Return to Gallery

Purchase Image

We arrived on Skye one May afternoon with the aim of ticking a few of the munros along the Cuillin ridge. The weather had been pretty poor on the drive through from Inverness but for once Skye seemed to be fairing better than the hills further east. We headed up into Coire Lagan, up the Great Stone Chute and along the short ridge to the summit of Sgurr Alasdair. The rocks were damp and slimey and the cloud was hanging around the summits. Next up was Sgurr Thearlaich which provides a tricky scramble. The climb of this hill was particularly exhilarating for me as it had been a big obstacle in my head between me and the completion of all Scotland's 3000ft tops for quite some time. Towards the summit large wet snow flakes began to fall but shortly I stood on the top, a little in awe of the drops and narrow ridge leading north away from me towards Sgurr Mhic Choinnich.

Thoughts of the slippery descent were upper most in my mind and I didn't linger long before slowly retracing my steps to easier ground. Back at the bealach I was delighted and we romped down the chute enjoying the quick descent on loose scree thinking of food and beer back at the Glen Brittle campsite. Back in the valley the weather closed in a bit over the hills and we were treated to this view of Coire Lagan at 8pm with a mixture of evening sun and showers. The main shaft of rainbow cuts through the gap between Skye’s highest peak Sgurr Alasdair on the left and Sgurr Sgumain on the right. The great prow of Sgurr Dearg forms the northerly wall of Coire Lagan on the left of the photo.

All pictures copyright Scotland-Landscapes.com