Black Cuillin

Welcome to the Isle of Skye, and more specifically, to the formidable threshold of the Black Cuillin. I am absolutely delighted to be your scholarly guide through what is universally recognized as the most serious, unrelenting,…

Our journey appropriately begins at a bastion of warmth and civilization in an otherwise wild landscape. We are standing before the Sligachan Hotel, an iconic establishment constructed in the year eighteen thirty. …

Just a short distance from the hotel, we encounter one of the most beloved and highly photographed architectural features on the Isle of Skye. We are now standing upon the beautiful, classic stone arches of the Old Sligachan…

Having crossed the river, we are now fully committed to the Gateway Trail, the primary northern approach to the Black Cuillin. Here, the comfortable, paved surfaces of civilization have definitively ended. …

As our elevation noticeably increases, the character of the terrain undergoes a dramatic and permanent transformation. The forgiving, spongy grasses and colorful heather of the lower glen are rapidly left behind, replaced…

We have now breached the high corrie, a vast, bowl shaped depression gouged deeply into the mountainside by ancient, long vanished glaciers. The atmosphere here is strikingly severe and profoundly isolated. …

The time for simply walking has definitively ended. We are now directly engaging the formidable, near vertical ascent of the peak known as Sgurr nan Gillean, phonetically pronounced Skarnan Gillian. …

Pulling yourself over the final, awkward rocky step, you finally arrive upon the incredibly narrow, dramatically exposed summit of Skarnan Gillian. The physical relief of stopping the vertical climb is immediately overwhelmed by…

Departing the summit of Skarnan Gillian, we must now negotiate the treacherous connecting ridge that leads directly toward the ominous, overhanging profile of Am Basteir, phonetically pronounced Ambastia. This specific section of…

As we carefully begin the long, incredibly demanding descent away from the high peaks of the Black Cuillin, it is essential to pause and reflect profoundly upon the extraordinary landscape we have just traversed. We have…