TRAIL 100
RUSS MOORHOUSE is on a mission to camp out on every Trail 100 peak – a challenge that spans four countries, 100 of the UK’s finest hills and mountains, and a punishing 88,339m of ascent. This month he bivvies in the most inaccessible of places.
WILD SLEEPS
Bla Bheinn Sgurr Alasdair Sgurr Dearg
Sgurr nan Gillian
TRAIL 100
BIVVY COUNT 56/100
The Black Cullin on the Isle of Skye are a source of inspiration, a challenge to conquer, a summit to reach. I’d imagined the four Trail 100 peaks on the Isle of Skye to be hard and solid, but they are loose, fractured pieces of rock and no more so than in places lightning has struck then exploded the metallic rock so it crumbles underfoot.
I’d also imagined being smothered by blue sky, but the reality was suffocating white clag. However, nothing was going to spoil the best Father’s Day present I could have wished for, a week climbing and bivvying with my daughter, Annie.
To whet our appetites we start with Bla Bheinn, a huge citadel of rock, standing alone south of the Cullin ridge with great views (if it wasn’t in cloud) of the Black Cullin and what is to come. We bivvy in comfy heather on the lower slopes after a satisfying climb.
Fire & ice
For the main event we hire a guide. Cockney Jack turns out to not only be an expert rock climber, having scaled the six north faces of the Alps, but also the best geography teacher Annie has ever had, bringing to life the subject with stories of volcanoes, pyroclasts landing in lava, glaciers smoothing coarse rock to look like hippo’s skin and 25,000-year-old striations showing the direction of ice movement.
Once we pass the final sheep pasture we enter broken rock territory. Helmets are needed to protect from rockfall, and when they start rolling they don’t stop. First on the traverse is Sgurr Alasdair, the highest point on Skye. We are in cloud and showers, and the rain bouncing off my helmet makes it sound like I’m inside a shack, which I’m not. I’m in the wild and thankful for a guide who knows his way, because it would be very easy to get lost up here. We scramble over two types of rock – basalt which is smooth and slippery, and gabbro which is coarser and very pleasing with its grip. Local knowledge is invaluable and Jack knows about the caves, something I wasn’t expecting but that’s because they are not on any maps. They make great places for bivvies and bri
