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Previous PartDarren and I had driven to Kintail the previous evening, had a leisurely evening and an early night. Given the forecast was excellent for the morning albeit it very windy, and wet from 1pm, an early start was in order
I managed to persuade Darren to get up at "something with a 6 in it??!"
And we were away from the campsite, found the correct layby and booted up pretty quickly. It was only just after 7 when we set off up the good stalkers path headed for the Forcan.
The wind had been strong overnight and was forecast to drop a little during the course of the day but not very much, however the 50mph gusts were at least dropped to 40ish by the time we reached higher ground.
The path made for easy height gain and the banter flowed healthily as we kept up a decent pace. Although the wind caught us here and there, it didn't seem toooo bad yet
We had that wonderful feeling of an early start and enjoyed being first on the hill. We also enjoyed stopping for photos to allow the heart rate a little recovery
Glen Shiel
I was worried Kintail would be disappointing after Skye but it is stunning in a different way. And the weather was better here
Zigzagging higher, we eventually reached the col between Meallan Odhar and Biod am Fhithich. The wind picked up a little here again, but on we went.
Coire Caol
Looking back towards the Brothers
Glen Shiel again
Brothers and Sisters panorama
The Forcan began to come into view and looked imposing and awesome.
Looking pensive
We continued around Meallan Odhar and this brought us to decision time. To Forcan or not to Forcan, that was the question? How bad was the wind? I could stand in it without too many difficulties, it should have been dropping a little... bypass paths were on the right which would be sheltered from the wind should we need them...
Glen Shiel – the ridges starting to come into view
Loch Duich & the mountains beyond
We decided to have a look...the initial scramble across flat slabs was interesting, my new found rock climbing abilities led me to some heroics which Darren found amusing
(we later realised that this was entirely avoidable, doh
) and I was asked "have we just passed the point of no return?" We laughed....reversing it would be possible but definitely undignified
Carrying on, we scrambled easily but cheerfully, nothing too exposed yet. We found the crampon marks useful to follow, figuring that if someone could manage it in winter then we ought to manage today!
Practising…something…
We agreed that although bypasses were for pussies, there was no shame in it in today's winds and some were used, although not all
Climbing out the top of the initial section, we were hit by stronger winds and sat down, engaging our fifth points of contact and admired the ridge ahead.
Sgurr na Sgine
Neither of us really fancied chickening out now...we'd got this far after all. Care was obviously required but I figured that so long as I held on I'd be fine
Windy!!
Darren initially led the way, carefully scrambling and stopping for photos! He then used me as a guinea pig for a narrow scramble around an exposed slab....
Spiky rocks
Back doon Glen Shiel
Darren still smiling
We discovered that we were having a fantastic time, jokes and banter were flowing, in between moments of "gust coming, hold on!", careful route finding and some short person problems for me!
The end a wee way ahead…
Although there was a fair amount of exposure, there were no moments where I was actually worried. Care was required obviously but the only technical difficulty was one that neither even thought about attempting - "The Downclimb" and we quite happily took the bypass to the left, with only one difficulty - a narrow gap in the rock where we both had to squeeze a bit!!
Looking back we couldn't work out how anybody could get down that…and it looked a lot worse actually there!
We were trying to work out which bit was Sgurr nan Forcan, but couldn't be bothered to check the map. We agreed that there weren't many route choices here anyway... "forwards, backwards and death"
Darren negotiating a tricky bit
The final stretch ahead
Me having fun
Looking back
From here, confidence seemed to rise. The crest of the ridge rose ahead and we looked at each other....in true Marty McFly style I said "Nobody calls me chicken!!" And attacked the scramble. Unfortunately I had a short person problem and engaged 6th and 7th points of contact - my two knees. Darren was enjoying laughing at me but kindly didn't take any pictures until I was at least back on my feet
Darren following
We reached the final stretch of the ridge and still elected to take the hardest options. "Why would we make it so hard?" "Because we can!!"
I was actually disappointed to reach the summit as it meant it was over (although we couldn't remember at this point whether the summit was before or after the trig point, so we visited them all but elected to take pictures at the safest location
pussies? Maybe...
)
We were totally buzzing, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing...we couldn't believe it had taken us an hour and a half to cross the ridge!
We decided this was Knoydart
Looking back along the ridge
Knoydart & Sgurr na Sgine
The Saddle conquered
Onwards we went, down the path alongside the wall, before heading for Sgurr Na Sgine. A healthy debate followed about the pronunciation of that, and other hills as we climbed which made the steep ascent less noticeable.
I'm not a fan of boulder fields and the path became easily lost. Darren decided we were going in the right direction as we were going up...seemed good enough logic for me.
The views back to the Forcan ridge were just out of this world.
The Saddle, Forcan Ridge and Brothers ridge
Forcan again
Still buzzing, we made it without incident to the top of Sgurr Na Sgine; undoubtedly a less interesting hill in itself but it more than made up for it with the views. We reckoned we'd identified most of what we could see and felt quite chuffed
Knoydart
Forcan ridge in glorious sunshine
Beinn Sgritheall with claggy Skye behind
South Glen Shiel Ridge
Brothers & Sisters and South ridges
Beinn Sgritheall & Skye
Darren deciding not to walk with Jaxter again
Jaxter special
We had a quick bite before heading off. We could see the weather starting to come in right on schedule and although we were happy to have done most of the walk in good weather, we also wanted to stay dry...
We bumped into our first person of the day back at the bealach - we had decided that we didn't fancy "The Descent" from Faochag having heard about its knee destroying abilities! We followed the wall along the base of the Forcan ridge, marvelling at how we had crossed it earlier, and rejoined our outward route.
Looking back up at the Forcan
I hate out and backs but the day seemed like it had been interesting enough to get away with it
Graham – Biod am Fhithich
There was talk of popping up the Graham Biod am Fhithich but we decided to be sensible (Darren seemed to forget this plan as he missed the path down...I was tempted to see how far he'd go but I was feeling kind
)
The rain which had been threatening for a while finally started for real and we hurriedly added waterproofs, but didn't care at all - it had been such a good day that nothing was going to ruin it....or so I thought
It was a long descent and we were both tired, I was trying to be careful with my knees but also now eager to be back at the car. Blondie was shining like a big yellow beacon.
Arriving back in the tipping rain we both prepared for the long drive home, Darren heading off first and me following shortly after. Fantastic end to an amazing weekend which will live long in the memory