Training Log Archive: SarahD

As promised. Tight hip flexors & quads especially.

Wee wander to the lochan up the hill for a swim. All the way across and back - lovely!

Still weary legged but the weather was too good not to head out and seemed like a good time to tidy up another missing piece in the Munro jigsaw. Beinn Sgritheall it was then - in from the Gleann Beag side and up the NE ridge. Bog-cotton looking particularly lovely down in the glen, then decided to risk the distinctly dilapidated suspension bridge as the cables at least looked fairly solid! Steady pace up the hill using the poles. Left knee quite niggly, but reckon it’s nothing that some good rest and stretching won’t sort (tomorrow…..!) Lots of thrift adding colour to the rock and some noisy antics from a group of ravens. Descended to the Bealach Arnisdale then decided to continue in to the 2 Corbetts of Beinn n-h Eaglaise & Beinn nan Caorach. Once up top it was generally nice running on short-cropped grass. Lovely circuit with plenty of stops for photos & sandwiches. Fab :-))

Proper rest day today! Not surprisingly feeling a bit wappit and equally not surprisingly am not going to make it to the start line of Trotternish tmrw, but that was well worth sacrificing for Wednesday’s antics! Left knee has been quite achey, but otherwise no real damage to report .
Wee loch swim above Balmacara.

Back up to the bivvy spot below Gars Bheinn to retrieve our bivvy kit. Didn’t feel as bad as expected. Lovely chill day. Swim in the sea while waiting for the boat back. Faaaaab :-))

Cuillin traverse with SS. Best. Day. Ever. Just amazing weather and experience. Took in all 10 Munros on the ridge between Gars Beinn & Sgurr na Gilean. Generally on the easier lines (TD bypass & Collies Ledge). Roped up to do the In Pinn & SnG. Everything else soloed. Very very chuffed to have completed this - it’s been on the bucket list since Uni days!

Worthy of a bit more detail now I’ve recovered a bit, so….

Bivvy spot was brilliant apart from the midgies, but a lovely sunset, amazing moon reflections on the Sound of Soay, then woke at 4am with the sun just climbing over the Red Cuillins. We were off at 5 with light packs, though I was carrying a light Alpine rope, harness & S had a few slings, belay plate etc. The light along the first section of (relatively) straight-forward ridge was amazing, and we bagged our first Munro - Sgurr nan Eag - at 5:30.
We’d soon descended to the Castle above Choire Ghrunda and from here to the start of the In Pinn climb had been reccied 2 days previously. We were using the TD bypass to reach Sgurr Alasdair, but at the end of this we met a pair that we’d seen the previous night, roped up on the technical section. We’d soloed this on Monday so jumped in quite confidently to get past them. The views were really amazing with some inversions and dark silhouettes of peaks and ridges reaching out endlessly. But now that the sun was up it was getting hot and I felt like I was already rationing myself with water. I’d started with 2l and had another litre stashed further along, but was wishing it was more!
After SA it was a short climb onto Sgurr Thearlaich, where we got a better line than previously, and a bit of technical down-climbing to the foot of Sgurr Mhic Choinnich; it was good to know what was coming up and must have saved us a bit of guidebook faff time. Collie’s ledge gave us the bypass of King’s Chimney to gain SMC, though it would be nice to return to tackle this another day. More folk atop SMC instantly identified us as runners which I couldn’t quite understand until I looked at photos later on - we were dressed a bit different & carrying rather less than most folk on the ridge! There must have been some truth in the id as we did seem to be progressing faster than others, despite a singular lack of running.
We found our pre-positioned stash below An Stac. S had buried it well underneath some rocks to avoid the hazard of thieving ravens, gulls or humans! A short climb then took us to the base of the In Pinn. It had been our intention to skip the climb to save some time, but there was only one other group on the rock when we got there and it seemed a shame not to bag it for completeness. It justified carrying the rope the length of the ridge too! S was soon romping her way up and I followed reasonably confidently, with the benefit of having been up there just a year ago.
Next up was Sgurr na Banachdaich and the ridge onwards over Sgurr a Ghreadaidh to An Dorus. This is a fun knife-edge ridgey section with plenty of sustained scrambling but nothing overly tricky. I’d done this bit a couple of times, but both in the opposite direction, and although the main line just sticks to the ridge there are a few spikes that need to be bypassed. We didn’t get this spot on, sometimes dropping when we didn’t need to and occasionally staying high when we should have dropped! However, AD appeared sooner than I expected and the down-climb to it was easy enough on dry rock.
We were meeting plenty other folk up there by now, but were making good time. The comments and advice we were being given were interesting, probably based mainly on our lightweight kit, but perhaps also the fact that we were two auld wifies. The guy atop Sgurr a Mhadaidh confidently told us we couldn’t get past the rock tower ahead without a rope. I resisted pointing out that we had one, but did let him know that we’d managed fine without roping up the last time! There are a few trickier sections of climb on this bit of the ridge, but we remembered them quite well from last year and again I had the confidence to know that I’d soloed it all before. We had a bit of indecision at Bidean as to whether to take in its top or bypass below, but decided to go for the bypass as it could add quite a lot of time to go over, especially as we weren’t familiar with what sounded like some tricky climbs. It was still a long slog to Bruach na Frithe thought. S was continuing to skip effortlessly across the rocks, while I felt I was flagging a bit . More food and drink helped pick me up and once the summit of BnF was gained the end was definitely in sight.
We bypassed below Am Basteir to climb it by its easiest route from the Bealach a Basteir. We’d got almost to the top last year before turning back at the ‘Bad Step’, but S had been up and down a couple of times since then and was able to guide me safely on the down-climb- a very short but extremely exposed and intimidating few moves. AB was my first new Munro of the day and now there was just Sgurr nan Gillean left to conquer. The west ridge of this is also very exposed with some awkward moves, so I was glad of the comfort of a rope to negotiate the climb. Then a final ascent through the window, up onto the summit and we had completed the traverse, 11h 13m after setting off from our bivvy below Gars Bheinn.
Needless to say, the descent to Sligachan seemed to take an age, but we were off the mountain by 6:30pm with the incentive of showers, food and beer spurring us on.
What a truly amazing day. I’m so grateful for Sue’s expertise, confidence and supportiveness to allow me to have a crack at the route, and feel like we totally smashed it, though I’m sure she could have gone faster without me. All the more amazing to be able to complete it on such an incredible day. This one’s going to stay with me for a long while :-)))

C • Epic!! 1

Boat from Elgol into Corruisk, then a direct ascent of Glas Beinn. Carrying bivvy kit as well as climbing gear etc. Aiming to preserve as much as energy as possible. Stunning afternoon and a beautiful evening. Only downside was the midgies that managed to find us on the ridge! Otherwise a truly perfect bivvy spot & night.

Reccie of the missing piece of the Cuillin jigsaw with SS. From Glenbrittle up to Coire Ghranda. Then a round of Sgurr Dubh Mhor, Sgorr Alisdair & Sgorr Mhic Choinnich, returning via Coire Lagan. Lots of good scrambling fun - soon back into it and loving it. 3 new Munros too :-)