Over The Hill

For some time now I have just had that urge to climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle. Weird, considering that I am not the most confident of walkers on open exposed ridges; however, our weekly evenings at the Glasgow Climbing Centre, where you are climbing with both feet and hands in contact with the rock gave me the confidence (yet to be proven) that I would be able to take on this iconic climb, albeit with a competent guide. And so here I was, guide booked, and accompanied by Lawrie, as keen as I was to take on this challenge driving up to Glen Brittle for an overnight camp at the campsite on the shores of Loch Brittle, the weather was fantastic, a great ridge of high pressure right over the top of Skye, and going to stay that way for a few more days.

Bright and early Thursday morning we took the short walk from the campsite to the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut to meet our guide, John, from Skye Adventure, who was ready and waiting as we approached the Hut. Introductions done, equipment checked, route and the days plans discussed we set off for the summit of Sgurr Dearg via the west ridge. As is the case with walking and climbing in the Cuillin, grass and heather are quickly left behind and you are soon walking over a mixture of rough stone, rock and scree with the odd scramble thrown in. En route, John directed us up a few of the aforementioned scrambles in order to assess our capabilities and to give us some very useful advice and tips, such that, by the time we reached the domed summit of Sgurr Dearg and gazed upon the amazing rock slab that is the Inaccessible Pinnacle, John's relaxed manner, advice and encouragement left me with a real sense of excitement and anticipation of successfully achieving the challenge that lay ahead; and I know Lawrie felt likewise.

We made out way from the main ridge, down to the base of the Inaccessible Pinnacle where we had a short wait for a group to clear their first pitch and leave the rock face clear for us. It was an exciting moment as I took my first step onto the rock and started the climb, the process of which was that John had free climbed ahead, setting up slings and carabiners to control the rope, finally setting himself up at a secure position before giving myself and Lawrie the go ahead to start our climb. We then climbed in tandem, the belay rope running through my belay device, secured, and then continuing behind me and secured onto Lawrie's belay device, all very neat, secure and easily managed. As we climbed, we recovered any slings and carabiners en route and made our way up to join John on his lofty perch somewhere above us. This process was repeated for each of the three pitches that it took to reach the summit.

The first pitch was fairly straightforward as you make your way up a narrow V shaped scare, with a knee high sidewall to the left, and a head high sidewall to the right, all of which gives a sense of enclosure rather than exposure. However, it all begins to change as you continue on the second pitch, crossing over to the right where the exposure is quite severe, and the climb is now made directly up the knife edge of the rock, which narrows considerable as you climb, such that by the time you are engaged on the third pitch, the area on which you are operating is often no more than shoulder width in places. It is therefore with a sense of achievement and some relief that you take the final step up onto the summit point, which, at a width of about two metres seems like a football pitch compared to what you have just been climbing. Fantastic.

Off course, as the mountaineer Ed Viesturs said, "Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory" - But that was the easy part, John set up the belay such that we all made a solo absiel off the summit to return in style to the main ridge.

Exciting, fantastic, exhilarating and a brilliant experience.

Thank you John for a wonderful day, at no point did I doubt that I was going to succeed thanks to your advice, help and leadership.

And thank you too Lawrie for your company, and of course the G&Ts back at the campsite.

If you are interested, CLICKING HERE will take you to a short YouTube video covering each of the three pitches made during the climb. The video has been edited to remove the pauses made during each belay changeover. Our guide, John, the lead climber, climbs to and sets up each belay point and Lawrie and myself follow in tandem. The GoPro camera was located on my safety helmet, and so the video is very much a POV (Point of View} directly ahead of me as my focus is primarily on the rock ahead.