Skyes the limit

First time in the Cuillins of Skye.I've never had nerves before a trip like this before, it's been a goal we've been building up to over the last few years. The nerves were warranted when we topped out at the start of the ridge. Breathtaking views and unforgiving terrain and climate. The volcanic mountains are just so atmospheric.

The walk in was a brutal slog with heavy packs and riddled with ticks. But once we gained the ridge and started scrambling the lactic acid seemed to be pushed to the back of our minds. The quality climbing and massive exposure soaked up every bit of concentration.

A bit behind schedule we pushed on bagging munros along the way but by passing some of the harder technical climbs. We had a bit of a nightmare at the first abseil, where a dislodged rock fell directly onto the rope costing us 7m's in length, meaning it was now not long enough for some of the remaining abseils. We bumped into a Scottish guy Kevin climbing solo at our next abseil and agreed to team up for Collie's ledge and the Inaccessible Pinnacle. We travesed the narrow mountain pass. And arrived at the foot of the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Using our gear and his rope we tackled the apparantly toughest munro in Scotland. The climbing wasn't too difficult although polished and loose in parts, but the exposure was extreme. I stopped myself looking over the ledge incase I threw a wobbler. After a sketchy belay station halfway I continued to the summit. I topped out on the infamous In Pinn and was rewarded with a Blockenspectre and felt pretty euphoric. A quick few photos and an abseil off the other side.

Time was pushing on so me and Steve headed off to our bivvi site for the night and the target half way point as planned for day 1. We cooked up tea and soaked in the days events. Out of nowhere the weather changed, heavy rain turned to hail. We chucked all our gear into our bivvi's and took shelter under a rock. An hour and a half passed and no signs of it letting up we made the tough call to head down. The camp was holding water and soaking through our bags so at 10 we thought better move now while there was still bit of light rather then 3 in the morning. A bit defeated we headed down the escape route, the girls met us on the road below at 00.30.

All in all, the best day in the mountains I've had by far, 18 hours on our feet and the best and most sustained scrambling the UK has to offer. A lot of positives to take from it, route finding and reaching the target half way mark. But also some big improvements to be made before the next attempt, strength, stamina and a few more technical climbing grades in the bag.

Contributor:

Courtney Spicer