Red Cuillin.
Left Aberdeen at crack of a frosty dawn [8am], under clear skies, to arrive for a pitstop at Drumnadrochit, a very respectable 2hr 40 min later.
Remarkably GC failed to use the opportunity to top up on Superstrength, saying he was coming off a 3 day bender.
It remained sunny with broken high cloud 'til Glen Shiel where the mist was shrouding the tops & GC commented on the large amount of snow down to not far above the road.
Just across the Skye bridge Beinn na Caillich [E.], which we had bagged with it's higher neighbour on halloween, was also cloud capped. Approaching Broadford it started to drizzle & we could see that the mist was well down on our twin objectives of the Red Cuillin.
A mile past Broadford we turned off left, along the road signposted to Old Corry, turned around at the road end at Coire-chat-achan farm and parked a couple of hundred yards back up the road.
Whilst getting changed we were approached by a farmer in his vehicle, who asked if we could stay off the road whilst his shepherd herded the sheep past us, which we duly did.
Having decided on the approach in the car to take the gentler ascent up Beinn Dearg Bheag, we then ignored this, crossed a bridge over the Allt a' Choire and followed it up the hillside towards the very steep cone of Beinn na Caillich [W.].
After a few hundred feet of fairly gentle ascent I crossed the stream gully below the first confluence. I then headed up leftwards towards a terrace below the start of the very steep slopes of heather and boulders, disappearing up into the mist above.
Needless to say GC carried on up the true left bank of the stream but then I was relieved to see him traverse left across to the terrace higher up. It was hard work from here up ever steepening slopes, largely hopping from one rough granite boulder to the next.
We were heading for an apparent break between the crags where they disappeared up into the mist and once I reached it I stopped for a breather as GC was vanishing well below in the gloom.
Snow patches had now appeared but so had traces of a path which took us around below the left base of the dripping crags on the right. We then traversed back right above them where the angle eased on the ridge.
Some airy scrambling was there to be had on large slabby, rough granite boulders, poised on the crest, above precipitous slopes of deep snow & rock, dropping away into Coire Fearchair to the north.
The rising, strong SE wind was tending to push one off the crest into the abyss along this section, thus the thick mist was probably a bonus, obscuring what you might fall down in the event of a slip.
The ridge soon broadened out however, becoming less rocky but snowier with loose gravel, up which the strengthening gale made progress increasingly difficult. Eventually the very large cairn appeared, not before time [just under 2hr] and after scaling this I wandered across the snow to mount the stone trig point.
Back at the cairn GC appeared and after a quick scoof of juice we headed off along a broad stony ridge, towards what we rather hoped was the col with Beinn Dearg Mor.
As we dropped down the narrowing, steepening ridge, the gale grew in intensity, to the strongest I've experienced in nearly 20 years. I guess it was in the region of 100mph, presumably the col acting as a wind funnel. If it were not for our expensive beer guts, I doubt we could have remained on our feet.
A decent path appeared as we dropped out of the mist at the col and I got a couple of snaps of GC being buffeted, with the sea just visible behind him, over the col between Beinn Dearg Mor & Bheag. He asked me if that was where we were headed and I said that was the plan...
The walk along the fairly narrow ridge to Beinn Dearg Mor was very enjoyable, despite the conditions, with the path skirting the left side of the snow slopes. The gale was not as ferocious as on the descent to the col and we reached the tall narrow summit cairn just under an hour after leaving the top of Beinn na Caillich [W.].
We soon set off down the fairly gentle broad stony ridge, more into the wind than coming down to the col. After some time it steepened, got rockier and we finally came out of the mist. However, I immediately thought Oh Shit! As the bay way down below us was clearly not that of Broadford and the name Loch Slapin jumped into my heid.
We cut to the left of some broken crags, down traces of a steep path, heading towards a stream coming down from below a col. At first I thought this was that which we had crossed earlier and that the peak beyond it was Beinn na Caillich [W.]. However, it soon dawned on me that it was in fact Beinn Dearg Beag.
I aimed for a path cutting gently upwards across the flanks of the peak, across the stream and followed this round the corner out of the corrie [Coire Sgreamhach]. GC asked if the car was away down the valley [Strath Suardal], past some woods & a loch, beyond which ran a busy road. I replied 'I think so', then not long after I noticed that he had dropped down well below my traverse line.
I then heard him shout in the still strong breeze and looked down below me to see a herd of Red Deer. As I passed above a spur of the hillside below me I began to stop & look back for GC, becoming increasingly concerned as he failed to appear.
As I headed up to the end of the ENE ridge of Beinn Dearg Beag to join the path we had intended to follow, I could see Coire-chat-achan farm and Broadford Bay beyond. Still with no sign of GC I decided he must have headed down to the road across the valley, given the gathering gloom.
I soon lost the path and headed down boggy, heathery slopes to briefly follow then cross the Allt Beinn Deirge. Not far past here I dropped down to cross a grassy field past grazing sheep and arrived at the roadhead to a cacophony of dogs barking in the back of the farmer's 4-track.
I arrived at the car at 5.20pm, nearly 5 hours from setting off and by the time I'd got changed it was very dark. I'd just decided to go and drive round to the road across the valley to look for GC, when I heard the dogs startup barking. However, a quick check revealed no GC, so I drove off as intended, through Broadford to the Elgol turn-off and right along to Torrin, on the shores of Loch Slapin, below our descent out of the mist.
There was no sign of GC so I drove back to our parking place - still no sign of him... I then thought I'd try the Broadford BP Petrol Station but still no joy, as was the case at a bus stop along the way. Just after leaving Broadford I stopped to pick up a hitch-hiker, who I'd at first thought might be GC but it turned out to be a young lad of maybe 15.
I took him to Kyle, during which 10 mile trip he uttered not a word!
Shortly after dropping the lad off I came across another hitcher, who I was relieved to find was indeed GC.
Not as relieved as GC however, who was soaking wet from head to toe. As I had surmised he had headed down to the Elgol road but had failed to spot the river Broadford [he's colour-blind].
Thus he'd put his foot on what he'd thought was grass and apparently plunged head-long into the depths. He'd then managed to swim across but had a hard time scrambling out and up the bank the other side.
On reaching the road he said he'd wisely decided against following the advice of a passing motorist, who'd tried to persuade him that the car must be at the end of the road at Elgol. He'd then got a lift to Broadford where he had indeed been to the BP station to get a bottle of juice.
A second lift had taken him to Kyle, with a guy who was rather concerned that he might get exposure, given the forecast freezing overnight temperatures, proffering the comment 'Rather you than me mate', regarding GC's plans of hitching to Aberdeen.
In humanitarian response to GC's frequent grumbling about being cold, despite the heater showing it' first signs of life in months, I splashed out on a fish supper for him back at Drumnadrochit.
We hit Aberdeen at 10.30pm, a mere 4hr 20min after leaving Skye but decided to give the planned night out at the Rock Kareoke in the Bassment a miss, given GC's slightly below par condition.
