A sort of calmness has descended over me, induced by the nirvana-like mountain artistry all around. I am floating above a sea of clouds: an achingly pretty inversion kissed with an exquisite, double-rainbow Brocken spectre. The blanket of white is pierced only by the jagged ridge below my feet. It feels like I’m surfing the clouds, riding the serrated backbone of a flying dragon. Am I in heaven?
No – but I’m close as it gets. I’m halfway up the notorious Inaccessible Pinnacle on the Isle of Skye’s Cuillin: a spiky, toothed ridge of legendary alpine proportions. Brutally built and terrifyingly sheer, it is a seven-mile-long labyrinth of monstrous turrets, razor-thin arêtes and precipitous craggy obstacles – the UK’s most iconic ridge and the Holy Grail for the British scrambler.
There are 11 Munro summits here and I’m taking on the most technically difficult one. The In Pinn – or Sgurr Dearg, to use its Sunday name – is a spectacular blade of rock with dizzying exposure. It reminds me of a shark’s dorsal fin: sharp, narrow and a sign of impending doom.
My task is to climb the edge of that forbidding fin.
Facing the crux
I’m already halfway up. The first pitch – a blur of trembling legs, tense fingers gripping cold bare rock, feet desperately searching for holds, and eyes being drawn, sadistically, to look down – is over. And now, perched on a rocky ledge, I can relax for a moment. Ahead of me is the crux of the climb, the most difficult manoeuvres and the scariest exposure – but I temporarily block them out of my mind. I pause and let the scenery soothe my soul.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2020-Ausgabe von The Great Outdoors.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 2020-Ausgabe von The Great Outdoors.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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Practice Makes Perfect
Preparation is key if you want to enjoy, and not simply endure, the TGO Challenge. Organisers Ali Ogden and Sue Oxley look at how to be ready for the demands of a long-distance walk
More Ways than one
Roger Smith calls for more clarity around the increasing proliferation of named trails
THE LONG PATHWAY
Kat Young and Liv Bolton both walked New Zealand’s South Island from north to south via the country-spanning Te Araroa Trail. Here they each describe a section of this spectacular and life-changing route
THE CRUX
Last summer, self-confessed ‘average adventurer’ James Forrest completed all 282 of Scotland’s Munros in an intensive six-month push. Here he describes the most knee-trembling part of the journey – Skye’s famous Inaccessible Pinnacle
A HAPPY RETURN
For more than 30 years, Chris Townsend dreamed about doing a long walk through the high reaches of the Colorado Was it everything he hoped for?
Happy When It Rains
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Mind Boggling
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Errigal
Donegal’s highest mountain is a sight to behold – unless, as Jim Perrin discovered, the weather has other ideas…
Commuting: Lochaber Style
For Many Of Us, The Daily Commute Can Be A Chore. But, For Neil Adams, Living And Working In One Of Scotland’s Finest Mountain Landscapes Gave Him The Opportunity To Turn It Into An Adventure...
The Depths Of Time
James Roddie goes under the surface of Assynt to discover a whole new dimension to an extraordinary, ancient landscape.