Scotland Skye Ridge Winter Walk

Isle of Skye, Scotland · United Kingdom

Extreme7 daysEurope~£800 est.

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Overview

In winter condition the Black Cuillin is the most serious mountaineering arena in Britain: 12 km of gabbro crest, nowhere easier than scrambling and frequently proper climbing, with sea lochs on three sides and weather that arrives horizontally off the Atlantic. Sgùrr Alasdair (992 m, Skye's highest point) and its neighbours give superb winter days out of Coire Lagan, and the Inaccessible Pinnacle becomes a genuinely alpine objective — a rock blade climbed on iced holds with a rope and a competent leader. The variable is condition: Skye's maritime climate means the ridge is in true winter nick perhaps a handful of weeks each year, usually January to March after a cold snap, and reading that window is the skill. Navigation up there is notorious — the gabbro is magnetic enough to unsettle a compass — so a guide is money well spent even for experienced winter walkers. Base in Glenbrittle or Sligachan; £800 covers a guided winter week with bunkhouse accommodation. When it all aligns, there is nothing like it anywhere else in these islands.