Scotland - Scrambling, Bouldering and hitting the Ice!

Cerian and I have just got back from a great two week holiday in Skye and Glencoe. The weather wasn't on our side but we made the most of the breaks in the showers.

The first week in Skye involved a couple of good scrambles up Am Basteir and Sgurr nan Gillean.

We only got half way scrambling up Am Basteir and were thwawted by the 3 metre drop which needed to be climbed down before reaching the summit. Unfortunately this day I neglected to bring the rope with me, but made sure every day after that I did pack it! I flung myself over the top of it anyway to investigate. A small ledge existed about a third of the way down to prop your feet on, as I did one of my feet slipped slightly as Cerian reminded me we had no rope and it was still the beginning of the holiday (no broken bones allowed!). The climb down seemed fairly straight forward, better foot holds appear off to your right. After eyeing up the footholds I took her advice and climbed back on to the ledge.


Our trip up Sgurr nan Gillean was much more successful. The guide book we had was not specific to scrambling but did include them, without any grading!! We were setting off up towards the South-East ridge, which made a very enjoyable ascent through various coire's and below the towering Pinnacle Ridge (which I now know is a Grade 3S). After summiting the near by peak Sgurr Beag, we headed back along the ridge towards our main goal.
After reading of 'extremely exposed' scrambling we were edging our bets, though I reassured Cerian we had the rope! After some pleasant scrambling up the ridge, I went on to investigate the summit and see how exposed it actually was! After some easy scrambling on moderate terrain I reached a summit, and could see the cairn off to my left where two other mountain guides were with a couple of petrified tourists!
I scrambled back down a bit and shouted for Cerian to come up. She was most pleased with herself for reaching the 'extremely exposed' summit!

The weather in Skye always moved quick and was ever changing. However, Glencoe was different. Less wind and sheltered by the glen, rain seemed to hang about longer.

Nethertheless we had a fun and interesting scramble up Aonach Dubh. We decided to ascend via Dinnertime Buttress and continue along the Rhyolite Romp for an exposed exit down the valley. Once the initial vegetated rock on the buttress was passed, we continued on to the cleaner rock through the central gully. The steep start soon eased and we headed up some great rock. At the top of the buttress we headed along 'The Romp' passing over steep gullies as we went.
We came to a section described in the guidebook as a 'horizontal ridge' which led to a precipice - a huge drop I have learnt! - after reaching there we turned right as the guidebook said and headed down to try and reach the gully. After scrambling down for 5 minutes the terrain seemed to be getting steeper and steeper. I scrambled down a little more but could not find anything but a drop of at least 200ft. It was then we realised that we had gone down the left side as the guidebook explains turning round at the precipice meaning the left and right were swapped! After swiftly retreating from this slope we continued on the 'right' route and made our way off the mountain unscaved!

The route of our 'Romp'!

We also got a taste for ice climbing at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven. In two hours we were shown the techniques for tackling ice, and managed to hurl our way up 50ft ice walls in the biggest freezer I've ever seen! Fingers crossed for a big freeze again this winter!!

On the last day I spent some time bouldering at Loch Achtriochtan Boulders, while Cerian mostly read a book in the sun.

Reaching the layback...

...leaving the layback!

All in all I'm fully relaxed! :-)