Skye April 2019 – Trip Report
By Jonathan How
Two years ago I discovered that with very cheap Easyjet flights from Gatwick Inverness was possible for a short trip. Ruth and I did a short Post-Easter trip to Aviemore in 2017 for a first visit into the Cairngorms and found ourselves with full-on winter conditions providing some challenging walking. Looking for a new adventure in 2019 we headed off to Skye and joined up with Mike, our most northerly GMCer, now living on the Island.
Travel was straightforward: Easyjet from Gatwick to Inverness (£56 return for the two of us!), hire a car and then a 3 hour drive through stunning scenery to Dunvegan towards the far side of Skye. I’d made a mistake booking hold baggage so we ended up with a comfortable 23kg each.
Day 1. Warming up on the Red Cuillin.
We picked Marsco (736m) as the scene for our acclimatisation. Part of the Red Cuillin, it’s a fine looking peak standing prominently to the south of Sligachan with excellent views of Pinnacle Ridge and the Black Cuillin. There are a couple of climbs on its flank, Fiaclan Dearg, and we picked Odell’s Route (Diff) and after an hour or so along the path turned off and lugged up the steepening hillside to the bottom of the climb. Once there we set aside the prospect of a grotty traverse at the start of the climb and instead set up the more natural line of the scramble up the North-West shoulder (Grade 2). From the top of the crag it was another couple of hundred meters slog up loose scree to the fine grassed ridge which comprises the top. The views of the main Cuillin Ridge and the craggy Blabheinn, and the feel of the summit ridge itself more than compensated for the hard work of the ascent. A steep descent off the other side of Marsco and a few km along the valley floor brought us back to the Sligachan Inn for a well-deserved drink. I don’t think any of us thought that an ascent of something less than 2,500ft would be quite so demanding.
Day 2. A taste of the Cuillin Ridge.
Pinnacle Ridge is undoubtedly one of the most promising routes in the Skye Scrambles guidebook, but after the reality check of day 1 and aware that as a new rope of 3 we might not move that quickly we decided to have a day with lighter packs and set off from Sligachan into Coire a’ Bhasteir and then up the NE Ridge (Grade 1/2) onto Sgurr a’ Bhasteir (898m). A welcome break was taken sunning ourselves by a patch of snow while exploring the ridge along to Broach na Frithe (958m). Fionn Choire provided a pleasant descent and walk out along the burn with its waterfalls and pools which would provide good bathing opportunities in warm weather.
Day 3. A remote coastal walk.
The Skye Scrambles guide includes a 3* coastal walk (21km, 750m ascent and descent) from Orbost to Ramasaig on Duirinish, so with a damp afternoon forecast we decided to sample another part of the island’s scenery. The start of the walk, Ramasaig, is a farm down a track in the middle of nowhere. Given the often poor phone signal and the remoteness of the location it must surely be a better start point than end. If you don’t have a friend who can drop you off then it probably makes sense to book a taxi out(We thought the views were also better doing the walk North to South.) It is a measure of the isolation of Skye that on this 3* route there was little more than sheep trods to follow by way of path. We negotiated a couple of steep slopes to cross the various streams that flow out but these could probably be avoided by walking inland a bit further each time. A bothy set 1km inland could offer interesting possibilities for a 2 day coastal walk in this remote area.
Overall then, a great introduction to Skye. What did I learn?
- Even the smaller mountains are properly steep.
- You don’t need to go to the Alps for world class mountaineering.
- There’s much more to Skye than the Cullin Ridge.
- There’s loads of stuff here of really good quality that hardly sees a soul.
Lastly, it would be wrong to finish without giving a mention to Mike and Jennie’s place: http://skyegetaways.co.uk.