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The 4th chapter of My Skye Reports should be called "The day the clouds stood still". Why? Well, I'll explain everything in a minute.
Tuesday's wash-out left us a bit disappointed, but Wednesday's forecast wasn't bad so we boldly planned to tackle another Munro. According to guides, Sgurr na Banachdich was "a walk rather than a scramble, hands not needed". Good news! I have nothing against scrambling but all the recent rain made rocks slippery and dangerous. It was bad enough on Sgurr Alisdair. Taking on a challenge like Sgurr nan Gillean felt slightly beyond my reach.
The morning woke up very bright and sunny, but showers were forecast for late afternoon, so I ordered Kevin out of the sleeping bag for an early start
The Cuillin ridge looked lovely and my appetite for another anventure was growing...
We drove the short distance to Glen Brittle youth hostel and took a well constructed path up the south side of the stream.
The path follows the gorge of Allt a Choire Ghreadaidh for about 1.5 km and passes a whole series of beautiful waterfalls. Before I could say a word, Kevin's new camera was out and working:
I hurried my husband up the mountain. I still remember the showers predicted for the afternoon and I wanted to get to the top while still dry.
The summits were still clear but some clouds began to gather which worried me...
We knew that to climb Sgurr na Banachdich we had to leave the main path leading to Coire a Ghreadaidh and follow the side of a small stream - Allt Coir' an Each to the bottom of Coir' an Each itself. But Coire a Ghreadaidh looked so tempting, with its great waterfalls (we could clearly hear them from where we were). This is certainly another Skye priority for me, especially that there are two Munros to climb from this corrie. Next year, if I'm brave enough...
Loking back, the lower hills of Beinn Staic and Truagh Mheall:
Filming the views while I still could:
The more interesting way to reach the ridge is to go up the wide western shoulder of An Diallaid. It's steep but relatively easy climb with great views opening up all around.
An Diallaid and Coir' an Each from below:
Nice views back:
At some point MacLeods Tables came into view:
Climbing An Diallaid:
Two minutes of rest:
That's our target:
As we climbed, we admired vertical cliffs of Sgurr nan Gobhar:
A gap in the rocks:
Unfortunately, although the day was pretty windless, clouds appeared from nowhere:
The last chance to grab a view:
Clouds were now in every direction:
Looking down along the ridge of Sgurr nan Gobhar:
We reached the top of An Diallaid and walked along its ridge towards the final, short climb to the summit of Sgurr na Banachdich. As I expected, no scrambling involved, just a rocky slope:
From Bealach Coire na Banachdich we could finally see the summits of Sgurr a Mhadaidh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh... Well, almost
One more push - and we were standing on the summit. Clouds stayed on the western side of the ridge and as we looked towards Sgurr Alasdiar and Sgurr Dearg, we were just able to see them:
The pano down to Loch Coruisk was pretty impressive:
Blaven on the horizon:
Sgurr Thormaid and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh:
The tiny summit cairn:
The Inn Pin emerging from the clouds:
The sun was rather strong despite clouds:
We expected the clouds to pass over the ridge but they stayed put, settled well in Coire a Ghreadaidh. Therefore, only one half of the Cuillin Ridge was visible:
The Inn Pin again. Such a shame from Sgurr na Banachdich only the top of the Pinnacle is showing...
...but we still managed to capture brave maneuvers of rock climbers:
Sgurr Alasdair:
As we sat on the top some other walkers arrived and soon the summit was pretty crowded
No wonder as it is a fantastic viewpoint and an easy mountain to climb if you bear in mind it's part of the Cuillin. Eventually we went back down - on the way back we descended straight to Coir' an Each, leaving An Diallaid to our right:
One last look at toady's conquest
:
Just before we got back to the car park, the white-ish clouds that accompanied us for most of the day turned rather dark. it resulted in a few "moody" photos of waterfalls:
So happy to have ticked off a Munro again
We expected the predicted shower to come at any time but it didn't arrive until late afternoon. We had a fantastic day again - the day the clouds stood still.
The final chapter of My Skye reports will be about... waterfalls. It shouldn't surprise anyone - all in all, Skye is an island so plenty of water around