Central Cuillin from an Dorus. 9am, 19/4/82 ~ L-r: Sgurr Dubh na Da Bheinn, Sgurr nan Eag, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, Sgurr Alasdair, Sgurr Sgumain, an Stac, Inaccessible Pinnacle, Sgurr Dearg. This remains, after a quarter of a century, one of my most satisfying hill-days. The Munros total was past 200, but the central part of the Cuillin ridge awaited (I'd got Bruach - Basteir - Gillean the previous day, and Eag - Dubh Mor the previous year) and I was by no means confident that I was up to soloing it. It proved to be all a joy. Except perhaps the screes of Sgurr Thuilm, but once the solid rock of the crest was reached it was plain sailing, up the steep but easy buttress of Mhadaidh and over its tops, back down to an Dorus, and levitating over Ghreadaidh and Banachdich in the crisp and airy spring sunshine. Lunch on Dearg, contemplating the Pinnacle, then, nothing else for it, an exploratory scramble up the long side. I found it all quite simple, and delightful, one arm's-length pull up a little wall and the rest just a question of balance, so on getting to the top and back down I climbed it again, with a camera round my neck this time. A scree-y bypass of an Stac, a walk along Mhic Choinnich's roof-ridge, back a bit for Collie's Ledge, a curiously awkward drop off Thearlaich for Alasdair, and down by the Stone Chute and Coire Lagan. Wonderful, wonderful.
Sgurr Alasdair from the In. Pinn. 2pm, 19/4/82
The Cuillin ridge from Sgurr Alasdair. 5pm, 19/4/82
