April 2013 Weekend Meet: Glenbrittle Hut, Skye

On Friday GG and MM arrived in Skye at about 12.30. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. They stopped on the Broadford / Sligachan road just passed Sron Ard Mullach and headed up Garhbdeinn via Bealach na Beiste. Great views of the red and black Cuillin hills from the summit cairn. The last view of the hills as it turned out.

They returned via Druim Eader Da Choire and headed for the Sligachan Hotel. By the time they can out of the hotel at 6pm the Cuillins were covered in cloud.

LY and DY arrived on Friday afternoon and went for a walk in Coire na Creiche to see the Fairy Pools. It was a beautiful sunny day, gradually clouding over.

Gale force westerly wind on Saturday morning had us all hastily making alternative plans for the day. GG, LY and MM set off for Stor. We managed to get to the Old Man of Stor before being blown back to the car. On the plus side we found a very nice tearoom in Uig.

On Saturday, JC and DY debated several options and, given the stormy weather and high gusts forecast, went to look at a scramble on Sgurr na h-Uamha at the far end of the ridge. The southerly wind howled down Glen Sligachan on our approach and, on arriving at the Bloody Stone at the entrance to Harta Coire, we observed waterfalls a couple of hundred metres up the hill being blown upwards and sideways. The scramble was cancelled. We then walked up river to upper Harta Coire, a spectacular place well off the beaten track. For more information see John's Facebook entry.

On Sunday LY and DY had originally opted to climb Bruach na Frithe but Libby was not too keen on seeing that its snow cover had increased since the previous day. Torrential rain also helped us make up our minds to get away from the Cuillins for the day. We eventually climbed Healabhal Mhor (Macleod's Table North) experiencing rain, hailstones, sleet, snow and very high winds.

MM headed along the path passed the Glen Brittle camp site to the Allt na Buaile Duibhe burn. He followed the burn to Lon Ban and then walked on to the foot of Gars Bheinn. Walked up onto the misty and windy ridge and headed along the ridge to Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn. He gave up on Sgurr Dubh Mor due to snow conditions and headed into Coir a Ghrunnda. He didn't go far enough left in the corrie so had to pick his way slowly and carefully through the rocks (very slow) until he got onto the path heading back to Glen Brittle.

Too wet and wind to walk on Monday.

This contribution from JC - I enjoyed an excellent weekend at the Glen Brittle hut on Skye with the FVMC despite storm force winds, low cloud and heavy snow showers. On Saturday DY and I went for a low level wind buffeted walk up Glen Sligachan, passing the "Bloody stone" on our way up to the wild and remote Harta Coire. As well as being well known as the stone where the two intrepid coire explorers, messrs Yule and Calder had a brew it also has some historical interest as this is the spot where the last clan battle between the McDonalds and McLeods took place in 1601. The winds were ferocious with burns being blown backwards up the hill in white streamers as low as 200 metres! The glowering black cliffs of Harta and Lota coire towering menacingly above were very impressive and made you feel very small insignificant.

On Sunday MMcE and I set of up the Allt a' Choire Ghreadaidh to climb Sgurr a' Mhadaidh. The jagged tops were cloaked in thick mist with only the bare moorland visible. We carried axe and crampons as a precaution. 10 minutes in and some blustery showers rattled in. A brief clearance revealed the rocky flanks of Mhadaidh plastered in new snow, and when we reached 600m the rain turned to heavy snow. The seeds of doubt were sown.

We carried on up in the mist and snow when another brief clearance revealed that the upper Coire was an extensive snowfield of old hard snow. As we cramponed up towards An Dorus it became apparent that this was rapidly developing into a grade II winter mountaineering outing. With no rope or gear to protect the snowed up slabby climb to the summit from An Dorus and critically the return descent we wisely decided to bail and head back down, not before having a nice wee play in the snaw practicing and perfecting crampon technique. Snow and hail showers accompanied the pair of us back down the hill.

After dinner I went for a wee walk to the beach for a final lung full of the magical Hebridean seaweed air where I bumped into retired Cuillin guide Gerry Akroyd. Almost twenty years ago towards my completion of the Munros GA helped me bag all the Skye Munros and tops during a superb 5 days in September. It was nice to be able to thank him again all those years later.

A dreich Skye.