Skye Adventure
In his book, The Munros, Scotland’s Highest Mountains, Cameron McNeish says that for many walkers the Cuillin is “… the dark side of their Munro ambitions, the fears that wake them up in the middle of the night with sweaty palms have much to do with exposure, knife edged ridges, steep scrambles and of course the In Pinn, the most technically difficult of all the Munros.”
So one may wonder what on earth I was doing contemplating such an adventure on the Cuillin Ridge in Skye, when I have a profound aversion to heights and exposure? As a keen hillwalker, I can’t tick all the Munros off unless I do the In Pinn.
My son, Jake gave me an ecouraging nudge by organising a guide for my birthday, to help me accomplish this. He chose Neil at Dubh Mor not just due to the high volume of great reports from others, but critically because Neil is a highly qualified mountain guide. He holds the MCI (Mountain and Climbing Instructor)and the RCI (Rock Climbing Instructor) and others. It turns out not all the guides offering this are actually qualified, although they may be very experienced. An added bonus is that Neil is a native Gaelic speaker, and our days were peppered with fascinating historical and geographical nuggets of information.
We left Perth after breakfast and drove the beautifully scenic route to Skye, stopping en route for coffee and we were there in no time. The whole journey only took 3 hours- perfectly doable.
The weather had turned from the recent warm sunshine we’d had for weeks to rain and wind. I was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to meet our objectives. It was a thought to know the guide had been paid for and the accommodation too. What if the weather stopped play? Then I’d have to psyche myself up for it all over again. So I was nervous .. nervous about doing it and nervous about not doing it.
There are 11 Munros on the Cuillin Ridge – 18 individual tops, 14 of them are over 914m, but only 11 classed as Munros. How would we do?
Neil phoned that evening and he outlined a plan for the next two days:
Monday: Sgurr Mhadaidh and maybe Sgurr a Ghreadaidh although the forecast was poor. We would set out with the intention of doing both but might manage only one Munro or even none.
Tuesday looked better so we earmarked that day for Sgurr Dearg and the In Pinn, the ‘monkey on my shoulder’ as Jake called it.
Monday arrived with rain as forecast. It was still a pleasant walk in though – until we started to climb. The slippy basalt rock was a bit tricky to scramble over – even with ropes. Neil decided that it was better to head down again without attempting Ghreadaidh as the wind had picked up. But we had demonstrated to Neil that we were capable of doing the In Pinn.
Monday night, on messenger, there were voice notes from each of my four children, a role reverdsal pep talk. Much like I used to give them before an exam, or a netball/football/basketball/golf match, or a job interview etc etc. It gave me a warm glow to know they were thinking of me and encouraging me from afar. They knew I was way out of my comfort zone and siad “you can do hard things”.
Tuesday dawned and it wasn’t raining – bonus. It was due to rain later though so we set off at a pace. Easily catching up with a group in front of us which helped my confidence. Soon the In Pinn came into view – gulp! I followed Neils’ instructions to the letter and climbed up this wedge of rock doing exactly as he said. The mantra in my head was ‘follow the rope’, and I also heard my chidrens’ words of encouragement as I hauled myself up this lump of rock and along the narrow ridge – only a foot wide in parts. I had John behind me too as my cheerleader.
Finally we made it to the summit but had to wait for the people in front to abseil down. Meanwhile the mist had come in and it started to rain. The precipitous drop below was concealed from view, thanks to all that is holy.
I then found myself abseiling down the In Pinn. Wow! When I reached the bottom, I just stared blankly at Neil, possilbly with my mouth hanging open in an unattractice way, before I gathered myself to watch John throw himself off the In Pinn after me.
Cough, Neil took the photo and managed to cut off half his face. Top bloke, top guide. We will be back.What a fantastic experience. It took a while to process it mind you – days at least.
On the final day it was dry and … sunny!! So we took full advantage and shimmied up Bla Bheinn (Blaven) 928m/3045ft, the only Skye Munro that is not part of The Cuillin.
Then we headed home to a birthday dinner and lots of tall tales from me about my exploits. Embellishing the facts.
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