Mountaineering in the Scottish Highlands

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Site Last Updated: 02/Apr/2011

Thurs 20 Mar: The forecast was not good. A depression was forming off Iceland and it was heading our way. This was not the news we wanted on a four-day hiking trip up to Scotland, particularly the Isle of Skye.

The flight from Gatwick was a bit choppy which was indicative of things to come and by the time I arrived at Loch Brittle late afternoon, the wind was already building up to be quite strong. It was the first day of the camping season which was pushing it a bit as Easter was the earliest it could possibly be in March. I imagined that I had been a bit too optimistic as I was the only tent there that evening.

Sgurr a Bhasteir, Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye, Sligachan, Highlands, hiking, Scotland

I managed to get my small tent up in between the hail showers but it was not reassuring as the gusts threatened to either rip the tent from its moorings or just rip the tent up itself!.

I walked along the Brittle beach at least glad to be out in the fresh (very fresh!) air gazing up at the magnificent Cuillins. There was only one other person on the front and we struck up a conversation about the weather, mountains and life in general. It turned out that Dave was a Glaswegian who lived in the bothy next to the campsite. He was retired and made regular trips up to his second home. As his wife was back in Glasgow he was glad for any company and kindly invited me into his home for a cup of coffee by the warm fire. Any less time spent in the buffeted tent was welcome.

In the early evening I spent a couple of hours poring over my maps at the Ye Olde Inn in Carbost. The food was basic, but fine and the locals friendly and talkative. After a beer and as the evening drew in I could put if off no longer I drove back to Glenbrittle and retired to

my tent. Wow, what a night. I was sure I would wake in the middle of the night staring at the stars watching my tent fly off into the distance. As it was, it held fast but it was practically impossible to get a good nights sleep. It was not the cold (as I had all my mountain gear), but the constant buffeting of the tent against my head and the roaring of the wind as it swept across the glen that were the problems.
The following day was a write off. The wind blew a gale all day making it impossible to do any hiking. This was accompanied by fronts that continually blew across the glen bringing rain, hail and snow. It just wasn’t worth going out and wasting energy.

We were hoping it would subside at least to get out for a couple of hours, but this didn’t prove to be the case. Due to boredom of just wanting something to do we made the mistake of trying to erect the larger tent for both of us. After about 20 mins, a ripped tent and broken pole later we had to admit defeat. It was just impossible. The wind was just not going to die down and so I suggested we retire to the Sligachan Inn for liquid refreshment (as you do ;-)) and go over the routes. We did just that and found a few other hikers who had sense to do the same and warm themselves by the log fire.

The night was again gusting up to gale force with more hail & it also snowed heavily which made the mountains extremely picturesque. However, waking up after another difficult night to poor weather was too much for my climbing
buddy and he decided to cut his losses and just head home. I had no thoughts of going back and I couldn’t anyway because

my flight wasn’t until Tues. I recalled that someone on Skye had once said to me, “Want to know what the weather will be like on Skye………wait half an hour”. However, I knew that camping was just too difficult in this weather. Indeed only four other tents had joined me since Thurs and two of those were already packing up this morning having had enough too. I therefore packed up and drove to Sligachan where fortunately there were spaces in the B&B.

I returned to Glenbrittle by late morning and sure enough the wind had started to subside and the sky clear. Without wasting anymore time I kitted up and headed up the Cuillins just hoping to get some good walking in, but attempting to get up to the In-Pin to see it for the first time. It was a great walk along a well defined path and within two hours I was at the base of An Stac. This amphitheatre of rock beyond Coire lagan reminded me very much of the valley up towards the North Face of Ben Nevis only more enclosed and steeper.

As the day wore on the wind dropped to almost nothing. I was surprised by the amount of snow in this bowl and saw a few impressive snow gullies which I noted for further reference. I saw a group of climbers attempting Great stone chute in between Sgurr Thearlaich and Sgurr Alasdair and these were a handful of climbers I saw all day. Circumventing An Stac

Scree to the right following a snow line I was up to the base of An Stac 45 mins. It was impressive and I was keen to scramble around the base towards the In-Pin. Almost immediately it started snowing and the weather again began to close in. The rock was also slippery and icy and far looser than I had anticipated. As I was solo with no rope I decided against going any further and descended at 3:15 to Glenbrittle.

In the morning the weather was overcast so rather than waste a ½ hr drive to Glenbrittle I decided to tackle the area around Sgurr Nan Gillean. Being solo in winter I knew attempting this peak would be a bit too much but there was plenty of other ridges and snow gulleys around. As always the peaks were enveloped in cloud (Skye does seem to have its own micro climate where the peaks are almost permanently enveloped in cloud, only allowing intermittent glimpses of their magnificence as if tempting climbers), but I knew this could change frequently. The forecast was for sun, cloud and rain such is the weather on Skye!