Ghyll Scrambling sessions in The Lake District. Church Beck, Coniston. Monday June 27th 2011

After working with Richard Taylor's stag party on Sunday running a rock climbing session, Iain was back out in Church Beck on Monday, in much better conditions - running a ghyll scrambling & canyoning session for a much smaller group.

Richard Gregory booked this session for himself and a couple of work colleagues whilst on holiday in The Lake District from Birmingham.

Photo one shows the party in the first deep pool upstream of the turbine house in Chuch Beck. Today, the ghyll was much lower than two days previous - when Iain & a party of graduate apprentices were struggling to get upstream at this point. See the pictures from that session here!


The second photo shows the group at the point where Church beck really narrows in, the waterfalls become higher & the pools become deeper. There is a possibility for a jump in to the pool from the l/h side of the waterfall and everyone had just done that.

Many groups finish their ghyll scrambling session here - having ascended the ghyll to this point. Upstream from here, the way on is barred by the chockstone pitch which is the final jump on the Church Beck Canyoning descent that we do with clients.




Photo three shows Richard being lowered down the Miner's Bridge waterfall while Rhos & Simon look on.

Many parties coming to Church Beck use this waterfall as the starting point for the canyoning descent of the ghyll. They are not made aware of the additional section upstream of Miner's Bridge.

Kendal Mountaineering services is one of the few Lake District based outdoor pursuits company to actually truly offer a complete Church Beck ghyll scrambling & canyoning session and we do this by taking clients to the very head of the gorge where it is possible to climb down beside the hydro scheme intake and do several pools and be lowered down another waterfall before arriving at Miner's Bridge and the fall in photo three. It doesn't take us much more effort to provide you with this extra 300m of canyoning and we figure you deserve a good session for your money!


The final photo shows Richard swimming towards Iain - having just slid down the chockstone pitch of Church Beck. This is an exciting conclusion to an excellent ghyll scrambling & canyoning session.

Unless specified otherwise by you, all of our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions in Church Beck consist of an upward ghyll scramble (also known as gorge walking) followed by a complete descent of the gorge from its top - back to this point.

For £45 per head (discounts apply as group numbers increase) you get an extremely good session with qualified & experienced staff and all of the specialist technical safety kit you'll need to do it.

So, whilst the weather is hot, (or even if it's wet) give us a call at Kendal Mountaineering Services and we'll be happy to organise your Lake District based ghyll scrambling & canyoning session. You'll love it!

Everyone in this group thoroughly enjoyed themselves - as the pictures testify. We look forward to working with you in the coming months.

Beginner's Rock climbing courses in The Lake District. Hutton Roof, Sunday, June 26th 2011

Richard Taylor booked a beginners rock climbing session in the Lake District for his mate Nasir and a bunch of their friends - as part of Nasir's stag event here in the area.

The party consisted of old university chums and relatives who had travelled from various corners of the country - to attend Nasir's stag weekend.

The team had booked into accommodation in Kendal and had been to Aspatria the previous day to try a spot of paintballing.


The weather over the weekend had, to this point, been rather odd with the weathermen forecasting overcast weather with showers and rapidly climbing temperatures over the weekend. Certainly, the weather the day before had made Iain's ghyll scrambling session in Church Beck interesting to say the least, but one thing we didn't want for a beginner's rock climbing session was wet weather and wet rock!

After watching the forecast the night before, Iain decided the only place to take the stag party for their beginners rock climbing session was Hutton Roof - a fab little limestone outctop east of the M6 near junction 36. Officially, this venue is not in the Lake District, but of course we don't run all of our rock climbing courses within the national Park if better conditions exist elsewhere; and Iain felt that the conditions for a rock climbing session at Hutton roof might just be ideal. He was right!



The first shot shows the stag party in the sun at Hutton Roof - about to set off to the rock climbing venue. Photo two shows Naz - the stag, being lowered down the rock face by his mates on what had been his very first rock climb.

Photo three shows Richard (right) and howard (left) topping out on two of the harder routes this stag party was to attempt on the day.

Overall, everyone managed most of the six single pitch rock climbs Iain from Kendal Mountaineering services set of for the team. The weather stayed fine throughout - apart from a few spots of rain at one point and it was, as forecast, baking hot. The venue turned out to be just right for the needs of the group with rock climbing & abseiling being a new experience for most of the group members attending.

