more Skye route questions

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Nigel Cliffe" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

A small detail I'd like someone to provide;

Quoted message said:

The other week, I had a go at going up Sgurr Dearg (with a view to calling
that the top, as I've no rope experience for the In Pin!).
But, whilst following the route discussed in various books to reach the top
via the Bealach Coire na Bandachdich, I lost the route near the top
approaching the col.
As I've only a couple of days experience on Skye, I decided on down being
the safest option and try again another time.

Sorry I can't really help on that one as I can't remember ever going via
Coire na Banachdich. I have however been both up and down the ridge
between it and Coire Lagan without incident. I can't recall any
difficulties that way at all but 1966 wasn't exactly yesterday.

FWIW my rather old (1970) SMC District Guide to Skye says of the path
merely that it "leads by a tortuous route to the right on the flank of
Sgurr Dearg to Bealach Banachdich".

Quoted message said:

So, for next time, where does the usual walking route to the col head ?
I've the Harvey 1:12,500 map of the summits (as well as the hard to read
1:25,000 OS map).

Quoted message said:

I looked at onward routes from two places (data from my GPS track
recording,
with barometric altitude):

Quoted message said:

NG 44192 21683, 810m and head East; which was the bottom of a rough
looking
stone shute. Whilst I saw others (who were climbers) head up in this
general
area, it didn't look ideal, and my map reading had it not a route to the
col.

Quoted message said:

NG 44112 21696, 770m and head NE. Which dropped into a slight dip, then
climbed towards a rock corner with boulders below. I think this might have
been the correct route ?

The OS 1:25000 does actually show the route of a path all the way to the
col but not having a scanned image of the map I can't plot the above
points with any certainty.

Quoted message said:

Having looked a bit more from lower in the corrie, and having had one trip
over the rocks for several hundred metres of climb, I feel that next time
I'd be a bit more confident and probably make the top.

Best of luck on your next trip but be warned The Black Cuillin can
easily become an obsession that curtails more rational activities such
as Munro Bashing. :-)

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 34 summits
New - 15 (Marilyns 4, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 19 (Marilyns 5, Sweats 10, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

"Graham Seed" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Nigel Cliffe" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

A small detail I'd like someone to provide;

The other week, I had a go at going up Sgurr Dearg (with a view to
calling
that the top, as I've no rope experience for the In Pin!).
But, whilst following the route discussed in various books to reach the

top

Quoted message said:

via the Bealach Coire na Bandachdich, I lost the route near the top
approaching the col.
As I've only a couple of days experience on Skye, I decided on down being
the safest option and try again another time.

So, for next time, where does the usual walking route to the col head ?

According to Skye Scrambles, this is the easiest way to the top and is
graded 1 which means there shouldn't be any problems for anyone with a
head
for heights. The route appears to turn towards Sgurr Dearg before the col
is
reached, flank right below a crag and then head upwards to the top.
Another
way would be to follow the SW Ridge which gives you a view of the eas Mor
waterfall. We went this way on the urw Skye trip - some pics of Sgurr
Dearg
amongst the Skye folder at http://graham4228.fotopic.net/c533468.html

Graham

Nice pictures, Graham. Enjoyed them very much. Thanks.

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Nigel Cliffe" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The OS 1:25000 does actually show the route of a path all the way to
the col but not having a scanned image of the map I can't plot the
above points with any certainty.

Quoted message said:

The OS map doesn't seem to fully align with the current
track/wear/cairns on
the ground lower down. This is not uncommon for the OS in my experience.

Paths are usually in the right place. What is frequently an illusion is
the track of a PROW in England and Wales. Not a problem in Scotland as
the maps don't distinguish PROWs.

FWIW I have scanned the map now. It is not a particularly good image and
the calibration is not entirely accurate but according to that neither
of your points are on the path. According to the map at 44194 21696
(your Easting 44164) you should be heading about due North, not NE.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 34 summits
New - 15 (Marilyns 4, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 19 (Marilyns 5, Sweats 10, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

"theo" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Nice pictures, Graham. Enjoyed them very much. Thanks.

