The Cuillins, Skye
Midges notwithstanding our five days on Skye were a highlight of our month in the UK. The Glenbrittle campground is by the beach at the foot of the Cuillin ridge and, best of all, has a shop and cafe with croissants and genuinely good coffee. On our first full day we went up to Lochan (lake) Coire Lagan and then the more intrepid among us continued up for a scramble on An Stac. Jos and Pip did this a couple days later unroped as part of a longer traverse of the ridge, but today we all tied in (Andrew did so the old-fashioned way as we didn't have a harness for him). A straightforward but quite exposed scramble; it felt like a good intro to the Cuillins. At the top Jos and Pip had to take the opportunity to get up the 'Inaccessible Pinnacle', and then Oliver climbed / got hauled up the rappel route on the opposite side. A long descent down the west side of Sguur Dearg before Oliver, with Pip in tow, took off on a full-out run down the trail and then cross country in order to make it back to Glenbrittle for ice cream before the shop closed (we made it with about 9min to spare).
Scramblers: Oliver, Jos, Pip, Andrew, Guy.
Photos | Strava | Video of Danny Macaskill getting up the IP with his bike.
"Scramble" – The act of ascending a steep slope that requires the use of hands to climb; a pell-mell rush; a method for cooking eggs.
"Scramblegs" [scramble-legs] –
A loose affiliation of families and friends who like to get out into the mountains and, ideally, to the tops of them. Most of us are located in BC, Canada.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Tryfan
Snowdonia National Park, Wales
I had just enough time for a quick scramble up the north ridge of Mt. Tryfan on our first evening in Snowdonia. It was a short visit – just two nights camping at the Idwal youth hostel – so I wanted to seize the opportunity and it turned out to be a highlight for me of our month in the UK. Having never been to Snowdonia before it was a thrill to discover this place and I hope we get back with more time to properly explore it. The scramble was straightforward and a lot of fun, with increasingly good views back down into the valley. I was surprised to discover that Wales isn't into trail markers, but did go too far astray. The top was unbelievably windy (hard to stand) so I didn't linger. Down the south side and around to Llyn (Lake) Idwal where I ran into the rest of the gang coming up for a post-dinner walk in the rain.
Photos | Strava

Photos | Strava
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