UKC

Hi, I'm thinking of doing the cuillin ridge in a couple of weeks time and was looking for a bit of info. Can anyone recommend a guide that covers it as a winter climb? Also, if I go to Skye and the ridge is in bad condition are there lots of other quality winter climbs around? (would be handy if the book covered that too)

I've done some other Scottish winter routes like Tower ridge and a few long AD ridges in the Swiss alps. How does the Cuillin stack up to these? I know its long (12km), but does it have any hard technical bits in good condition?

Cheers,
Adam

In reply to adam 24:


I suspect this may be your first problem. Most recent ridge traverses that I'm aware of were decided upon within about 24 hours notice of the ridge being in good condition.

That said, Mike Lates' blog is your best bet for details.

In reply to adam 24:

Second the mike Lates blog. He did a downloadable PDF a few years ago about the ridge traverse. In winter the usual way is north to south - the opposite way to the summer. This way you absail over some of the main difficulties.
I have done it 20 or 30 times in summer and other sections of it lots more but would still be keeping my eye out for the best line in winter as it can be handy to know where all the best variations are.

Good luck and if you don't get it first time, keep on keeping on.

James

In reply to adam 24:

I've done it winter. We did everything direct and started up Pinnacle Ridge to boot. It took two days. The hardest technical difficulty was climbing the short wall out of the TD Gap which we thought IV (6) but well protected with small wires. The hardest part of all though was finding it in good condition and it took several tries before I realised you have to wait for a big dump of snow followed by a high. If you get this then after a couple of days it's so close to the sea that freeze thaw will have done the rest. It's nigh on impossible to plan in advance for this!

In reply to adam 24:

Hi Adam
Skye The Cuillin SMC guidebook has the Traverse and all winter climbs in it. Available from all good book stores etc or signed copies direct from me. Drop me an e-mail. You might like the blog I'm putting up after a hot bath; full plastering of wet snow on tops today with cold forecast to follow.... Mike

In reply to adam 24:
Climbing wise there is nothing that hard on the ridge apart from a lot of exposure, it's difficult to compare it to anything else in the UK. Having said that, I was certainly very scared at one point due to shit snow, cruddy rock, an irreversible move and no belay for a sketchy traverse to a steeper few moves. As for the grade of the route, Mike Lates put up a post with various alpine grades of the route sometime last year and graded it harder than AD.
Route finding along the ridge is also a challenge, I was very glad that Rich had been there before!

From what I gather (having only been there once) the Cuillins are very fickle and most teams don't plan to do the ridge until a few days before, which was certainly the case for us when we did it.
Last year me and rich decided to drive up from bristol 2 days before we started the route, this was instead of going rock climbing in cornwall!

If you do attempt it take lots of abseil tat, we ran out and started using our prussiks and we took loads!

If the conditions are suitable then it is a unbelievably fantastic route, and is currently my favourite mountaineering route by a mile.

Now time for the shameless self promotion... here is my blog from the route last year: http://www.masterplan-mountaineering.co.uk/2013/04/winter-traverse-cuillin-...

In reply to alastairbegley:

That looks AWESOME. Thanks for sharing.

In reply to Stephen Reid:

Harder than the Inaccessible Pinnacle or did you do this the other way round? Not done it, but I find it hard to imagine the short side of the pinnacle is not harder!

In reply to Robert Durran: Depends, apparently the West side of the Inn Pinn is impossible without aid under winter conditions. East Ridge goes at IV,4 or IV,5 or there about's I think.

I've climbed the East Ridge under slushy conditions and not needed crampons or axes but a mate did it when it was proper rimed and wintered up and says its one of the best winter routes he's done.

In reply to Nath93:

Plan is to be up there myself in the second half of February. To the OP I'd echo other contributors: Don't go with the objective of completing the ridge in full winter, go for a good climb where you can find it. The Cuillin guidebook has many great outings but I'd recommend you invest in the SMC Northern Highlands (south). Conditions are much more reliable in Glen Shiel, Achnashellach and Torridon for a variety of reasons and these hills are often in condition when the ridge is not. From a base in, say, Broadford or Kyle you can reach many of these mountains as quickly as you can get to Glen Brittle. The weather is often considerably better at the eastern end of Glen Shiel and you can climb in sunshine while the rain soaks Skye.

On the other hand, if you find the ridge in condition, there's nowhere better in these Isles.

In reply to BnB: Will you be coming with the folks or on your own ? If your on your own i'll try and get some time off and maybe catch a lift up with you and we can get some stuff done ?

Plenty good venues in that area but I'd be inclined to agree with Julian that when you catch the Cuillin in great winter nick, there really isn't anywhere else to match it.

In reply to BnB:
I'd agree with sentiment to keep options open but disagree with "much more reliable"; those venues are all swimming in powder at the moment.
Alastair's points are more valid and apply to any Scottish trip- make a decision at the last minute. Generally easterly winds go west or vice versa. Use reports & blogs. Accommodation is always easy to find at this time of year so don't commit.
Nice try to keep the Cuillin to yourself J but there's gonna be a procession of 200 folk along the crest in February half-term and no room to park the 911

In reply to Robert Durran:


We climbed the long side of the Pinnacle which was under snow and abbed down the short side which had no snow or ice on it. The TD Gap was technically much harder. You can of course bypass all the difficult sections on the Ridge which would probably reduce it to II/III but personally, had we done that, I'd only feel I had to go back and do it properly!

I rather scared myself soloing down the short side of the Pinnacle once in summer and can well believe that it would be mighty hard in winter if iced up.

In reply to Mike Lates:




I've got snow tyres on it right now so I'll just dump it half way up Coire Bhasteir

In reply to Nath93:


Hi Nath

Plan is to come up with a buddy from Yorkshire who's completing his MIA. I get to second up some harder stuff and he gets his logbook filled. If that falls through then your suggestion is an excellent one and I'd be honoured to share a few outings. I'll keep you posted.

In reply to adam 24:

Thanks for all the info. Mike, I'll check out the guide you suggested and keep an eye on the blog. I know you have to go with conditions and its better to wait until you know how it looks. I was really just lining up a partner for a long weekend to climb somewhere in mid-February. The Cuillin is high on my wish list , but I might not even go to Scotland if it looks bad.

Nath93 - I already have a partner lined up thanks.

Adam

In reply to adam 24:

Yeah my partner call was to BnB (Julian), hope you have a good one up on the ridge !

In reply to adam 24: Just realised that i can get the bus up to Skye for a ridiculously cheap price for the coming month so if anybody is keen to get out then give me a shout !