You're welcome Theo....and thanks for the fotopic.net tip. One day I'll have
my own website......

Graham

Roger said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Nigel Cliffe" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The OS 1:25000 does actually show the route of a path all the way to
the col but not having a scanned image of the map I can't plot the
above points with any certainty.

Quoted message said:

The OS map doesn't seem to fully align with the current
track/wear/cairns on
the ground lower down.

Quoted message said:

FWIW I have scanned the map now. It is not a particularly good image
and the calibration is not entirely accurate but according to that
neither of your points are on the path.

This doesn't surprise me, as I couldn't see any sign of the path on the
ground in the area. There are a handful of cairns here and there, plus wear
signs in the rock and scree. Slightly lower I'm certain I was on the
de-facto path which works up a gully to go around a large solid rock area.

I'll do my own scan and calibration and cross check my tracks and points
once I've worked out what I'm doing with such things (pretty new to GPS
stuff, so not got into scanning and calibrating maps yet, though I
understand the principles).

Quoted message said:

According to the
map at 44194
21696 (your Easting 44164) you should be heading about due North, not
NE.

OK, that point corresponds approximately with the base the stone gully which
goes up eastwards (my first point). By heading N from that point, one passes
below a rock wall. It would be tricky to pass that way (I looked at it),
and I'm fairly certain that the same destination is reached from my second
position with the NE heading. This seems to align with Druidh's description
of things, a slight dip in the line, before ascending again to the bealach.

Thanks for the help, I think I've got enough of an idea of things for
another bash another year.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

druidh said:

Nigel Cliffe said:

A small detail I'd like someone to provide;

The other week, I had a go at going up Sgurr Dearg (with a view to
calling that the top, as I've no rope experience for the In Pin!).
But, whilst following the route discussed in various books to reach
the top via the Bealach Coire na Bandachdich, I lost the route near
the top approaching the col.

So, for next time, where does the usual walking route to the col
head ? I've the Harvey 1:12,500 map of the summits (as well as the
hard to read 1:25,000 OS map).

Quoted message said:

NG 44192 21683, 810m and head East; which was the bottom of a rough
looking stone shute. Whilst I saw others (who were climbers) head up
in this general area, it didn't look ideal, and my map reading had
it not a route to the col.

NG 44112 21696, 770m and head NE. Which dropped into a slight dip,
then climbed towards a rock corner with boulders below. I think
this might have been the correct route ?

I made a mistake here too. The route goes up a stone gully, then
traverses NW under some broken rocks and above the rock band you've
just bypassed. It actually drops a few metres under one butress before
climbing to the bealach.

Thanks, that seems to confirm my second route.

Quoted message said:

I started up a narrow gully which
eventually
led to a very, very, mobile scree slope.

That's why I stopped where I did; things seemed to be getting worse up the
gully you've described, and the Harvey map shows scree above it.

Quoted message said:

The visbility was such that I
only knew where I was when I hit the path descending from Sgurr Dearg.

An alternative is to ascend Sgurr na Banachdich via Coire an Eich and
head onto Sgurr Dearg from there via a little scrambling (simple on
the SW side of the ridge).

Worth considering as alternative route, thanks.
How much scrambling ? Mine is not too bad (eg. just managed both ways
between the two Bla Bheinn summits), but my regular companion is less keen.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Nigel Cliffe said:

Quoted message said:

An alternative is to ascend Sgurr na Banachdich via Coire an Eich and
head onto Sgurr Dearg from there via a little scrambling (simple on
the SW side of the ridge).

Worth considering as alternative route, thanks.
How much scrambling ? Mine is not too bad (eg. just managed both ways
between the two Bla Bheinn summits), but my regular companion is less keen.

Pretty simple if you stick to well below the ridge and avoid the
pinnacles - really just a matter of joining up the various ledges which
adorn that side of the ridge.

As regards Bla Bheinn, a mate of mine - who has a much better head for
heights than me - rates that traverse as his scariest moment ever on the
hills. I don't recall thinking it was anything special. Go figure!!

druidh