Skye Meet 2008 – Report

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Alan Blackburn and my self decided to make the long drive to Skye for the Bank Holiday weekend. Contrary to popular belief Al’s reputationfor attracting bad weather is a myth. We enjoyed three days of wall towall blue skies and sunshine. There was even a cool easterly to keepthe midges away….

Over a three day period we managed to do eight routes, with two dayson Sron na Ciche and a day on the east butress of Sgurr Mchonnich. Ourfirst day saw us on Vulcan Wall a superb three star HVS high up thecorrie past the Cioch Butress. We followed this with three routes upthe Cioch Butress, Cioch Grooves (HVS) , a variation on Arrow route(VD) and Integrity (MVS) finally topping out at 9pm. However the longdays in that part of the country meant we still got down to the campsite before dark.

Our second day saw us on the east face ofSgurr Mhic Connich climbing King Cobra a classic E1 put up by Boningtonand Patey in 1960. This route weaves its way up a massive butressdeviously avoiding various overhanging bits of rock. The crux pitchinvolves thin moves up a corner well protected by small wires. Howeverunless you like BIG mountain routes with a fair share of loose rockavoid this one.

On our last day we once again went up to Sronna Ciche  climbing Petronella (VS), Cioch Corner (VD) and the superbtrophy Crack (E1 or HVS depending which guide you read).

We left Skye at 5pm getting back to Kendal at 1am after Haggiss neaps and tatties at the Drovers in Iveranan.

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Steve Wrigley