Collies Ledge declined

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

We had a bash at Blaven and ended up on the South Top, by some poor
navigation on my part (...that path looks like it goes to the top.....).

Yes, I did that back in the summer by going up it without a map or any prior
planning apart from a vague memory of where to start from. I didn't think I
was going to get to what I subsequently realised was the main top after
watching a party kitted out with climbing gear descending into the gap
between the two and taking ages over it. But thankfully it turned out to be
relatively easy.

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

On the top (ish), viewless, trigless, and questioning why we hadn't done

Marsco

Quoted message said:

instead we had a four second debate on the merits of bagging Munros and
decided to bugger off back to where we could see something. The path in to
Blaven is very nice though, with great views. Of course, back down on the
level the cloud lifted for a short while......(grrr)

You certainly mist (no pun intended) the top if there was no Trig point.
It's one of those nice round ones see
http://www.stuartstuart.fsnet.co.uk/misc/w4903.jpg

You must go back on a good day, it is a tremendous mountain!

Graham Seed said:

Just got back from a generally grey week on Skye. We stayed at the bunkhouse
at the Old Inn, Carbost and had the place to ourselves. Nice place although
a touch expensive - a couple who arrived later on had a meal and shared a
bottle of wine for sixty quid. Gulp. Sunday lunch and a pint for two costs
just over a tenner down in Lincolnshire so we weren't going to pay that!
They did Pinnacle bitter at £2.60, very nice - we drank them dry.

I took Paul up Sgurr Sgumain/Alasdair for his first mountain (I know, throw
'em in at the deep end....) and it took rather longer than I presumed. The
rock was dripping wet and the way off Sgumain was a nasty horizontal gd3
scramble so that took a bit of time. The bad step was hiding further up than
I thought it was, and the chimney route onto Alasdair looked horrendous.
Anyway, we roped up and got up it after much prevaricating, and eventually
got to the top. The ridge down to the Stone Shoot was entertaining but now
it was 4pm so we left Collies Ledge. This meant, of course, a descent of the
Stone Shoot. This has to be the most knackering, soul destroying descent I
have ever done. Presumably worse in ascent - stay well clear. Get a
helicopter to drop you off on the top if you don't fancy the other routes.

We had a bash at Blaven and ended up on the South Top, by some poor
navigation on my part (...that path looks like it goes to the top.....). On
the top (ish), viewless, trigless, and questioning why we hadn't done Marsco
instead we had a four second debate on the merits of bagging Munros and
decided to bugger off back to where we could see something. The path in to
Blaven is very nice though, with great views. Of course, back down on the
level the cloud lifted for a short while......(grrr)

Here's one for Martin
http://graham4228.fotopic.net/p21239341.html

Anyone know where the photo's taken from? :-)

Graham

Did the Chimney in the wet last year - no ropes though - and the only
way I could get out at the top was by taking my rucksack off.

I didn't think the GSS was too bad in descent - once you get half way
down you can fairly sprint the rest.

Oh - and the photo is from a layby on the A87 looking into Loch Loyne.

There's a more formal cairn further NE in memory of the SNP activist who
was assasinated by the British secret services.

druidh

"druidh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://graham4228.fotopic.net/p21239341.html
Anyone know where the photo's taken from? :-)

Graham

Quoted message said:

Oh - and the photo is from a layby on the A87 looking into Loch Loyne.

Quoted message said:

druidh

Yep I'll go for that as well, the views westwards from this section of road
are tremendous!

What concerns me about the picture is the amount of mini cairns, were they
all constructed by Graham? is he a compulsive cairn builder?
This is the sort of thing that could give McPish a coronary

Correction:

There's a more formal cairn further NE in memory of an SNP activist who
the (paranoid) snips would like to think
was assasinated by the British secret services.

That last comment couldn't really go unchallenged...

Neil

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Good Skye Stuff Snipped

Quoted message said:

. The ridge down to the Stone Shoot was entertaining but now
it was 4pm so we left Collies Ledge. This meant, of course, a

descent of the

Quoted message said:

Stone Shoot. This has to be the most knackering, soul destroying

descent I

Quoted message said:

have ever done. Presumably worse in ascent - stay well clear.

