On the run up to the meet there was the possibility of an excellent weather window, and Skye delivered. The club were staying at the Coruisk hut at the south of the Isle of Skye, a remote hut usually access by boat. Most the group arrived on Friday afternoon to take the ferry from Elgol to Coruisk at the south of the island. Some of the group were even able to get some climbing in around Elgol before we left. It was a bit wet on the way over, but we got to see gannets and seals from the boat. We arrived at the hut and sorted ourselves out. Folk headed over to Lake Coruisk and did some fishing and snorkelling to enjoy the surroundings. Cameron came late and had to walk into the hut, it turns out the Skye trail is a pretty rough track, and the infamous bad step was an interesting addition to the walk.
On Saturday the sky was clear in the morning, which offered the rare opportunity to get a big day on the Cuillin. Most of the group (Steve, Miles, Alan, Charlie, Baptiste, Lyle and Ewan) headed to the Dubh ridge, the longest scramble in Britain. The approach was boggy in places, but despite the rain the day before the rock was beautifully dry. We worked our way up the Dubh slabs taking whatever line we felt like, following the more interesting or easier line as we went. We reached the summit of Sgurr Dubh Beag where we faced the 30 m abseil down to continue the route, the abseil was overhanding in places but was a nice addition to the day. The final scramble up to Sgurr Dubh Mor was tricky and slower than the main slabs as we had to take time to go over some big gaps. Then to the ridge. Descent was via An Garbh-chorre through a big bolder field, which was tricky and slow with tired legs. The views all around were beautiful throughout the day. Back at the hut we were joined by the climber Robbie Phillips and his dog Bonny who was trying some route near the hut.
Our route did pale in comparison to Flo and Cameron’s outing. They completed a traverse of the Cuillin ridge starting and ending at the Coruisk hut. Leaving the hut at 6am they headed up the Dubh slabs to reach the ridge, then traversed around to Sgùrr nan Gillean at the end of the ridge. They completed the TD-gap, Kings Chimney and Naismith’s route on the way, skipping the In Pinn due to traffic. They descended down to the east and across to the Skye trail to come back to the hut, this turned out to be an awful and boggy route to follow. They reach the hut at 2.40am absolutely shattered, just able to eat some cake before falling asleep.
The weather on Sunday morning had started to turn so we headed back on the first boat to Elgol. The rain on the drive back showed we had made the right decision and proved how lucky we were to hit the weather window. Thanks to everyone who came for making it an amazing meet.
