Cuillin Ridge

marky · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 3

I'm planning a trip to Skye next May to attemp the Cuillin ridge traverse.

A good friend of mine has done an inclomplete traverse in both winter and summer and he'll be coming along. I have done quite a bit of research on the net and have got myself a Harvey map which has a 1:12500 scale map on the reverse. I have also downloaded the rockfax mini guide to help with route finding.

There wil be four of us attempting the traverse with another four in the area as support and doing day walks. We plan to go north to south as I've read that if you're not a great climber this direction entails abseils rather than the difficult climbs. I've got my ML & SPA and the others all have either ML or MLT. I've done about a dozen Grade 3 routes in Wales and am happy leading up to Severe if required.

I'll be doing all the lead climbing and we plan to overnight bivi on the ridge with possibly some support in the form of cached water by our colleagues.

Does anyone have any experiences of this classic of offer any words of warning? Question

Touching Centauri · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Bangor/St Helens

I've been onto the ridge a few times but haven't attempted the traverse. I suppose the best advice is just to be prepared! There is one spring below Bruach na Frith that apparently is fairly reliable but it does mean dropping down. The gabbro is fantastic rock (so grippy it easily cuts your fingers!) but watch out for slippery rock (basalt is it? or granite maybe?).

Either way the ridge is an amazing place, and one day I will attempt the traverse...Good luck in your plans Smile

Midweekmountain · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 16

Marky,

Here is a report by a couple of my mates, is might be usefull.

http://www.yorkmc.org.uk/Reports/Sky%202006/Sky%20take%20two.html

Both of them are good climbers.

marky · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 3

That was a good report, and mega pics too.

I'm well organised and have now started training. I've just been reading the Skye scrambles guide book which gives detailed descriptions of the ridge and each section of it.

My only concern is the weight we'll be carrying. As we're bivvying overnight I'm taking a thick but compressed duvet jacket & gore-tex bivi bag. Plus amongst the group of four we've got a jet boil stove, brew kit, first-aid kit, and 2 x 9mm ropes (for the longer abseils as we're going north to south), and a reduced lead rack.

With water I estimate my load to be 12kgs! My only luxury is a clean pair of spare socks. When I usually do Grade 3 scrambles my load is probably half as much.