The final photo shows everyone in Nasir's stag party stood at the top of the highest cliff at Hutton Roof - about to take part in an abseil. Over in The Lake District National Park, it was overcast and looked to be raining, but at Hutton Roof, we had managed a good half day session of rock climbing & abseiling for this stag party and they were all very satisfied with their experience - the photos here say it all.

Remember - you can book any of Kendal Mountaineering Services comprehensive list of activities for your half or full day session as part of a stag or Hen event. These activities include Canoeing, Kayaking, Rock Climbing, Abseiling, Caving, Ghyll Scrambling, Canyoning, orienteering, scrambling and team building. Contact us to organise your event with a difference and we'll even advise you on accommodation and other things to do in the area - we are happy to help any way we can!

Ghyll Scrambling sessions in The Lake District. Church Beck, Coniston, Saturday, June 25th 2011.

On Saturday, Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services ran a corporate ghyll scrambling session for Gen II's Nuclear Graduate Programme.

This ghyll scrambling session in The Lake District was run as part of an initial team building weekend by Gen II and the people seen here in the first photo were university graduates being brought together for the first time after having been successful in joining the Nuclear Graduate Programme. So, the objective for the weekend was for these people to get to know each other and using a ghyll scrambling session is no better way to get people working together and looking after each other.

This was especially true on Saturday. After the overnight rain, Church Beck at Coniston was at the limit for safe use as a ghyll scrambling venue for adults.

After a reconnoitre by Iain and assisting Instructor Martin Kenyon, it was decided that it would still be possible to use the venue but that it would not be safe to do the usual ghyll scrambling ascent followed by the canyoning descent that we do as the standard Church Beck trip with Kendal Mountaineering Services - there was just too much water and this can be seen in photo two.




However, what we had made for a challenging and demanding yet exciting ghyll scrambling session where everyone truly had to work together as part of a team to make the session as success.

Photo three shows the group less than a third of the way up the ghyll scrambling trip - taking a breather in a relatively slow flowing pool and having a great time.







The final photo shows the team a little way further up the gorge and really having to work at making upstream progress by helping people from above and below each difficulty.

Although this team were unable to achieve more than the upstream ghyll scrambling (also known as gorge walking) ascent of Church Beck, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and although they perhaps didn't realise at the time, the experience was instrumental in improving self esteem and confidence and getting everyone working well together and talking to each other - some of the many spinoffs resulting from a shared experience in the outdoors with Kendal Mountaineering services.

Apparently, other graduates who have missed out on one of our ghyll scrambling sessions are disappointed to have done so - whilst those who have yet to come can't wait! Such is the power of the experiences we provide people.

Other photos from this session can be viewed here. To book a ghyll scrambling and canyoning session for your stag party, corporate group or just for a bunch of mates contact us here. Don't forget - we know all of the best locations to carry out this fantastic activity in The Lake district and chances are - there's one near to where you are staying.







Blog post to follow when Iain has a moment!!

Mountain Navigation Skills training weekend in The Lake District. June 18th & 19th 2011.

Linda Richards & Colin Gardner contacted Iain at Kendal Mountaineering Services expressing an interest in joining one of our Lake District based Mountain Navigation Skills Training weekend Courses.

As it happened, we didn't have a group going out over the weekend, but Iain offered to work with the pair (we will help anyone where we can) and certainly the idea of two clients to one Mountaineering Instructor appealed - due to the opportunity for very good coaching.

Colin & Linda (photo one) spend a great deal of their spare time hill walking but had never attended any formal Mountain Navigation Skills training.

Here at Kendal Mountaineering Services, we run all of our Mountain Navigation Skills training courses to MLTE standard with an emphasis on your progression over the length of your course.

As well as two day Mountain Navigation skills training courses, we also run Mountain Walking Leader navigation refresher days for aspiring Mountain Walking Leaders either as preparation for an assessment or re-assessment. You can book as many or as few days as you like for either Mountain Navigation Skills Training courses or ML Refresher days. We are happy to cover any aspect of either the Summer or Winter Mountainwalking Leader Syllabuses as per your requirements.

For people wanting to tie in some night navigation practise with their Mountain Navigation Skills training couse this is not a problem. If you want to make a proper expedition of it then why not include an overnight camp too? Again, we are happy to organise all of this for you as part of one of our Mountaincraft Courses. Check out a blog post from one of last year's just such courses.


