8-Sgurr Nan Gillean

Sgurr nan Gillean is a mountain in the northern section of the Cuillin range on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. With a height of 964 m (3162 feet) it is one of eleven Munros on the Cuillin ridge.

Sgurr nan Gillean is the mountain closest to Sligachan, and its impressive triangular profile is visible behind the Sligachan hotel, making it perhaps the most recognised peak in the Cuillin range. The summit is a small and airy platform offering magnificent views.

The most popular route of ascent, misleadingly known as the Tourist Route, follows a path leading south, crossing a burn known the Allt Dearg Beag (small red burn). The route continues up in to a corrie, the Coire Rhiabhach. The final sections, from the head of the corrie and along the southeast ridge to the summit are extremely exposed, and call for scrambling ability. Alternative routes to the summit include the west ridge, which is a very narrow wall of rock, and the north ridge of the mountain, known as Pinnacle Ridge, both of which require an even higher scrambling ability.

The west ridge leads down to a bealach separating Sgurr nan Gillean from Am Basteir. About two-thirds of the way down, there is a particularly narrow and exposed section, which forms the remains of a large upright rock, known as the Gendarme which broke away due to the effects of frost shatter during the winter of 1986/87, leaving only the base. The narrow section can be avoided by abseiling down (or climbing up) a gully, known as Nicholson's Chimney, on the north side of the ridge.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Sgurr
• Nan
• Gillean
• The
• Munro
• Show
• Muriel
• Gray
• Scottish
• Cullin
• Skye

[charliepeebles]

Finally on the summit, she's supposedly just done one of the longest and most strenuous mountain ascents in Britain but she's fresh as a daisy, spotlessly clean with not an eyelash out of place. Pathetic, who do you think you're fooling Miss Gray?

[charliepeebles]

Then on the slabs you see her on all fours but these slabs are easy angled and can be done hands free, and it's noticeable that you don't see her on the steep, seriuosly exposed and technically difficult section just below the slabs.

[charliepeebles]

Us real mountaineers actually climb Sgurr Nan Gillean while Muriel Gray gets choppered up and dropped off at points along the way to do little bits of filming. Look at her bounding up the upper reaches of the long arduous scree slope, if she'd actually ascended it she would be well out of breat and soaked in sweat by that stage.