Off to Skye

Late Wednesday evening I received a text message from my mate Ryan, suggesting we should take a trip to the Isle of Skye at the weekend. For anyone who does not know this island off the west coast of Scotland; Skye is the Mecca for every mountaineer, climber and hill walker living in the British Isle's. My first thought was, I need to get out of work on Sunday.

The next morning the phone rang. Ryan was wanting to leave that night, unfortunately my first thoughts weren't 'lets go!'

I was okay for the weekend because that would give me time to organize myself. Ryan informed me that the weather was good and that I wouldn't need anything, he had everything sorted down to the kitchen sink, and I just had to meet him at 7.

I phoned Anne, my girlfriend, and told her I wouldn't see her for two days. Off we went.

The back of Ryan's Ford Transit van made for very comfortable accommodation. Bed, stove, electricity and of course the kitchen sink with a working tap.

Day 1 Am Bastier


We woke up on Friday morning after spending a very comfortable night in the back of Ryan's Transit van.

After leaving my flat in a rush the previous afternoon. I didn't have time to do any food shopping. Ryan was kind enough and didn't seem bothered about sharing all of his food, which I was extremely grateful for. Living with a vegetarian, I am happy to eat a wide variety of food but there are a few exceptions. These are anything that lives close to or in the sea, nuts, Marmite, cous cous, humus and soya milk. I didn't tell Ryan this at first. When it came to breakfast that morning we had Muesli, which was full of nuts and we didn't have milk because it doesn't last as long as soya milk. It was okay because we had Marmite sandwiches for lunch, I insisted on spreading the Marmite very thin. I am not complaining about the food because I was just thankful Ryan was happy to share his even if it wasn't to my particular taste.

We headed to Am Bastier then to Sgurr Nan Gillean it was really windy which made the exposed sections even more interesting. After a quick scout around of this area we headed for dinner back at the van. The menu that night, was tuna and cous cous, which turned out to be really tasty!

Ryan on the walk in

windy conditions

Ryan on exposed sections of Sgurr nan Gillean

Day 2 Vulcan Wall

After another comfortable night, the weather turned quite bad and we changed our plan to go do a climb, Vulcan Wall HVS 5a. Ryan thought that this would give us some shelter from the wind.

After another long walk in we found the bottom of the wall.

The walk in to Sron Na Ciche

Ryan started on the first pitch and completely cruised it. I took the second pitch, the quality of the climbing was amazing and the Gabbro gives great friction.

When I reached the belay ledge, Ryan asked if the belay was any good. I told him that it was quite narrow and he asked if it was a 'one footer'. It was a 'one footer' in that it was the width of one of my feet and not 14 inches wide.

We intended to do the direct finish to the route, which goes at E2 5c. This was completely blank wall, with no cracks or features. Ryan (who has on-sighted E4 6a) didn't like the look of it and that was more than enough reason for me not to like the look of it.

Ryan on the first pitch

The one footer

Ryan on the third pitch

The walk off