Anyway, Colin & Linda wanted to start from the basics, so, on day one, we started by looking at grid references - how to find and give one, followed by reading map symbols and orientating the map.

Also covered on this day were measuring distance on the map and then pacing it out on the ground. We walked in to Green Quarter Fell (one of Iain's favourite navigation training haunts) from Staveley via a bridleway which we used as a "handrail" to lead us in to the area.

Following this linear feature, in order to help us ascertain exactly where we were at a given time, we identified "tick off features" along the way. These could be anything from walls joining our route to buildings or streams nearby.

Photo two shows the standard issue maps that we us for our Lake District based Mountain Navigation Skills training courses. The initial outlay for the Ordnance Survey mapping software - Memory Map seems a lot, but it can be used to print off many A4 sized maps that can then be laminated. These cost pence to produce and last at least several weekends - even in pouring rain! The compass - A Silva Type 4 Expedition has everything needed for measuring distance and taking bearings plus valuable roamer scales for 1:25, 1:50 and 1:40,000 map scales - essential for accurately finding grid references!







Photo three shows Colin and Linda on day two of
their Mountain Navigation Skills training course. By now, they had progressed a long way beyond their skill level at the start of the previous day and here, on Kentmere Pike, were using their compasses to work out what distant features were from their known location on the map.

This is quite an advanced skill, but by now, the pair had covered quite a lot of ground - navigating their way to grid references with and without use of a compass bearing and they were becoming quite adept at measuring distances, using tick off features and walking on a bearing using the compass.






On our first day of the pair's Lake District based Mountain Navigation Skills training course, we had based ourselves in the Green Quarter Fell area near to Staveley. On our second day out, we attempted to cover part of the Kentmere Horeshoe starting with Shipman Knotts and eventually ending up on the summit of Harter Fell having crossed Kentmere Pike en route.

Despite the odd shower, the weather over the weekend was relatively kind to us, being for the most part, dry. Sunday, was, initially, wet but this cleared up. Cloud remained around the higher summits all day - a good thing as this meant Colin & Linda had to concentrate on their pacings and compass work. On the relatively featureless walk from Kentmere Pike to Harter Fell, they were able to tell Iain, with accuracy, where they were at all times. Good stuff!

We descended from Harter Fell Summit towards Nan Bield Pass and on this route, the cloud lifted revealing distant Haweswater to the north (photo four). On arriving at Nan Bield, it was time to be heading back to the car. Both Colin & Linda felt that they had benefitted greatly from their weekend of Mountain Navigation Skills training with Iain.

All of the photographs taken over this weekend can be viewed here. To book your Lake District based Mountain Navigation Skills training course or your Mountainwalking Leader refresher days with Kendal Mountaineering Services - contact us here.

Iain has a busy few days coming up this weekend. The next posts on the KMS Blog will be about Ghyll Scrambling, Canyoning and Rock Climbing.

Guided Lake District Hillwalking day. Scafell Pike, June 15th 2011.

June has been a relatively quiet month so far for us here at kendal Mountaineering Services. Iain has done some outdoor centre work providing Lake District multi-activity days for young people includinging activities such as canoeing & Kayaking, ghyll scrambling and guided hillwalking - which is what today's post is all about.

Iain received a phone call from Lily Butler on vacation here in the Lake District and over from her home in County Tipperary in southern Ireland. Lily, had recently taken up hill walking with a club near her home town called the Peaks Mountaineering Club and has done a considerable amount of walking with them. Whilst here in The Lake District, Lily thought it would be a good idea to try and climb England's highest mountain - Scafell Pike.

Lily was directed to get in touch with us via the staff at Ambleside tourist information centre and contacted Iain to see if it was possible to join a hillwalking party going to Scafell Pike.

Well, we didn't have a party going hillwalking that day, but Iain was available and offered to guide Lily up Scafell Pike if the price was agreeable to her; and of course it included transport from Dunmail House Bed & Breakfast at Grasmere where Lily was staying - to the start of the guided Lake District hill walk & back. Lily decided she was keen and booked Iain's services for Wednesday.

The weather forecast for the day was not great - rain clearing, but cloudy on the fells and temps at 900m - 8 degrees - and this is June! The first photo shows Lily on the path beside Grains Gill looking down towards distant Borrowdale and the second photo shows Lily on the summit of Scafell Pike.

