The Platform

Wednesday 31st May 2017

Having been brought up in the North of Scotland...

...I was lucky enough to spend many a childhood holiday travelling around the wonders of the Scottish West Coast and looking up in awe at the beauty of the mountain scenery involved.  This curiosity and passion for these mountains only transformed into a desire for hillwalking around the age of 21 and from then I was hooked.

Scotland has 282 Mountains over 3000 ft that are classified as Munros and once you start walking in the Munros you begin to wonder if you could bag them all. Bagging (that’s the term used) all of Munros is pretty much a lifetime ambition when you consider the logistics and time required to visit and climb them all – motivation may wane over the years and you may or may not be lucky with the weather. Regardless of how often you go out, Munro baggers do have to eventually face up to their Nemesis – The Black Cuillins on Skye and the Innaccessible Pinnacle (In Pin) in particular – if you have seen Danny Mackaskill’s The Ridge then you will know what I am talking about - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA

Most of The Cuillins of Skye present a challenge that requires the assistance of climbing guides for the hillwalker to gain the satisfaction of standing on the summit – The In Pin would introduce the most extreme levels of exposure encountered on the Munros and the need to climb to the top of this narrow blade of rock and abseil down – it had been giving me sleepless nights for close to 30 years.

As I looked forward to my 50^th Birthday in May I knew that I was never going to finish the Munros unless a looked down the barrel of Skye and got on with it. My hillwalking buddy from my home town and I booked the guide, booked the accommodation and committed our nerves to the challenge ahead.

The two weeks previous had seen glorious summer weather on Skye and we just knew that it couldn’t last – and it didn’t – the weather broke just two days before our trip.

Day 1

Sgurr a Mhadaigh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh

We headed off across the country to meet our guide at 0930 and face up to our first two Munros of the trip, 50 mile an hour winds and lashing rain. Despite the conditions we managed to knock both summits off and get back down to earth without drama – Skye’s not that hard we thought – but then again, the clouds had hidden the vertigo and we were therefore blissfully unaware of the shear drops all around us.

Day 2

Am Basteir, Sgurr nan Gillean and Bruach na Frithe

Whilst the winds were lower, we still had plenty low cloud and a few showers floating around. We decided to hit Am Basteir first – translated from Gaelic as The Executioner, looking like a big shark’s tooth and having a section known as The Bad Step – we were starting wonder why this trip had to be so scary. Turned out not to be too bad as once again the clouds hid the shear drops around us and we just focused on our narrow, slippery part of the world for a while.

Next stop Sgurr nan Gillean and its West Ridge. Well things start getting really scary now and the cloud clears just as we are having to step over a massive void before climbing up a short pinnacle – “smile for a photo” says our guide as we sit grateful still to be alive. Things remain very narrow and exposed as we climb up onto the astonishing Sgurr nan Gillean - trying not to think about the way down that we now know will involve an abseil. Turns out the abseil wasn’t at all bad – especially after having to step across that void 45 minutes earlier. The rest of the day was just going to be a hard walk with no real exposure so job done.

Day 3

The Innaccessible Pinnacle and Sgurr Mhic Choinnich

Didn’t sleep much through the night thinking about what lay ahead – can we climb the In Pin or will we bottle it. We heading straight for our greatest fear and much to our worry found ourselves battered by winds, rain and hailstones as we climbed higher and higher. We geared up for the climb on the In Pin near the top and headed straight for this blade of rock – everything was cloudy – “great – no sight of the shear drops” I thought. Before we could think we were roped up and climbing – “when the rope goes tight, you climb Ryan.”

At the top of the first pitch I looked up in disbelief at what lay ahead – best described as a chimney without a house going up into the sky – we were well scared but were also committed to doing this. To be honest we were already passed the point of no return – the guy behind us had to be rescued from this point as it turned out! The next pitch was best forgotten as somehow we climbed further up the In Pin which was barely a foot wide at this point – the body somehow convincing the head to keep going. Before too long we were at the top in disbelief but comparative safety. After a few minutes we abseiled down and took on board the enormous monkey that was off our backs.

Whilst Sgurr Mhic Choinnich on any other day would have to be considered an extremely difficult undertaking, we had just climbed the In Pin and things were comparatively fine - despite the shear drops - and before too long the difficulties were behind us and we dropped into a warm sunny day below the clouds and mountain weather of the Cuillins.

Thanks to the camaraderie of my hillwalking buddy Brian and the skills of Skye Guides I can look back on a fab three days on Skye celebrating my 50^th and look forward to my final 40 Munros with the belief that I can now complete them.

Ryan Manson

(now 50 J)

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