UKH

Hi all,

I've been fascinated by Skye and particularly the Black Cuillin Ridge for some time. I've done some research into it and had varying reports of people being able to scramble it in one very long day, whereas some have talked about it like an expedition, bivvied and roped together the entire time.

I was hoping to do it on my own this Summer- for the thrill of it mostly. I'm comfortable with scrambling, rock climbing up to grade HVS on trad and I'm fine being independent on exposed terrain. Have done a bit of stuff in Scotland before as well as two trips to the Alps and Himalayas.

I am not planning at all to include the rock climbing sections of the route as I wouldn't be comfortable soloing them. I guess this may discount it as a true traverse of the ridge but I presume there's a way to bypass these sections? Has anybody else traversed the ridge alone in this way?

Any thoughts and experiences welcomed.

Cheers.

In reply to Stani49:

>Has anybody else traversed the ridge alone in this way?

Yes, loads of people.

There's some kind of article on the site about how to bypass the rock-climbing and other things. Get the descents well sorted; this is the hardest bit. And bear in mind that you more or less (AFAIK) have to do Naismith's route right at the end of the day. It's only a couple of moves and they're not hard, but it's daunting and exposed.

jcm

In reply to Stani49:

Almost no-one would rope up the whole way. Most would rope up for 3 or 4 one-pitch sections (and a couple of abs, e.g. off the Inn Pinn). Yes it is possible to bypass these, but in some cases you'd be descending quite a way, traversing and then re-ascending quite a way. If you're doing this you really need to plan your bypasses ahead of time.

In reply to Stani49:

Perfectly possible, many hill-fit climbers unencumbered with bivvy kit only get the rope out three to four times:

TD Gap - You can bypass on the Corrie Grhunda side
Inn Pin' - If you don't fancy the solo its a simple walk round
Bidean Central top abseil - V. Hard to bypass so you may want to take a rope for the abb.
Am Bastier Tooth - bypass via the Slig side to teh AB / SNG col and back track to the top of AB, before retracing steps to SNG.

This does leave plenty of exposed and locally tricky route finding particularly downclimbing. Consequently being a bit of a coward I have only played around on the ridge in this manner when it is completely dry.

Also you need a good nose for the route to prevent yourself downclimbing off route in serious ground....so if it doesn't look right or feel right don't be too 'fixated' not to walk away.

In reply to Stani49:
For someone of your ability, you should be fine but i'd say a few days of reccying certain sections would be good. You would lose the on-sight claim but it probably wouldn't be quite so daunting, its a lot of ridge. I lead HS-VS and can happily solo most of the stuff along the ridge other than possibly TD gap (never tried), down climb off Inn Pinn and getting onto Am Basteir from the Tooth (again, never tried either). Most of it is quite mentally taxing grade 2 and 3 scrambling with harder sections thrown in. I found Bidean the hardest section but still fairly straight forward on the solo.

Don't think about the traverse in bad weather, its not worth it. Even in grey weather with lots of cloud its not worth trying it in my opinion, sections of the ridge by all means but it requires good visibility for a solo, especially if you are going by yourself. There is also a huge number of really good easier rock routes which can be done in the damp if you happen to find someone to go climbing with.

It really is the most superb collection of mountains in the UK, and the best quality scrambling I have had the pleasure of sampling. If you are steady at HVS then go for a week, have a few days up there messing around and then just go for it man. You'll not regret it!

In reply to ScraggyGoat:
>Bidean Central top abseil - V. Hard to bypass so you may want to take a rope for the abb.

I don't remember this, so it can't be *all* that big a deal.


Can you really? Well, I never knew that.

>Also you need a good nose for the route to prevent yourself downclimbing off route in serious ground

Absolutely.

jcm

In reply to Stani49:

The one thing to note is that very few people manage to do the ridge on their first attempt. You can read all the guides and try and get pictures of sections but nothing replaces having been there and gone wrong the first time and know better the second third or fourth time it takes you to do the full traverse.
When you say solo do you mean a few mates not roping up or do you mean you on your own? There is a heck of a difference, having been with mates on it and tried it on my own the thing you find hard to appreciate is how mentally tiring it all gets late in the day. You have no one to bounce ideas of when the route vanished as it is always doing just when you need it to be as simple as possible. The saying two heads are better than one came to my mind. I had thought I could simply stay a hundred meters behind a guided party on the section I had not already done before but no joy. As the day went on I got slower and slower and more spooked by the exposure like it had built up during the day.
The fact that in the final quarter I was always going into the unknown was the main reason behind this if I had done the sections before I am sure I would have been all right.
Go up solo by all means stick to YOUR limits but my advice would be to go for a week and do the ridge in sections first then try it all in one day if the weather gods are all lined up.