For her ascent of Scafell Pike, Iain chose to drive Lily to Seathwaite in Borrowdale where we could do a circuitous route encompassing two well known routes on to Scafell Pike. We ascended via Grains Gill to Esk Hause and from there to the summit of Scafell Pike via Ill & Broad crags before returning via The Corridoor Route and Styhead Tarn to Seathwaite. As we climbed higher, the cloud rose with us and although it did not clear fully from the summit, we got more views than we thought we would and the day remained largely dry. Lily was delighted to reach the summit of Scafell Pike - her first Lake District mountain!



There were a few other people at the summit but not many - not surpising given the weather conditions but it was nice to sit a chat a while whilst we enjoyed some lunch.

Something much less enjoyable though was the sight of many banana skins that had been thrown down at the summit by thoughtless and inconsiderate people. Lily went around the summit and collected around 15 skins in total which she bagged with the intention of dumping in the nearest refuse bin once she found one; and in photo three we can see that bagful of skins.

There is a myth that banana skins are biodegradable and people seem to use this as an excuse for dumping them on the tops of mountains. Yes they do degrade but they take months to do so! and in the meantime, those of us who do respect the mountain environment have to look at them as they slowly turn from yellow to black.

Iain asks that please! When you go into the mountains - please keep all of your rubbish and dispose of it in a refuse bin and not on our mountains! You are spoiling beautiful places when you leave your rubbish - any sort of rubbish, behind. It is disrespectful to the mountain environment and others who do not litter the hills and it can also be dangerous to wildlife.





Anyway, after this somewhat less than positive experience at the summit, Iain & Lily headed down to find the start of the Corridor Route in the mist and commence the return journey part of Lily's Guided Lake District Hillwalking Day.

We came down out of the clouds at Piers Gill and could see all the way back along our route to Styhead Tarn & distant Borrowdale (photo four)



The final photo is taken from Stockley Bridge in Borrowdale. The start & end of our circuit and only a short walk remained back to the car at Seathwaite.

Lily enjoyed her Lake District guided hillwalking day out with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services and hopes to return again to enjoy all that the area has to offer.

Remember that in Iain, you have a Mountaineering Instructor who has spent almost his entire life in the Lake District and knows the best and most interesting routes up all of the Lake District fells - you'll not find a better hillwalking guide. Also, at Kendal Mountaineering Services, we are happy to provide you with a bespoke Lake District guided hilwalking day - for individual people or groups; and if you need transport, we can organise this for you too.

The rest of our photos from Lily's Lake District guided hillwalking day can be viewed here and if you would like to enquire about your own mountain day out with us, you can contact Iain here. We look forward to working with you.

Outdoors Magic Skye meet. May 14th - 21st 2011. Thursday & Friday.

Thursday

Thursday saw the whole party back out together - with the intention of attempting the north end of the Cuillin Ridge and the Cuillin Munro summits of Sgurr Nan Gillean and Am Bastier.

The weather was due to be showery although not particularly windy as compared to the Wednesday when the whole ridge had been lashed by gales and rain - making it a place to be avoided.

In photo one, Rob, Ray, Sophia and Mike are pictured next to the Allt Dearg Bheag with the summits of (left to right) Sgurr Nan Gillean, Am Bastier and Sgurr A Bastier behind in the distance. Our route follows this stream in to Coire A Bastier.




On the walk in, we had a few heavy showers that drenched us all fairly and then, at the Bealach A Bastier, it started to clear. Iain decided to guide the party up the West Ridge of Gillean (a cracking moderate climb & scramble) and this is where the second photo was taken.

Firstly, a 20m climb - Tooth Chimney has to be dealt with. Once Iain had roped the party up this, easier scrambling ground took us to the foot of an exposed shoulder where the party needed to be roped again (photo 2). Once past this, we quickly arrived at the summit of the group's first Cuillin Munro of the day.






Photo three was taken at the summit of Sgurr Nan Gillean - with a fine view north west to the Sligachan Inn. The view towards Bla Bhein was unfortunately obscured by cloud on this occasion. By now, other parties were starting to appear on Gillean.

We had followed three guides with their clients in to the area, two had headed up to the classic scramble of Pinnacle Ridge and another party were ahead of us on the west ridge.

