Following injury and terrible weather last year Its been a while since completing a full Skye Cuillin Traverse. This week I have been working for Skye Guides with aspiring traverse(ee) Matt and his enthusiastic Dad Ian. We have once again been blessed with perfect traverse weather; cool, sunny and a good breeze up on the ridge. Matt and I approached via a Rib from Elgol, we were joined by Mike and his returning climber Bill who were aiming for the Dubh Slabs. Once established back on dry land we made a steady ascent of Gars Bheinn before stomping over the the first Munro of the day Sgurr nan Eag. Matt had mentioned about being as ‘pure’ as possible along the crest so from here we took as direct line as we could, taking in all the climbs, the out and backs and some of the more obscure parts of the ridge including Casteal a’ Garbh-Choire, Three teeth of Thormaid and Basteirs Nick (type two fun!). Dot and Pete were also traversing the ridge and doing so in good style with no guidebook and carrying all their kit for two bivi’s – good effort!

TD Gap action

Kings Chimney

Its behind you….

Awesome bivi site

Scrambling into the abyss…

Leap of faith – its a bigger drop than you think!

Naismiths

In the bag!

Today it was Ian’s turn to cerebrate as we all made our way back up to the ridge so he could make an ascent of the Inn Pinn. Ian enjoyed the climb and although anxious about the abseil did it without incident – well done Ian. It was another glorious day on Skye with endless views in every direction.