SGURR DEARG & IN PIN, scree run, epic thou
Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:50 pmit was a very spontaneous trip to skye. Friday after work we packed and left Edinburgh to arrive to skye within 4 hrs, right in time to have a wee wonder in sligachan area before the sunset.
as it was our first experience of the black cuillins- mountains legends because of their difficulty, exposure, dangerousness and awkwardness we decided to take it easy and go for something that doesnt require technical rock climbing skills, 'only' good head for heights and exposure and some scrambling. therefore we went for sgurr dearg and in pin.
the day started awesomely with amazing sunrise, I woke up at 4am and gave in to the temptation of wandering in the moorland in my pijamas, with my camera ready for sunrise shots.
yeah, I think it was worth the effort! the light was amazing, fairy-tale like and it lasted only 15-20 mins, at 5 am the sun seemed strong and high
as we got up so early, we managed to drive to glen brittle and start the walk at 7.45am
shortly about the route: sometimes tricky route finding, following the right route is essential, lots of scrambling, not too exposed but steep, horrible descent via very steep scree slope.
we took the route which Paul described on website here, but after a horrible experience with scree (very last part of the walk, descent from western ridge of sgurr dearg) I contacted Paul regarding the route and enquired about other options (today Paul emailed me that he altered the descent route a little bit to avoid the horriblest scree)
Thanks Paul!
about the route:
route starts as a longish walk via moorland, along the stream, up to the gorge and waterfall (with good views towards the sea and nearby campsite)
just after the waterfall, path forks. take left and follow up. paths becomes rougher and rockier, goes along right side of the stream. on ordnance survey maps it is marked on the left side, but we didn't come across any other path and the one we walked was on the right side of the stream, it was clear and well defined. also the further description of the path and gully matches points that we passed on the 'right hand side' path.
terrain steepens and becomes rockier. our path goes directly below 'window buttress' now and leads out to a narrow gully, then to open terrain again..
from time to time we come across small cairns, and even some arrows pointing out the direction.
with this arrow, I wasn't sure thou. eventually we decided to climb more to the right than the arrow showed.
at one point you reach the end of a glen, you're surrounded by vertical cliffs. there is a tempting gully right in front of you but don't take it. walk wee bit to the right, small diversion letting you to reach cliff height without need to use any rock climbing skills. you can either climb up a gully (whitish rocks) or, like we did, scrambled little further to the right.
which ever route you take, you will end up surrounded by cliffs again. right in front of you will be another gully, whitish scree. don't take it. instead traverse to the left (about 15-20 mins) and find a gully filled with orange-brown earth. take it! it is reasonably easy to find it, try to follow faint path, on and off and don't be tempted to climb up directly, find the gully, it is essential. walking across the scree/broken rock slope isn't too difficult but take your time.
up the gully
the gully is about 2 metres wide and is very steep. it ends suddenly and you have an impression you'll fall down to the other side. you wont
on both sides of the gully rocks are steep and high, this is a first point where you will have to scramble more seriously (but not too long)
2 minutes and you're on the ridge. all is left is a winding steep path up to the summit of sgurr dearg, 15 mins away
sgurr Alasdair
route back down via western ridge
traversing via western ridge requires strong heart. at first you're on a narrow ledge, then narrow path just above window buttress and then down steep gully filled with scree which ends suddenly with a cliff.
there are 4 options to descent from sgurr dearg:
1. trace your steps back
2. descent below an stuc (apparently tricky with scree ending up above some high crags)
3. follow the western ridge to the very end, go straight ahead until you reach the 'forking' path ath the waterfall. there is a path
4. at the end of the western ridge turn left and descent via steep unstable scree to the loch a fhir bhallaich
some good-fun moments
more pictures at:
http://around-scotland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/sgurr-dearg-in-pin-black-cuillins.html
enjoy!
as it was our first experience of the black cuillins- mountains legends because of their difficulty, exposure, dangerousness and awkwardness we decided to take it easy and go for something that doesnt require technical rock climbing skills, 'only' good head for heights and exposure and some scrambling. therefore we went for sgurr dearg and in pin.
the day started awesomely with amazing sunrise, I woke up at 4am and gave in to the temptation of wandering in the moorland in my pijamas, with my camera ready for sunrise shots.
yeah, I think it was worth the effort! the light was amazing, fairy-tale like and it lasted only 15-20 mins, at 5 am the sun seemed strong and high
as we got up so early, we managed to drive to glen brittle and start the walk at 7.45am
shortly about the route: sometimes tricky route finding, following the right route is essential, lots of scrambling, not too exposed but steep, horrible descent via very steep scree slope.
we took the route which Paul described on website here, but after a horrible experience with scree (very last part of the walk, descent from western ridge of sgurr dearg) I contacted Paul regarding the route and enquired about other options (today Paul emailed me that he altered the descent route a little bit to avoid the horriblest scree)
Thanks Paul!
about the route:
route starts as a longish walk via moorland, along the stream, up to the gorge and waterfall (with good views towards the sea and nearby campsite)
just after the waterfall, path forks. take left and follow up. paths becomes rougher and rockier, goes along right side of the stream. on ordnance survey maps it is marked on the left side, but we didn't come across any other path and the one we walked was on the right side of the stream, it was clear and well defined. also the further description of the path and gully matches points that we passed on the 'right hand side' path.
terrain steepens and becomes rockier. our path goes directly below 'window buttress' now and leads out to a narrow gully, then to open terrain again..
from time to time we come across small cairns, and even some arrows pointing out the direction.
with this arrow, I wasn't sure thou. eventually we decided to climb more to the right than the arrow showed.
at one point you reach the end of a glen, you're surrounded by vertical cliffs. there is a tempting gully right in front of you but don't take it. walk wee bit to the right, small diversion letting you to reach cliff height without need to use any rock climbing skills. you can either climb up a gully (whitish rocks) or, like we did, scrambled little further to the right.
which ever route you take, you will end up surrounded by cliffs again. right in front of you will be another gully, whitish scree. don't take it. instead traverse to the left (about 15-20 mins) and find a gully filled with orange-brown earth. take it! it is reasonably easy to find it, try to follow faint path, on and off and don't be tempted to climb up directly, find the gully, it is essential. walking across the scree/broken rock slope isn't too difficult but take your time.
up the gully
the gully is about 2 metres wide and is very steep. it ends suddenly and you have an impression you'll fall down to the other side. you wont
on both sides of the gully rocks are steep and high, this is a first point where you will have to scramble more seriously (but not too long)
2 minutes and you're on the ridge. all is left is a winding steep path up to the summit of sgurr dearg, 15 mins away
sgurr Alasdair
route back down via western ridge
traversing via western ridge requires strong heart. at first you're on a narrow ledge, then narrow path just above window buttress and then down steep gully filled with scree which ends suddenly with a cliff.
there are 4 options to descent from sgurr dearg:
1. trace your steps back
2. descent below an stuc (apparently tricky with scree ending up above some high crags)
3. follow the western ridge to the very end, go straight ahead until you reach the 'forking' path ath the waterfall. there is a path
4. at the end of the western ridge turn left and descent via steep unstable scree to the loch a fhir bhallaich
some good-fun moments
more pictures at:
http://around-scotland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/sgurr-dearg-in-pin-black-cuillins.html
enjoy!