We could see parties climbing towards us from Pinnacle Ridge and a lot of people at the Bealach A Bastier. Knowing Tooth Chimney to be a bottleneck where queing is often necessary, Iain decided we had better get back to there reasonably soon.



Photo three shows Ray, Mike, Sophia & Rob at the head of the pitch in Tooth Chimney - all attached to a stacked abseil and ready to descend after Iain in order of name above.

Each person's belay device is attached to their harness via a sling & krab and allows security whilst giving a degree of freedom to move around. People cannot abseil whilst the rope is loaded and once down, the instructor can provide safety cover for each person descending from above. The climbing rope is doubled through a "tat" sling at the top of the pitch and once all clients have descended, the rope can be pulled through.

There are a number of roped climbs & abseils to be made on a Cuillin Ridge Traverse - regardless of whether or not you choose to do it from south to north or vice versa. Some of these can be avoided, some can not.

The unavoidable ones include the T/D Gap, (unless you ascend Sgurr Alasdair via the groove near the bad step which should also be roped) the Inaccessible Pinnacle, the traverse of Sgurr A Mhadaidh, the traverse of Bidean Druin Nam Ramh and the West Ridge of Sgurr Nan Gillean. For all other parts, roped abseils & climbs can be avoided - but if in doubt about either the conditions or your ability - get the rope out!

Once back at the Bealach a Bastier, we made a quick ascent of Am Bastier via the East Ridge. This is relatively simple grade two scramble from the bealach - apart from an eight foot high "bad step". Graded severe, this is not as hard as it looks - but it is quite polished and a slip could see you heading vertically either north or south for some considerable distance. Helmets & harnesses are a must and a short rope or 16 foot sling advisable with which to protect clients.

The summit successfully bagged, we returned to the bealach at 15:30 where we decided to call it a day. We descended under the buttresses of Pinnacle Ridge as a party had come up that way and Iain wanted to check out their route. Conclusion - unless you are going to the foot of the classic Cuillin scramble of Pinnacle Ridge, it's a rubbish way to get to the foot of the West Ridge of Gillean. Iain will be sticking to Coire A Bastier in future!


Friday

After an evening meal at the Old Inn in Carbost and a good night's sleep, we all set off at 08:00 on Friday with the intention of trying to continue the Cuillin ridge traverse from the Bealach Na Glaic Mhor to Bruach Na Frithe (another Munro).

We knew the forecast wouldn't be great, snow down to 750m, 1 - 3 degrees c at 900m and showers/ strong winds.

The first photo shows Ray & Mike standing in a hail covered car park at the head of Glen Brittle - with snow covered tops behind. We had just sat in the cars for 20 minutes waiting for the heavy hail showers to stop and watching and listening to the accompanying Lightning & thunder.

Because of the weather, Iain's plan for the day rapidly evolved and was downgraded from the aforementioned traverse to a walk up Bruach Na Frithe & return via Fionn Coire - and we would only top out if there was absolutely no risk of more thunder & lightning!


Photo two shows the party in Fionn Coire with a snow covered Sgurr A Bastier behind (left) Am Bastier and the tooth (centre) and Bruach na Frith (right).

There was a strong westerly blowing on the walk in to the Bealach A Mhaim and Iain felt we would be safest following the corrie floor up to the ridge - rather attempting the NW ridge of Bruach Na Frith where another party were quite clearly having a difficult time in the wind.





As we left the shelter of the upper part of the corrie, we began to get blasted by a recirculating wind which was picking up sheets of snow/hail and giving us all a fair pasting.

Iain was surpised by the depth of snow - over a foot in places. It was a 50/50 mix of hail & snow with the snow being at depth - suggesting it had fallen overnight.

It's quite a while since Iain has run a winter mountaineering day on the Cuillins - in May! 2006 was the last time. Apparently, snow on the Cuillin Ridge in May used to be very common. Good old global warming!



Photo four from Friday shows the team at the summit trig point of Bruach Na Frithe.

Originally, our plan for the day had been much more ambitious, but the weather had put paid to that - adding a different degree of excitement in it's place. It was a magical place in the snow!

We all knew that this was the last top of the week during our May 2011 Skye meet, but all of these Outdoors Magic members agreed that it had been a fantastic experience - despite all that the weather had thrown at us.


Finally, a view south along the ridge from Bruach Na Frithe to Bidean Druin Nam Ramh (centre) - our original planned route.

