Cuillin Ridge Traverse
Guided Cuillin Ridge Traverse – Come join us!
The Black Cuillin Ridge Traverse on the Isle of Skye is the most demanding ridge scramble in the whole of the UK.
It has been a test piece for mountaineers venturing to larger peaks for years. The Cuillin Ridge is about 13km in length, (20km including the approach and descent) and once on the ridge proper, never drops you below the 725m contour line.
Peaks:
The Cuillin Ridge traverse has over twenty peaks of 914m and above, eleven of which have the iconic status of being a Munro. The hardest and definitely most technical of which is the Inaccessible Pinnacle. Check out our Inaccessible Pinnacle day for further information and booking details.
Our guided Cuillin Ridge Traverses bags all 11 of the Munro summits.
From south to north the Munro summits are:
Sgurr nan Eag » 924 metres
Sgur Dubh Mor » 944 metres
Sgurr Alasdair » 992 metres
Sgr Mhicchoinnich » 948 metres
Sgurr Dearg – The Inaccessible Pinnacle » 986 metres
Sgurr na Banachdaich » 965 metres
Sgur a’ Mhadaidh » 918 metres
Sgurr a’ Ghreadaidh » 973 metres
Bruach na Frithe » 958 metres
Am Bastier » 934 metres
Sgurr nan Gillean » 964 metres
Maximum effort!
The Guided Cuillin Ridge Traverse involves maximum effort, a high level of stamina and definitely not for the faint hearted. As you’ll be predominantly walking (although with a rope) on tight rope edges, in possibly rain, wind and drizzle. To have every chance of success, we require you to have experience in hill walking and scrambling. And consider yourself to fall into our silver and preferably gold category of fitness. Click here to find out more. *
The ridge itself is over 11 kilometres in length. That probably doesn’t sound lots but there are lots of height losses and height gains to be overcome!
The Cuillin Ridge involves lots and lots of scrambling terrain at grade 2/3. Some rock climbing if taking in the Inaccessible Pinnacle, and involve multiple abseils along the ridge.
The days are broken down into two very long days. So day one will be around 12/13 hours. And day two will be around 9/10 hours.
What to bring:
Image taken from Cuillins guide book – A Trendall
The ridge crossing takes two full days, and you’ll need to carry your own backpack with bivouac gear. Assistance with this is available upon booking. Your backpack shouldn’t weigh more than 9/10 kgs initially, and it will get lighter as you consume water and food.
We run a Guided Cuillin Ridge Traverse with an overnight bivouac. If weather doesn’t play ball then we may decide/choose to come down and sleep in the valley rather than have an unpleasant night on the ridge!
Below are some examples of what kit to bring. This doesn’t mean rush out and spend loads on the latest equipment. Vinted, Gumtree, Ebay are all great resources and half of my wardrobe is made up of people buying things as they’ve seen the latest ‘You Tube’ vids. Realised it’s not for them and got rid of it for half price and even more! So keep your eyes open and can guarantee you a deal. Plus it’s recycling so what’s not to like?
Bags:
Sleeping bags are hard to get right. Too cold and you end up shivering half the night, too warm and your carrying that extra weight for nothing, and bulk and could be too hot! Remember the night temps could be 0 degrees in summer! So having something whereby you can wear clothes and make do with a 5 /8 degree bag say, may just work. At the end of the day you are not going to sleep very well anyway – Unless you can sleep anywhere that is. If it’s raining you’ll probably end up coming down anyway that night. As it’s not a fun experience sleeping in the rain – heavy – I mean and ends up being just a ‘suffer fest’ and or test of endurance!
When?
The best dates to attempt a Guided Cuillin Ridge Traverse are between the months of May through to September. May is, and has been pretty reliable for the past few seasons, and generally has zero midges! That said the Cuillins can hold snow, and can snow in June/July. Although this is rare.
Accommodation:
Most instructors sleep and have Campervans. So if you are lucky enough to have one, ace. Because Skye’s accommodation can get rammed if you book and leave things to the last minute! Cough, cough – Book early my friends! Then you can relax, get cheaper accommodation and the dates you want. Simples. Check out Here our recommendations for places to stay. This is not inclusive of everywhere on the island but some of the main places. What we do recommend is if you are booking the traverse, then keep you accommodation open. Meaning if you do have to retreat off the ridge in the middle of the night because of rain, you have somewhere to stay!
Kit Ideas:
Pack – 30L minimum 40L Maximum – Something like this: Here
Bivvy bag – Old X army are good but bit heavy – These do the trick – Here
Stove – Share! Or you’re instructor just may bring theirs and use between group – Don’t forget gas! – But something like this – Here
Sleeping bag – Tricky! As most people don’t own one, and don’t want to spend a fortune. This is the top end/what I have/use – Here
Cheaper sleeping bag – Here
Roll mat – A closed cell foam mat is the way to go = No punctures! – Here