free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
It has been a 40 year journey. I started my walking career as a young 8 year old doing Silver Howe in the lakes, walking from Chapel stile in Langdale to Stickle tarn and then back along the valley. I was hooked from that day. Things progressed and, on a family holiday to Scotland went up my first Munros Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas in 1976. From then on I had regular holidays either in Glencoe, developing rock climbing skills on the Buachaille or on Skye where I went for 5 years in a row climbing in the Cuillin , inexplicably though never doing the Inn Pinn. Even though it has been a 40 year journey there has been huge gaps, with work, marriage, family, at one stage I didn't get to Scotland for 10 years and even then after that if the weather was crap I wouldn't get up for the whole year.
It was around 2008 that I started to get a bit more time to myself and started to take the campervan up to Scotland for a week in April and May. I did a Munro count which stood at 140 and for the first time I started to think about a compleation. Even in that Spring of that year though I resorted to repeating hills that I felt comfortable with. There was a heavy dump of snow that spring and I felt my skills at the time where just not up to it, so it was really 2009 that I started to research and plan for the munros ahead.
This year has been a huge bonus for me and I reckon I have bagged over 50 munros and gradually the total to do got smaller. The Inn Pinn had been booked twice this year, in July and September and had been cancelled twice due to high winds. I hadn't really planned on the Inn Pinn being the last one, if the plans had worked out in Sept I would have completed in the Fisherfield.
And so it came to Friday 28th October. I had booked Jonah jones of Skye Mountain guides and had chosen that day as it would fit in with the WH meet at Ratagan. I had enviously seen some great pics of Skye and the weather leading up the 28th and sure enough the weather started to change again as the day approached. A mate dropped out not wanting to travel that far to get cancelled. I was meeting dommie and David Main of WH. as I drove up to Skye and was crossing from the Dalwhinnie area the rain was lashing down and didn't look good. I got to the Sligachan hotel and met up David, Theresa, Pauline and Rod who were also going to the WH meet and doing a Corbett beforehand. I then drove down to Glenbrittle and parked up in the Fairy pools car park meeting Dommie and his friend, Yan in the morning.
First sight of the Inn Pinn
Getting kitted out for the Inn Pinn
And so to the climb. I had been nervous about the Inn Pinn. My decent scrambling days were behind me and I had never abseiled since my early 20,s. We got to the base of the Pinn. There were 8 of us, as 4 lads from Alnwick had joined us, thankfully Jonah took our party of 4 first as it was cold and the wind had blasted up the west ridge on the way up. I had doubted whether we would get the thing done. Jonah gave a briefing and tied us on to one rope at 5mtr intervals. I was sure what to expect as I thought he would require a belay from below, but after briefing Jonah was away up to the belay point about 75 feet up. I was first on the rope and got away up. I found it easy all the way up to the belay point with big holds and an easy- ish angle. Got clipped in and then made room on the ledge as the other 3 then came up. Strangley enough I didn't feel one bit of exposure. Its a great perch with huge drops all around but being clipped in gives the security.
Briefing
At the first belay ledge
The next bit was the so called crux. It is the steepest part of the Pinn and probably the thinnest at around 6" to 8" wide and vertical for about 10 feet. The holds were plentiful but the wind was a problem, blowing around 30 mph, W to E blowing me around the corner. The difficulties were over too quickly and I was ascending at an easy angle to compleat.
Yours truly climbing up the Pinn, David following
On top with David
And so to the Abseil point. We dropped around the corner of the big block and clipped into the sling already in place while Jonah sorted out the rope. That done it was time and I went first. To be honest I enjoyed it. You don't really look down, concentrating on the foot placements and just walking down the face. Like the ascent it was over far too quickly.
Dropping down to the abseil point
Abseiling down
Compleation!!
Myself and dommie on Sgurr Mhic Choinnich
A happy man post Inn Pinn!
As a final note I must thank my father for all of this. It was he who got me into hillwalking, gradually introducing me into scrambling, rock climbing and a love of all places wild. He got me into rock climbing in Glencoe in the late 70,s doing routes on the Buachaille and scrambling on the Aonach Eagach. I recall one occasion when we walked it W to E and rather than dropping to the glen to walk back, crossed it again E to W, great memories .
When I reckon it up, I think he has probably done around 100 of the munros with me and was a constant companion up until 2000.
My father on Glas Bheinn Mhor around 1994
Well that's the Munros done and I'm stuck s to what to do next. On the Saturday the weather was crap and I couldn't summon up the energy to go up a hill in the clag opting for a low level walk to camban bothy instead and felt the same on the Sunday. I think it will back to backpacking.
Many thanks to Dommie, David and Jonah for a great day and to David for his kind permission to use some of his pics 2,9,10,12,13.