Iain has many shots of this section in summer garb - but none in winter rainment. It's a great section of ridge and it's always there for next time.

We were back at the vehicles just after 3pm and had a chance to tidy up the cottage and relax awhile before heading back to the Old Inn for another evening meal and a few beers. A fine conclusion to another successful week for the team from Outdoors Magic and Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services - enjoying the experience of the Cuillin Ridge of Skye.

A good aspect of the way in which Iain organises these weeks is this - for your fee, you get four days guiding spread over six days. This allows us to pick the best weather days and it worked well this time. We didn't complete the full Cuillin Ridge traverse, this is something that cannot (and should not) be guaranteed, but as a competent & knowledgeable guide, Iain was able to provide some very satisfying days out for his clients - making the best of the conditions and local knowledge.

If you would like to book a place on the September Skye meet or subsequent courses get in touch with Iain at the Kendal Mountaineering Services website.

Additional photos taken during Thursday & Friday can be viewed here.

Outdoors Magic Skye meet. May 14th - 21st 2011. Monday & Tuesday.

Monday

The Outdoors Magic May 2011 Skye Meet kicked off on Saturday the 14th, although due to the weather, Iain didn't begin his guiding of the Cuillin Ridge until the Monday.

Numbers this year were down 30% on the same time last year, this could well be a sign of the current economic picture, folks need to consider this though. The cost to OM Members for 7 nights in a self catering cottage on Skye is currently £375 each and that includes 4 days of guiding on the Cuillin Ridge. You get to stay in a great wee cottage and get the services of a very knowledgable guide. Iain reckons that to find something similar elsewhere you would probaly be looking at a minimum of £600 per person - and that would probably be for the guiding alone. Anyway, the cost for this will have to go up in 2012 although we have the September Skye meet in the offing - the same thing for £375! Roll up folks - there will only be six places!


Anyway, for the first day out, Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services decided to take the four clients - Rob, Mike, Ray & Sophia to the southern end of the Cuillin Ridge. The first photo shows the four (in order from left to right) on the path to Coire Lagan just above the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut in the "dreich" weather.

The rain was coming down in bucketloads although the wind wasn't too bad - an important consideration as you don't want to be on an exposed and precipitous part of the Cuillin Ridge in a gale. The second photo gives an indication of just how much rain there had been, The Eas Mor waterfall on the Allt Coire Na Banachdich was spectacular - even though the stream wasn't bank full.


We continued up in to Coire Lagan in the rain and after a brief break, climbed the An Stac screes to get to the Bealach Coire Lagan. As we gained hieght, so the windspeed increased and by the time we reached the bealach, Iain had already decided that an ascent of Sgurr Mhic Coinnich was out of the question.

The Cuillin Ridge in mist is not a great place to be. Basically, it is one long ridge of rock, scree & rubble and route finding for someone new to the ridge is fraught with difficulty. Even for an experienced mountaineer with a keen eye for paths & route finding - one can still find themself looking over a precipice having followed what appears to be the only obvious route. Epics and benightment are not uncommon, if the weather is bad or the ridge is in cloud and you don't know the ridge well - then don't go!


Of course the only problem with that is that you may have booked a specific holiday week in which to do the Cuillin Ridge traverse. So what can you do if the weathers is bad? Well, hire a guide with which to do the traverse or specific scrambles or rock climbs that you may have your eye on. There are many guides resident both off and on the island who, with their expect knowledge of the ridge, will ensure that whatever the weather, you'll still have a great day out!

Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services is one such guide. A qualified Mountaineering Instructor, he has been on the Cuillin Ridge every year since 2006 with Outdoors Magic members on seven separate occasions and has completed the traverse a dozen times. Our party was glad to have Iain along in this foul weather as we made our way up to the summit of Sgurr Dearg (photo three shows the Inaccessible Pinnacle looming throught the mist) and then down the winding route inbetween the west facing buttresses in to Coire Na Banachdich where photo four was taken - on what was actually the path!

Despite getting very wet, everyone was happy with what had been achieved during the day.

Tuesday


Initially, the Cuillin forecast for Tuesday was looking poor and because of that, the initial plan was not to go to the ridge on that day, but to go wednesday to Friday instead as the weather was supposed to improve. However, reviewing the updated MWIS forecast made us realise that it wasn't going to improve much and that Tuesday morning into early afternoon would be one of the better days.