Can you really? Well, I never knew that.

probably didn't make myself clear, i.e. down the screes beneath AB.

Bidean Central top - its amazing what little lines people find, or ones you yourself are somehow blind to, you have obviously found a better line. I Must go back with 'open eyes'.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Central top on Bidean is hard to get lost on if you stick to the Coruisk side. It is awkward if you are shorter and hangs back slightly as I remember but it is not technically hard, around V.Diff(ish).

I found getting off An Caisteal a little harder (route finding wise) to be honest, but still fairly straight forward if you avoid the belly crawl.

In reply to Nath93:



October. 2 days, torrential rain and wind. magic! I remember this traverse better than the others done in sunshine. Once you're wet...just keep going!

In reply to top cat:

Maybe not as a first attempt solo though...?

In reply to Stani49:

I was very lucky with the conditions and traversed the whole Ridge solo on my first attempt with my only pre knowledge having been to climb King Cobra the day before so I had crossed over the Ridge via Corrie Lagan. This included down climbing all the abseils which I don't remember being too bad and King Cobra (E1) was about as hard as I was leading at the time. The whole thing took 13hrs from Glen Brittle to the Sligachan, 8hrs top to top. I wasn't carrying much which helped, no rope etc.

One thing I regretted was not having enough water with me, I'd only taken a litre; two would have been better.

There are some great tips on the Ridge Traverse on Mike Lates' website at: http://skyeguides.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2007_Ridge_Download.pdf

In reply to Stani49:
The Cuillin is not one day out. The Cuillin is an altered state of consciousness.

Having once got there--a bit of an achievement in itself--don't then leave it again as fast as you can scurry. Enter it whenever you get the chance, and stay there as long as life allows you to.

The full traverse is partly about speed, fitness and boldness (none of them fortes of mine), and partly about knowing the ridge already, and knowing it really well (I wouldn't call this a forte of mine either, but I score higher on it than on the other parameters).

Take water. Take a camera. Take a rope for the abseils that you ought to be doing, and also for the abseils that you might end up doing because you get the route wrong.

Above all, take your time. Rushing things is for the rat race. The Cuillin is not another treadmill; it is the antithesis of all treadmills.

In reply to sheffieldchris:

Moff and I did it first go largely onsight (we only knew the section over SNG). We waited for an Ok weather window and our crossing was Ok but not perfect as it was too hot and we ran out of water. We were also both carrying injuries. I was little more than a solid VS leader at the time and led the cruxes almost solo in approach shoes. The key is good prep: go light and fast follow Bob W's advice...four really fit looking big rucksac parties failed the day we finished (after making us queue in the morning cold at the TD gap we overtook them all by bypassing An Stac and as we slowed none cuaght up for sunset, at the finish).

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Like

In reply to Stani49:

The hugely experienced chap who introduced me to the Cuillin, and had solo'd it several times always recommended doing it north to south especially if soloing, i.e. Slig to Brittle. His personal best was 7hrs 15. and that was starting from the Slig as he was a fell runner who could get onto summit of SnG in about 45 mins. He reckoned doing it N to S involved bypassing the harder climbing with abseils e.g. SnG summit to Basteir summit and then abseil down Kings Cave chimney. At TD gap ab down the long side and climb out the shorter side. I have largely acquired my knowledge of the ridge in this direction so can't really comment on doing it the other way. In the course of many visits the only bit I have never done was the TD gap so cannot properly comment on this. As others have said only do it in guaranteed good weather; what's the point of doing the ridge if you can't see the views from the top. Enjoy.

In reply to Mike Lates:



I hope you find it anti-rat-race too, Mike, even if it's your day job!

In reply to Stani49:
The hardest bit of navigation on the ridge, I always find, is the bit between Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn. I always feel that I'm getting lost there, even when I'm not.

