Isle of Rum Adventure
DATE 01.07.2012 | DISTANCE 8.09KM | HIGHEST POINT 812M
Posted by Matt | Filed under other locations
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Day 3 had started out dry, just as the weather man had predicted. time to get into the mountains. We followed the path past the back of the castle and up to coire dubh. Instead of continuing forward up onto the bealach, we cut left and followed the clear track onto cnapan breaca. we climbed the rocky slope ahead of us for a direct route onto the hallival ridge. It was clear that my previous research into the area was correct. Paths are faint if at all visible. a lot of the time it's a case of finding your own route to the summits. from the ridge we had a short scramble up to the summit of hallival. Unfortunately we were amongst the clouds with very little to see.
Descending Hallival involved some fairly steep, rocky zigzagging and this led us onto our next ridge heading to askival. This ridge was very narrow with huge drops on either side but, even though it was wet, the grassy ridge was grippy and was easy enough. a good feeling of exposure.
at the end of the ridge, a faint track swept around the south eastern side of askival. this section required a bit of route finding and scrambling. really good fun ascent though with occasional exposure but unfortunately for us, limited views. little can be said about the summit. We posed for photos at the summit trig with no views in the clouds and made a decision to descend. my ankle was playing up from yesterdays fall and popping ibuprofen wasn't enough to make me less concerned. from the summit of askival we descended another faint track leading down its steep south western side. very steep and tiring with sections of loose scree and boulders. it was typical that during our descent, the skies started to clear and revealed great views down to dibidal and across the water to the isles of eigg and muck. we chose this route as a quick way of getting to the dibidil bothy. the only tricky parts were from crouching back on the scree for pretty much the entire descent and negotiating a rocky cliff about half way down. this cliff required us to down scramble with our packs off. note - *in hindsight it may have been best to head over to the far right of the cliff for an easier down climb.*
once down we crossed over the dibidil river passing fighting wild goats and made or way to the bothy. We got there nice and early and had the late afternoon to explore around the bothy and take in the views from the river and top up on water.
That evening our new friend steve arrived. he had spent an extra day at guirdil bay and then explored some of the other peaks, including ard nev, ruinsival and sgurr nan gillean.
we started a fire to dry off some clothes and went to sleep early
Kinloch Castle
Following Alt slugan a choilich towards coire dubh
topping up with water.
i know a lot of people dont treat water on hikes but i use a piece of gortex t-shirt as a filter and then pop in a chlorine tablet. the slight taste of chlorine doesn't bother me at all. half a vitamin tablet can solve the taste issue.
alan in the clouds close to the ridge leading to hallival
looking up towards the summit of hallival. some fairly simple scrambling sections involved
summit of hallival
a gully just off the summit of hallival leading all the way down
the narrow grassy ridge between hallival and askival
following the track around the south eastern side of askival. this then leads to some route finding as its not that obvious an ascent and some simple scrambles
summit of askival
a steep descent down the south western side of askival dropping in to dibidil
a very broken track leads the way that isnt very obvious. great care should be taken due to loose scree and boulders
looking down to the dibidil river
Ainshval and Trollabhal
Typical! as we descend, the sky clears
looking back up the steep face. Tired legs after that. The worst bit had to be the cliff about half way up. looking at it now, maybe the far right would have been best to go around it
Feral goats. Just managed to catch them ramming each other
Alan below Beinn nan Stac
Soup time for Alan at Dibidil bothy. Didnt see anyone for a few hours and then our friend Steve came walking through the door. He had spent an extra night at the Guirdil bothy and then spent his day on some of the other peaks
Not a bad view
bothies and whisky seem to go very well together
a recently published book about the renovation and conversion to this bothy
Pot Noodle. Light for the rucksack, easy to cook and erm ... tasty?
My bed for the night
a wander around outside the bothy. Our garden for the night
The Isle of Eigg and a deep fissure leading down to the sea. Warning signs in the bothy suggest keeping clear of the fissure. we didn't get close.
topping up the bottles
dibidil river
3 in 1 nescafe is essential
attempting to dry off some clothing
CONTINUES ON DAY 4
