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Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Frithe

Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Frithe


Postby clivew » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:45 pm

Route description: Sgùrr nan Gillean

Munros included on this walk: Am Basteir, Bruach na Frìthe, Sgùrr nan Gillean

Date walked: 23/06/2012

Time taken: 8.5 hours

Distance: 12.6 km

Ascent: 1114m

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Day 3 of our Skye trip was promising to be the best yet, Colin my brother, and I, met up with our Guide, Jonah Jones, at the Mountain Rescue Station near the Sligachan Hotel. The plan was to head for the Coire a'Bhastier climb up the scree to the Bealach, climb the West Ridge to Sgurr nan Gillean, turn around, follow the ridge all the way along to Am Basteir, abseil down over the Basteir Tooth and follow the ridge along to Bruach na Frithe. Sounds easy doesn't it but that short sentence hides a long tough day with some long drops to be abseiled and great scrambling enroute.
To cap it all if we achieved all three Munros today the last one, Bruach na Frithe, would be my 100th :) :)
The first mistake we made was letting Colin take the lead from the Sligachan Hotel, Colin is one fit b.......d and he had Jonah and I sweating buckets trying to keep up with him on the way up to the Coire a'Bhastier. We stopped for a short breather just below the Coire and Jonah managed to get in front of him and slow him down. We stopped at the Coire for a cuppa and I asked Jonah to make sure Colin didn't take the lead again to which he readily agreed. :crazy: :crazy: The view from the Coire is fantastic looking up to the buttresses of Sgurr nan Gillean and the path up to the ridge.

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On the way up to the Coire a'Bhastier


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Tea break at the Coire


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The three buttresses of Sgurr nan Gillean


From the Coire we followed the zig zag path up through the scree to the Bealach, just as we arrived on the ridge it started to rain which made it slippery underfoot. Jonah was considering calling it all off but thankfully it stopped as quickly as it started. We dumped our bags and set off towards the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean; this route was great scrambling and something I would never have attempted without Jonah. The first summit of the day was soon reached.

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Jonah and Colin heading for the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean


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The summit of Sgurr nan Gillean


From Sgurr nan Gillean we followed the route back to the Bealach, collected our bags and headed along the ridge towards Am Basteir. Again there was some good scrambling but thankfully the rocks had dried out a bit and we were soon on the second of our summits for the day.

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Colin coming up through the window on the ridge


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Colin and I on the summit of Am Basteir


The route from Am Basteir to Bruach na Frithe is the really interesting part of the day, there are a series of serious abseils and some good class scrambling down and over the Basteir Tooth. They say a picture paints a thousand words so I'm not going to try and describe our route I'll just post a series of photos to give you some idea of what we did.

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Colin makes his way down the first abseil


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We finally reach the summit of Bruach na Frithe, my 100th Munro


From the summit of Bruach na Frithe we skirted around the base of Am Basteir and then picked up the inward path back down through the scree to the Coire a'Basteir and back to the Sligachan Hotel. Its fair to say we had a couple of pints of the black stuff to celebrate my 100th Munro and more importantly the end of a great trip to Skye. I'll be back at some time as I still have 5 Munros left to complete on Skye, but they can wait for now.

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clivew
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby Glen Fruin » Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:13 pm

Great report and pics and the conditions dont look the best.I did the Pinnacle ridge route and that was a great day.Skye is just a different class really in both difficulty and beauty.
Dave
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby pollyh33 » Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:32 pm

Wowsers Clive what a way to celebrate your 100th munro!!!!

Congratulations :clap:

Skye for me in September- can't wait!!!

Fantastic report with super scary photos :shock: :shock:
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby fipriestley » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:45 pm

Congratulations on 100! :clap: Makes a difference with a guide - I did Frithe and Bastier but we didn't have a guide so decided against carrying on to Gillean. Think I'd go for Pinnacle Ridge next time but definitely with guide! :)
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby BlackPanther » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:01 am

Congratulations, great report. I can see now what I missed... We were on Skye last week as well, but with weather so cloudy we decided against scrambling in the mist...
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:47 pm

Glen Fruin wrote:Great report and pics and the conditions dont look the best.I did the Pinnacle ridge route and that was a great day.Skye is just a different class really in both difficulty and beauty.
Dave

Cheers Dave, my brother and I had a great couple of days, like you say the Cuillins are just that little bit above the average Munro. We were very lucky the weather didn't get any worse than it did.
clivew
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:48 pm

pollyh33 wrote:Wowsers Clive what a way to celebrate your 100th munro!!!!

Congratulations :clap:

Skye for me in September- can't wait!!!

Fantastic report with super scary photos :shock: :shock:

Hi Polly, it was great honestly you will love it on Skye, it was a really good couple of days
clivew
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:50 pm

fipriestley wrote:Congratulations on 100! :clap: Makes a difference with a guide - I did Frithe and Bastier but we didn't have a guide so decided against carrying on to Gillean. Think I'd go for Pinnacle Ridge next time but definitely with guide! :)

The ridge is really superb but you are right about the guide, we wouldn't have gone anywhere near it without Jonah
clivew
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:52 pm

BlackPanther wrote:Congratulations, great report. I can see now what I missed... We were on Skye last week as well, but with weather so cloudy we decided against scrambling in the mist...

Wise move, without a guide we would have been totally out of our depth
clivew
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby ciderpeter » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:56 pm

Wow another nice report! Looks like you got the best of the weather last week... We had guides booked on Sunday and Friday for the In Pinn, but both were cancelled. I was gutted having seen the tons of reports from the previous weeks with clear skies and sun!

Your reports have just made me even more keen to get back in September and get onto the ridge! Although I would be lying if I said you hadn't made me brick it! :lol:

Keep them coming!
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:22 pm

ciderpeter wrote:Wow another nice report! Looks like you got the best of the weather last week... We had guides booked on Sunday and Friday for the In Pinn, but both were cancelled. I was gutted having seen the tons of reports from the previous weeks with clear skies and sun!

Your reports have just made me even more keen to get back in September and get onto the ridge! Although I would be lying if I said you hadn't made me brick it! :lol:

Keep them coming!

Hi Pete, honestly it was far more enjoyable than the photos make it look, most of the scrambles and abseils look terrifying from a distance but when you get up close and personal they are a piece of cake really. At least that's what I keep telling myself anyway :lol: :lol:
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby robertphillips » Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:43 pm

Well done cracking hills these.
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby wilkiemurray » Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:55 am

nice report - liked the picture of "the window" :clap:
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:46 pm

robertphillips wrote:Well done cracking hills these.

Thanks Robert
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Re: Day3, Skye, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bastier, Bruach na Fri

Postby clivew » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:47 pm

wilkiemurray wrote:nice report - liked the picture of "the window" :clap:

Cheers Wilkie, we had a great couple of days
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