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First visit to the Cuillin, obviously heard a few tales of scary scrambling, difficult route finding, GPS/compass not working on the ridge etc. And the hills are a step up from anything on the mainland. 5 hour drive to Glen Brittle so I wanted to get as many Munros bagged as possible and this looked like a good introduction. There are several good reports here of this route including gpx files, so my GPS would apparently be OK. Drove up on Tues night & parked in a roomy space next to the bridge before the YH bridge. Next day I'm ready for the Cuillin: got my Harvey's map, compass, gps, helmet, cheapo gloves from Asda and old trail shoes...and the clag was down. Tried to convince myself that there would be an inversion and fantastic vews higher up
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Hardly any spaces at the YH, nice waterfalls on the path up.
Path goes along the right side of the burn and crosses it higher up.
Loads of water to drink here and on the descent so I'm probably carrying too much for the ridge.
Route becomes rocky scree further on and I couldn't see anything in the clag. I could make out a notch ahead which I thought was An Dorus but the GPS told me it was too far south and must have been Eag Dubh so I traversed some damp slabs to get to the steep scree leading to An Dorus. Got a text message here which was sent last night so I knew I must be approaching the ridge top, it was an offer to dep with a band on Fri which will pay for a new pair of sportiva raptors
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I didn't use the helmet today, but the last approach to An Dorus would be a good place to put it on - rocks are easily dislodged underfoot and quickly pick up speed as they descend. Luckily there was no one ahead of me. Rocks were wet at the top of An Dorus but don't think there's been recent rain, view back down:
The sandpaper gabbro is reassuringly grippy even when wet. I had read that the scrambles out of An Dorus were grade 2 & 3 and you can find easier routes before you get to the top but it was fairly easy. There's a path on the left after the initial scramble but I stuck to the ridge.
Good hand & foot holds all the way. Met someone on the top who was moving quickly on the ridge, he went down the path so I did the same.
First break in the clag - Loch Coruisk!
Scramble up the other side of An Dorus was easier.
Coruisk again.
Mhadaith top clag-free now. The low cloud was coming up the Glen Brittle side and over the ridge, the Coruisk side looked clear.
Coruisk again.
And Mhadaith again, there's a group ascending the path to the left.
Onwards, Banachdich on the right.
Ridge narrows, scrambling & views are excellent. Tried to avoid bypass paths and stick to the creast of the ridge.
The wart can be bypassed but I just went over it, think I went round to the right to ascend and it's an easy descent.
Route to Banachdich.
Coruisk yet again.
Met a group coming in the opposite direction on Ghreadaith, they had climbing gear and were doing the ridge traverse. Looking back:
Scramble to the top focussed on the rock then see the views. There are words for moments like this, but they're unprintable.
Narrow ridge descends from Ghreadaith.
Back up:
Cloud spilling over.
Back to Ghreadaith.
Scrambled over the first 2 teeth but the descent from the last one was too steep.
Up to Banachdich, there's a path off the right but I tried to stick as close to the crest as possible.
Some of the rock here is flaky with hairline cracks where water has seeped in, frozen and weakened it so the holds can be dodgy.
Top of Banachdich was claggy, the ridge scramble seemed to be over too quickly and I was envious of the climbers doing the traverse. Route down was on fine scree so I used the walking poles since my shoes didn't have big lugs on the soles. Nearly fell a couple of times but was saved by the poles, then when I was almost back at the main path I went over in the mud and had a wet seat for the rest of the walk out
