smiling through clenched teeth!

The waterfall/pool looks like a nice spot for a dip.

[Rudolph]

How did the ridge from Banachdich to Ghreadaidh compare with other sections you've done? (e.g. Sgurr Alasdair summit ridge, Summit ridge of Mhic Choinnich/Am Basteir etc...)

Hi Ranger
My memory is that this was the worst of the week but that may be down to the weather (sun always makes things better) and because this was the first time I was properly 'nervous'. I certainly found it much harder than Alasdair chimney and ridge etc. Also it was a long time on the ridge that day - Mhic Coinnich may have been as difficult technically but not the unrelenting 'challenge' and exposure of this walk. We had ropes for the tricky bits on Basteir and Gillean so they were less scary though much more difficult technically.

The other thing is that we did not have to think about route finding at all as Graham knew the easy ways. Going even slightly different route might make a big difference to how hard they are.

Not sure that helps though.

[mrssanta]

Well done Mrs Santa you must have been tired after your day on Sgurr Alastair yet you still managed to get out and go this

Well done to Himself also

wait till you see him on the In Pinn!!!

Well done. All these Cuillin reports are making me jealous

thank you. I can't think of a week I've enjoyed more. Fantastic.

Great stuff, looks magnificent. Though you do appear to be clinging to the cairns for dear life, smiling through clenched teeth!
.

not at all, loved every minute of it. I think it would have been a different story if it had just been me and Rudolph though.