When we did the threesome, In Pin first then SMcC we actually failed
to find the start of Collies Ledge ( Mark was 14 at the time so we
were playing it a bit safe ) so we decided to drop into the corrie and
do Alasdair up the GSS. The ascent was not too bad taking about 40
mins and by staying far right against the rock wall the stone is
actually quite stable. The descent was great fun, straight down the
GSS in a few minutes but probably not the most environmentally
friendly thing to do. Superb day out

--
Cheers
Graham

284/284 134/219 http://graham-ingram.fotopic.net

In message <[email hidden]>, Graham Seed
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Here's one for Martin
http://graham4228.fotopic.net/p21239341.html

Anyone know where the photo's taken from? :-)

Graham

Very pretty - shame about the ugly patch of water and the boring looking
hills in the background. Maybe we could organise an expedition with a
bag of sand and cement so that they can be kept as a permanent memorial.

--
Martin Richardson
271/284 Munros - 4.5% to go 34/34 'Furths'- 0% to go
53/89 Donalds - 40% to go 487/1554 Marilyns - 68% to go
376/525 Hewitts - 28% to go (E=178/178; W=137/137; I=61/211)

"stuart" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

On the top (ish), viewless, trigless, and questioning why we hadn't done

Marsco

Quoted message said:

instead we had a four second debate on the merits of bagging Munros and
decided to bugger off back to where we could see something. The path in
to
Blaven is very nice though, with great views. Of course, back down on the
level the cloud lifted for a short while......(grrr)

You certainly mist (no pun intended) the top if there was no Trig point.
It's one of those nice round ones see
http://www.stuartstuart.fsnet.co.uk/misc/w4903.jpg

You must go back on a good day, it is a tremendous mountain!

Thanks for the pic - I'll let Paul have the link so he can see what we
missed out on! We climbed in the hope that we would get a view of the
ridge - bagging the summit was secondary. I'm only on about twenty Munros
which means I should do the last one when I'm about 370.......

No doubt I'll be back on Skye soon. Clach Glas looks nice.

Graham

"AndyP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

We had a bash at Blaven and ended up on the South Top, by some poor
navigation on my part (...that path looks like it goes to the top.....).

Yes, I did that back in the summer by going up it without a map or any
prior
planning apart from a vague memory of where to start from. I didn't think
I
was going to get to what I subsequently realised was the main top after
watching a party kitted out with climbing gear descending into the gap
between the two and taking ages over it. But thankfully it turned out to
be
relatively easy.

Yes, Skye scrambles had it at gd2, but there would have been little point in
going there other than to tick the mountain as there was nothing to see. In
the mist it was easier and safer to retreat by the same path as we'd used
getting up. Never mind....another day!

Graham

"druidh" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Did the Chimney in the wet last year - no ropes though - and the only way
I could get out at the top was by taking my rucksack off.

Yes, It's a bit of a squeeze at the top. The first time I did it was without
a rope but I was running on adrenaline then, frightened to death by the T-D
gap. What a mountain! This is the second easiest way up!

Quoted message said:

I didn't think the GSS was too bad in descent - once you get half way down
you can fairly sprint the rest.

Gulp! Sooner you than me. I was knackered. Poucher wrote that one of his
*Good Companions* did it in 15 minutes, but perhaps that was when there were
decent sized stones.

Quoted message said:

Oh - and the photo is from a layby on the A87 looking into Loch Loyne.

Correct!

Graham

"stuart" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Yep I'll go for that as well, the views westwards from this section of
road
are tremendous!

What concerns me about the picture is the amount of mini cairns, were they
all constructed by Graham? is he a compulsive cairn builder?
This is the sort of thing that could give McPish a coronary

Nope - I wouldn't dare. Martin would think up some horrific
retribution......

Graham

"Graham Ingram" wrote

Quoted message said:

When we did the threesome, In Pin first then SMcC we actually failed
to find the start of Collies Ledge ( Mark was 14 at the time so we
were playing it a bit safe ) so we decided to drop into the corrie and
do Alasdair up the GSS. The ascent was not too bad taking about 40
mins and by staying far right against the rock wall the stone is
actually quite stable. The descent was great fun, straight down the
GSS in a few minutes but probably not the most environmentally
friendly thing to do. Superb day out

I guess I was carrying too much gear and by the time we got round to
descending I was pretty tired so it wasn't as easy as it could have been.
I've run a few bits of scree but the GSS was something else!

Collies Ledge from the north is hard to find. When we did SMcC with the urw
exped to Skye I thought it must have been the indistinct bit just before the
hardish step up to the summit ridge. It was misty and wet then and it looked
horrible. Guide books have CL between Gd2 scrambling and moderate and it's
easy to see why there is such a discrepancy. For the most part it's easy but
the ending (or beginning in your case) seems exposed. I bought Gordon
Stainforth's The Cuillin as a leaving present, and there is a fabulous shot
of the Ledge on page 134.