If I remember rightly* this bit isn't part of the Cuillin racecourse, not being on the main ridge. But stuff the racecourse. Do it anyway, it's brilliant.

Of course, my view of that section may be affected by the fact that, though I've been there at least five times, I'd never done it in clear weather till last September. Conversely, I've probably been over Bidein 2 or 3 times, and never in mist. If this was the other way round I expect my views would be.

And no doubt my views about the racecourse approach to the Cuillin are coloured by not being very quick myself


*Update: I don't remember rightly. Sgurr Dubh Mor is part of the racecourse.

In reply to Stani49:

I wouldn't like to solo TD gap as its unpleasantly polished and steep. I drag my rope soloing like I'm actually leading. You therefore have a means of escape or possibly putting in a bit of gear for unsure move then flick out above. I did this with the Inn pin and met a walker on top who had soloed up but was too scared to get down. He was just waiting for someone to turn up and get him down. He was doing a traverse but with only hillwalking experience, he did get to the end. Nice chap but a bit nuts.

In reply to fmck:

That's stupendously gutsy for someone with only hillwalking experience.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Here here

After many trips from Glencoe to climb in the Cuillin I took the plunge last May to go and live on Skye for a short while without a job or a job to go to, and it was one of the best things I've ever done.

The only problem is that Skye is usually at the back of my mind now whenever I go climbing, as pretty much nowhere ever compares.

In reply to Stani49:

Great objective most likely problem would be route finding as some of the bypasses are tricky to find. Its also a long day both physically and particularly for the soloist mentally.

As well as the main traverse there is loads and loads more. The blaven clach traverse is brilliant.

In reply to alasdair19:

Ok, my solo of the ridge was 50 years ago, I was a teenager and had arranged to do it with two mates but I got pissed the night before in Dunvegan and at dawn they couldn't rouse me. I eventually surfaced and set out to catch them, not sure how far I was behind. A nightmare climb up Garbs Bheinn working my hangover off and I started the ridge, I carried a half length rope for abseils etc.
It was a very hot day and I was reduced to sucking moss for liquid when my water ran out, halfway along the ridge I decided to pack in and descended a small gully in which I found a spring just below the ridge. Thus replenished I climbed back up the gully and carried on.
The maps for Skye were very bad in those days, the best being an SMC one sold with the guide that was in B+W. I momentarily got lost and asked a Scottish couple if I was on Sgurr Geradgh, their reply was not understandable to me so I carried on along the ridge. I soled all the climbs in the kind of trainers that were available in those years, the TD Gap was a bit frightening.
Coming off Sgurr Nan Gillean in the dark was scarey too but I could see the lights of the Sligachan Inn across the moor like a beacon and got there, just in time to catch up with my mates for last orders, I realised I had the greatest day out I was ever going to have in British mountains.
Next year I went to the Alps.

In reply to Stani49:

Following on from Alasdair19, a solo Clach Glas – Blaven traverse would be an excellent introduction to soloing the Cuillin ridge: the rock is the same, the climbing and the navigation are easier, and it's easily doable in a day without logistical problems.

In reply to Solaris:

I soloed it when I had no real climbing experience at all, when I was 22, in dense mist. I did it again recently on a clear bright day when all the big exposures were visible, and decided the mist first time round was probably just as well.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Rat-racers run away fast for a number of reasons. I suspect many of those who don't fall in love find the Cuillin reluctant to boost their egos and FB profiles

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I thought you meant me until I reread my post. Yeh I thought so. Nice chap accompanied him to the B.Tooth then he bypassed.It was just as well the weather was good because his kit was really poor as well. His sleeping bag was one of those L shaped zip jobs with a survival bag. 2006 I think it was.

In reply to Al Evans:


Could it be your question was not understandable to them?

For the OP, fwiw, I've soloed, ropeless, the ridge, over 2 (non-consecutive) days, both starting at An Dorus. The only bit missed on the Northern section was the Basteir Tooth, while on the Southern I used Collie's Ledge to get from Mhic Choinnich to Thormaid and bypassed the T-D gap on the Ghrunnda side from the W ridge of Alasdair. The InPinn only requires care and a steady head to scramble up and down on a fine day. Oh, and I passed under An Stac too, unnecessarily.