Skye Weekend
It was a very select band of 4 who made the journey to Skye this year. Moira, Graham R, Ali and Graeme C all made the trip to the Skyewalker Hostel.
Saturday proved to be an overcast and grey day with low cloud and next to no visibility above a few hundred meters. However, this minor inconvenience did not put off this intrepid quad and so Moira and Graeme C set off for Sgurr nan Gillean whilst Ali and Graham R made a beeline for Glamaig.
The climb up Gillean, like all the Skye munros, was challenging. The low cloud and corresponding lack of visibility resulted in us frequently losing the path and having to waste time locating it again. Eventually, we gave up on the "trade route" we had anticipated and took more of a "direct" approach. Not to be recommended, really. However, we battled on and, after much scrambling both up and down, eventually topped out.
Meanwhile, Graham and Ali had had a comfortable, hassle-free journey up and down Glamaig and returned to the Slig pub by the early afternoon. They were joined an hour or so later by Graeme and Moira who, after finding the path on the way down, had bumped into two other chaps who had made an attempt on Gillean but given up. They gave the impression they had been more than a little surprised at our success.
A very satisfying meal and several beers were consumed in the pub near the hostel later that evening.
From a weather perspective, the following day could not have been in greater contrast. And because of the improvement in the conditions, we all set out to climb something else on the way home. Graham R made a plan to climb the Corbett Sgurr Mhic Bharraich near Ratagan whilst Graeme C, Ali and Moira decided to climb The Saddle (by the Forcan Ridge, of course) followed by Sgurr na Sgine.
The Forcan Ridge was wonderfully airy and the views were superb. And, naturally, we tried to keep to the crest as much as possible. After much scrambling and up- and down-climbing we reach the top. The way down was surprisingly more fun than normal. The corrie back to the bealach was full of snow and we slid, skidded and slipped (with various amounts of control, it has to be said) most of the way down. Great fun!
A trudge up the other side took us to the ridge leading to the top of Sgurr na Sgine. A further couple of hours saw us back at the car in Glen Shiel exhausted but very pleased with our weekends' efforts.
View of Forcan Ridge from Sgurr Sgine
