Skye day 1 - Sgurr na Banachd(a)ich

[Beery Hiker]

We spent a week in Skye in late March, and the first couple of days were glorious. Not being experts in scrambling or winter mountaineering, we confined ourselves to the easier summits, so the Sunday saw us setting out from Glen Brittle heading for Sgurr na Banachdaich (as the recent OS maps have it, perhaps because the old version Banachdich appears to break the spelling rule about matching vowel types either side of a consonant.
IMG_0686 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
In the early part of the walk it was Rum that caught the eye, looking a bit less fierce than it tends to from the mainland
IMG_0691 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
A little higher, we got a first glimpse of the outer Hebrides:
IMG_0698 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
This is one of the easiest routes in the Cuillin, but it is not without its own forms of torture, notably this scree slope
IMG_0701 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
Before long the angle eased and the views opened out
IMG_0705 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0707 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0710 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0712 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0713 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
Higher up the slope gets rougher and steeper, but there was very little snow and ice
IMG_0715 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
Soon we were on the summit looking down over Loch Coruisk
IMG_0716 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
and back towards Sgurr nan Gillean
IMG_0720 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
A couple we met took this photo of us
IMG_0725 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
The view south is spectacular
IMG_0728 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0730 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
We returned by the same route, trading very carefully on the steep scree
IMG_0736 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
and were soon on firmer ground, looking back up
IMG_0740 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
At the end of the day, we couldn't resist a look at the beach at Glen Brittle, where we got a different view of the Cuillin:
IMG_0751 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
IMG_0752 by Beery Hiker, on Flickr
After which we returned to our base at the Old Inn in Carbost for a well deserved beer.

[HalfManHalfTitanium]

A superb report of a great day! Thanks so much for posting, it may take me a few days to get round to doing something - not even properly looked through my photos yet...

Tim

[Beery Hiker]

Thanks Tim. I'll probably post a few more later in the week - there are definitely some photos worth sharing of Bruach na Frithe and Quiraing, and the Marsco walk was an experience even if we didn't see much!