Coire Lagan Round, Cullins - Scotland 2002

One from the archives...
A MMOC trip in September 2002 to the magnificent Cuillins on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. This was the third day of our trip where we scrambled the Coire Lagan Round, including the two Munros of Sgurr Alasdair and Sgurr MhicChoinnich.
This is an extract from my diary at the time...
"We headed again for Glen Brittle and the Cuillin’s. A long walk in (yet again!!) led us into Coire Lagan and under the Sron na Ciche ridge to the foot of a long scree slope leading up to the bealach under Sgurr Sgumain. The scree included a lot of large boulders that gave some interesting climbing and scrambling which all helped to take our minds off the long upward slog. Eventually the never-ending climb ended and we looked over the ridge into the isolated hanging lochan, Loch Coir Ghrunnda and over the sea to the small isles beyond. Rhum, Eigg and the outer Hebridean islands stood spotlighted on glittering seas. The weather was turning out as promised with sunlight on the tops most of the day.
Above us Sgurr Sgumain beckoned, and we scrambled to the small summit. From that vantage point the view to Sgurr Alasdair (993m) was daunting but impressive. A narrow ridge led towards Alasdair with strange rock pinnacles providing interesting obstacles. We reached the so-called bad step on the main ridge and had to drop down to a gully that allowed us to gain the upper slopes. With the aid of the rope we all got over this obstacle and headed up to the narrow summit of Alasdair. This, the highest point on the Isle of Skye, revealed more stunning views along the ridge to the north. The Inaccessible Pinnacle and Sgurr Dearg drew the eye. Time was against us and it looked as if we might not make the pinnacle by the end of the day (still at least we would have a great excuse to return to Skye again in the future!!). We headed down to the Great Stone Chute where a few chose to descend to avoid the hard section that was to follow.
A hard scramble/climb led to the top of Sgurr Thearlaich, where the wind seemed to pick up as the ridge swung north. Smooth narrow slabs, edged by shear drops on either side, concentrated the mind as we negotiated the trickiest section of the ridge. The hardest part was to find a way down almost vertical rock off the end of the ridge. For a while it looked like an abseil would be necessary, but we eventually found a ‘do-able’ climb down to the west side of the main ridge.
Across the low point and we were onto the final section. A short climb led to a narrow rake that traversed around the side of Sgurr Mhic Choinnich (948m). Fantastically exposed in places, it provided the easiest, but none the less very hairy, way along the ridge. At the far side, another short scramble led to the top of Choinnich, the second munro of the day.
The straightforward final section led to the foot of Sgurr Dearg but it was now to late in the day to attempt the ‘Inn Pin’. We therefore headed down the scree shoots back into Coire Lagan. Scree running was great fun and got us down into the sheltered valley quickly. We rested in the sun by the small lochan at the head of the coire before heading down the long walk into Glen Brittle and the cars. Passing by Loch an Fhir-Bhallaich proved too much of a temptation for two hardy members of our group who decided that a quick swim was in order. The water was cold enough to reach the parts most water doesn’t reach judging by the goose bumps. Anyway, after the entertainment we all headed down to the cars under orange clouds and a setting sun."