Graham

Graham Seed said:

We climbed in the hope that we would get a view of the ridge

Ah, you mean something like this:
http://www.colinmac.f2s.com/photos/blaven1.jpg

Colin

"Colin MacDonald" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Graham Seed said:

We climbed in the hope that we would get a view of the ridge

Ah, you mean something like this:
http://www.colinmac.f2s.com/photos/blaven1.jpg

Yes, that would have been nice. In fact it would have been bloody
wonderful....

The butcher in Portree said it had been cloudy all summer though. I think he
was trying to make us feel better.

Graham

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Collies Ledge from the north is hard to find. When we did SMcC with the urw
exped to Skye I thought it must have been the indistinct bit just
before the
hardish step up to the summit ridge. It was misty and wet then and it
looked
horrible. Guide books have CL between Gd2 scrambling and moderate and it's
easy to see why there is such a discrepancy. For the most part it's
easy but
the ending (or beginning in your case) seems exposed.

I have only followed Collies Ledge the once and IIRC there is no obvious
place to leave it early if (presumably as most people do) the aim is to
avoid Kings Chimney but still do SMcC.

Quoted message said:

I bought Gordon
Stainforth's The Cuillin as a leaving present, and there is a fabulous shot
of the Ledge on page 134.

Point of order - Collies ledge is on page 135 (and in the opposite
direction on 136). Page 134 covers An Stac with the In Pinn shrouded in
mist behind. Looking at An Stac I find it almost impossible to believe I
ever found an easy way up the front.

IMO Stainforth also has the distinction of having produced the clearest
guide to traversing the Main Ridge although I would take issue over some
of the harder graded scrambling.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 53 summits
New - 27 (Marilyns 13, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 26 (Marilyns 10, Nuttalls 17, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

No doubt I'll be back on Skye soon. Clach Glas looks nice.

I have only done the traverse of Clach Glas and Blaven the once. IIRC I
needed the comfort of a rope on the climb up to the ridge and again from
the col between the 2 peaks. On the later climb ISTR a short steep wall
followed by a very easy fissure/chimney. (It must have been an easy
chimney as I ended up on the sharp end for that pitch).

Returning we were attracted by a scree gully that gave good running in
the upper reaches but turned into steep rock part way down so we had an
interesting time traversing off the cliff. Memory fades (this was about
30 years ago) but I think the gully in question was probably the one
heading NW from the col between the 2 Blaven summits.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 53 summits
New - 27 (Marilyns 13, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 26 (Marilyns 10, Nuttalls 17, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Graham Ingram" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

The descent was great fun, straight down the
GSS in a few minutes but probably not the most environmentally
friendly thing to do. Superb day out

ISTR that the GSS was still runable in the 70s which would have been a
decade or more after the Lake District favourites of Stickle Pike and
Dore Head were worn out.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 53 summits
New - 27 (Marilyns 13, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 26 (Marilyns 10, Nuttalls 17, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

In message <[email hidden]>, Roger
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Collies Ledge from the north is hard to find. When we did SMcC with the urw
exped to Skye I thought it must have been the indistinct bit just
before the
hardish step up to the summit ridge. It was misty and wet then and it
looked
horrible. Guide books have CL between Gd2 scrambling and moderate and it's
easy to see why there is such a discrepancy. For the most part it's
easy but
the ending (or beginning in your case) seems exposed.

I have only followed Collies Ledge the once and IIRC there is no obvious
place to leave it early if (presumably as most people do) the aim is to
avoid Kings Chimney but still do SMcC.

It is possible to leave Collies Ledge and scramble directly up to the
summit of SMcC. I did this once in the company of some rock climbing
friends and was glad of the security of a rope. The scrambling isn't
difficult but it is steep and exposed.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I bought Gordon
Stainforth's The Cuillin as a leaving present, and there is a fabulous shot
of the Ledge on page 134.

Point of order - Collies ledge is on page 135 (and in the opposite
direction on 136). Page 134 covers An Stac with the In Pinn shrouded in
mist behind. Looking at An Stac I find it almost impossible to believe I
ever found an easy way up the front.

IMO Stainforth also has the distinction of having produced the clearest
guide to traversing the Main Ridge although I would take issue over some
of the harder graded scrambling.

In message <[email hidden]>, Roger
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Graham Ingram" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

The descent was great fun, straight down the
GSS in a few minutes but probably not the most environmentally
friendly thing to do. Superb day out

ISTR that the GSS was still runable in the 70s which would have been a
decade or more after the Lake District favourites of Stickle Pike and
Dore Head were worn out.

It could still be run in the first half of the 80s.