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| 8th June 2007 - Coruisk Hut, Skye After last years excellent Coruisk meet, surely this year could not be a match for it? Incredibly however, the sun shone brightly (Yes – in June!) and Skye enjoyed a week long heat wave which continued right through the weekend of the Meet. It wasn’t to be quite as successful for some however as Mike had managed to break his wrist mountain-biking the weekend prior. Taxi – I hear you shout, but at least for Michael this didn’t necessitate a big yellow one! Talking of big yellow taxis, Lorna turned up at Elgol (eventually) along with Jacqui – on her first trip to Coruisk - to meet Colin, Dan, Andy, Kevin and Shiela for the boat ride on the Misty Isle. Rab along with Dave Mitchell, Mel and baby Ella, headed up to Skye on the Thursday in preparation for a Friday/ Saturday attempt at the Ridge Traverse (Robert and Dave that is!). After a night at the Carbost Bunkhouse for a poor Robert and a posh B&B for the rest, Rab and Dave departed Glen Brittle Campsite at the ungodly hour of 10am. Garbh Bheinn was departed at 1.10pm and the bivvy just down from the summit of Sgurr a’ Ghreadaidh reached at 9PM. The day was hot and with the heavy packs very hard going. Of course there were a few exciting sections along the way but the bivvy was cracking and the night never really dark. A 6am start saw us at Sgurr nan Gillian by 12pm after negotiating the joys of Bidean Druim nan Ramh and the famous Naismith’s Route on the Bastier Tooth. This had ‘understandably’ been avoided by both of us on prior traverses and definitely provides a fitting finale to the Ridge. Crazy exposure and with big boots and heavy sack, well, enough said I think…!! It was a very hot day (hence the early start) and incredibly almost unbearable by 7am (Scotland. Surely not!?). I left Dave after Sgurr nan Gillean and headed for Coruisk whilst he headed for a well earned pint (or five) at Sligachan. For anyone contemplating this, all I can say is that it took some amount of soul searching before committing to the 3+ hour descent into Glen Sligachan and ascent over the Druim Hain to Coruisk. It was unbearably hot and only by drenching my sun hat in every stream did I make it over. Suffice to say it was a very tired and wobbly Robert who reached the hut around 4pm. Many thank to Kevin for the endless tea and of course to my good mother for sorting out the cool bag full of ice cold Stella!! Meanwhile, those hardened of mountaineers, Colin, Dan and Andy headed up to Sgurr nan Eag to have a go at ‘The Chasm’. They also struggled with the heat and the fact that the route was ‘desperate’. Given that its supposed to be a v.diff, they could only conclude that it may have been affected by rockfall. Ironically, Rab and Dave has peered down the day before with the words “fookin ‘ell” being used. Shiela, Jacqui and Kevin aborted an attempt at the Dubh Ridge – again due to the heat – and therefore much swimming, sun-bathing, tea-making etc was had! On Sunday, Andy headed up Blaven (good effort!) whilst Kevin, Shiela and Jacqui crossed the bad-step to Camusunary, returning via the Druim Hain pass. Andy also used this approach (but in reverse) to get to Blaven. Rab – struggling to walk – and Colin headed over to the Coruisk Slabs for some action and after ascertaining that the route currently mentioned in the guidebook had been destroyed by the rockfall of the mid to late nineties, set their sights on a new line to the left of the rockfall. Swamp Donkey 265m Severe 4a * takes a direct line up the cleanest section of slabs (full description hopefully in next years SMCJ). An excellent day out. Climbing high above Loch Coruisk on apparently virgin ground, I felt as though I was new routing in somewhere like the Lofoten Islands! Dave, Mel and Ella also came over on the boat for a couple of hours. Dave being extremely surprised to see me out of bed!! An excellent campfire followed. Monday again dawned fine and whilst Colin, Andy and Rab engaged in a wee bit slab action on the cliffs just round from the hut, much sunbathing, swimming etc was also done. All that remained was a cracking boat ride out to end another fantastic weekend at the hut. Surely one of the best places in Scotland, all I can say about next year is, bring it on!! RMcM
Andy & Colin on the summit of Sgurr nan Eag, 6pm, 77 degrees
"I think I've lost a contact lens in here"
The best midgie repellent in Scotland - a smoky fire !
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