This first photo from the day shows Sophia, Ray and Rob taken at 05:45 with a largely cloud free Cuillin Ridge in the background. As it gets light at 4am there's no excuse for not getting an early start at this time of year!


We set off to Coire A Ghrunnda with the intention of getting from Sgurr Nan Eag (the most southerly Munro) to Sgurr Alasdair if possible -providing conditions didn't deteriorate too much.

As we commenced climbing in to the coire, Sophia decided to turn back, so, Iain was left with two clients (Mike had decided to go to Arisaig for the day). We could see rain cloud moving in across The Minch and it reached Rhum by about 07:30. It looked as though the prediction about the worst of the weather holding off until mid afternoon was about to be scotched!

The second photo from day two shows Rob & Ray high on Sgurr Nan Eag just about at the "rucksac drop point". Coire A Ghrunnda with it's loch is below us and Sgurr's Alasdair & Sgumain had just disappeared into the cloud. Shortly afterwards, we were also enveloped in cloud and the drizzle began "this is it!" thought Iain, then suddenly, it started clearing again and soon we could see the Outer Hebrides, Rhum and the rest of the ridge again - great!


So, as a trio, we cracked on! Up on Sgurr Nan Eag by 09:15, down past the Caisteal An Garbh Coire
and by using a traverse under Sgurr Dubh Na Da Bheinn, we arrived on the top of the next Cuillin Ridge Munro of Sgurr Dubh Mor at about 10:45.

By 12:30, we had put Sgurr Dubh Na Da Bheinn behind us and were approaching the infamous Thearlaich/Dubh Gap. It had clouded in again and the wind was rising, it didn't look great but would we be able to do it? After a lot of thought, Iain decided that we would give it a go - after all, if it rained, or the wind got too strong, we could always abseil down the south side of the gap into Coire A Ghrunnda.

However, the "TD Gap" isn't the only tricky bit of ground to be negotiated and so after a bit of lunch out came the rope. In this third photo of the day Rob & Ray have just climbed an exposed pitch of ground immediately before the TD Gap - the ridge narrows and after climbing past a few pinnacles in an exposed position one finds the way barred by a steep wall and chimney. The way is out left on to a short wall with good holds but an abyss below -the exposure is quite something! A rope is definitely necessary here.

Then of course there is the gap itself. A frightening chasm that cleaves the ridge and is some 15m wide and 10m deep - with a fearsome drop to the right of the boulders on which you land when descending into the gap from the east. Scores of people have left loads of "ab tat" though so abseiling in is easy. In the fourth shot of the day Ray is the first to descend whilst Rob looks on from the top of the wall.

Iain employed a stacked abseil for this descent - basically leaving the clients attached to the abseil rope for their safety. Being first down into the gap, he was then able to cover the clients safety from below as they descended to join him.

Soon both Ray & Rob had joined Iain in the gap. The windspeed had increased to the point where if it increased much more the place would become untenable and for that reason, it's a no go place in strong winds as the wind is literally funnelled through the gap making it a chilly place where communication can become difficult.

Despite the conditions, both guys still wanted to climb the polished 20m crack that leads to the easier ground beyond. So, after securing Rob and making sure that both he & Ray knew what the plan was to follow, Iain climbed on up.

It was very chilly climbing due to the wind and Iain's hands quickly went numb - even though the crack actually offered some protection from the wind. The chimney is steep & polished but Iain employed his "boot-jam-shimmie" technique to get up the crux and it works every time (it won't for people who haven't got big feet though!). After a pause to warm up his hands, he quickly climbed the remainder of the route, set up a belay and brought Rob up.

After this, all three of our sacks had to be hauled followed by Ray on the other end of the rope (yes - he actually asked to be hauled! Iain merely needed to pull!) In this final shot from the day, Ray is almost at the belay and is warming his hands.

Both guys climbed well and we quickly reached the top of the Great Stone Chute. Rob & Ray (Ray had been here before) quickly nipped up and bagged their third Cuillin Munro of the day - Sgurr Alasdair, before we all descended in the mist (and by now - rain) to Coire Lagan and out to the car in Glen Brittle and a waiting Sophia. Despite the weather, Iain reckoned this was one of the best days he had ever had on the ridge, both Rob & Ray agreed.

Additional photo's from our first two days out attempting the Cuillin Ridge traverse can be viewed here. To book your Cuillin Ridge traverse with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services, contact him here.