Many would choose Sgurr nan Gillean as the finest peak on the main Cuillin Ridge, I certainly would. From whichever angle you look it's a soaring spike, often with the trailing diminuendo of the Pinnacles to one side. The summit is small and neat, with enough space to sit and enjoy the view but without much to spare. It's a proper mountain, without an easy descent, so that the old Alpine saying applies – "the summit is only halfway". Its finest route, the magnificent Pinnacle Ridge, is one of the best routes of its grade anywhere in the country, with 600m of scrambling and easy climbing in spectacular positions, and there are plenty of other scrambles and climbs scattered around the hill. It figures in Skye's signature view, the distinctive skyline as you round the last bend towards Sligachan, a sight I never tire of. Even its history is outstanding – it was the first of the major Cuillin peaks to be climbed, in 1836, and pioneers from Nicolson to Collie to Martin Moran have left their marks on it.
The most climbed routes by far are the South-East and West Ridges, each of which sees more ascents than all the other routes put together, partly because they make a logical pairing but also because they are the usual finish to the Cuillin Ridge traverse. There are actually more UKC logs for Pinnacle Ridge, but most of the people who climb the former two aren't on UKC, and even many of those who are just subsume it into "The Cuillin Ridge". Arriving through the hole at the top of the West Ridge is a moment of triumph for many.
High on the West Ridge
The South-East Ridge is the easiest way up, and is misleading described as the "Tourist Route". Anybody who gets up and down it successfully has considerably more hill skills than the average tourist! Following the crest is Grade 3 but zigzagging around on the left at the steepest bit gets it down to Grade 2. It finishes with a step across a narrows just short of the summit, easy but very exposed. My most memorable ascent was in October 2003, when early season snow had coated the ridge down to the saddle. There wasn't any depth but it definitely made the top arete exciting.
The top of the South-East Ridge
The West Ridge is a much more serious beastie, with a short steep section to start, followed by easier but rather loose scrambling above. The vast majority climb the start by Tooth Groove (Moderate), with a compulsory intake of breath as you emerge from the enclosed cleft onto the very exposed arete where the Gendarme used to be. Passing this used to involve a long step round its flank, while hugging it tightly, but in 1987 it got fed up with its airy perch and departed for the depths of Lota Corrie. What remains is a short teeter to gratefully grab a juggy wall and a step up. The latter didn't used to feel exposed after swinging round the Gendarme, but it certainly does now!
Back in 1976, on my first ever day in the Cuillin, I didn't fancy the queue for Tooth Groove so investigated an easy ledge going round to the south side. Once across a gully the ledge continued below a vertical wall to an easy chimney leading past all the difficulties. At the time it was by far the easiest way of starting the West Ridge and I used it quite often over the next decade, both up and down. Even non-climbers were happy soloing it. Unfortunately the falling Gendarme took away half the ledge and it's now noticeably more precarious. I still think it's the easiest start though, both less technical and less exposed than the other options. It's quite hard to locate from above, so probably not a good descent unless you already know where it is. Poking out southwards just below here is the minor top of Sgurr Coire an Lobhta, named by Robin Campbell in 1991 when he claimed its first ascent as "the Cuillin's last unclimbed peaklet". Sorry Robin, I climbed it in 1976, and I suspect some tweed-clad Edwardian probably got there long before me 😁.
Lota Ledge. The scraped-looking rock is the result of the falling Gendarme, still visible 30 years on! The chimney is just left of the dark block on the far right.
Another optional start to the West Ridge is to climb the steep Tooth Chimney (Diff), just left of Tooth Groove, thereby avoiding the de-gendarmed arete, but this is usually full of people abseiling down it. It used to be thought that this was the chimney descended by Alexander Nicolson in 1865 but a bit of exploratory research by Noel Williams located the original line across a rubble slope further left. This gives a fourth option for the historically minded, but only if they are masochists too. The tubular chimney is both slick and spattered with loose flakes, not a pleasant place. I descended it once and have no desire to go back!
Between the South-East and West Ridges is a lot of unfrequented rock. The SMC climbing guide has half a dozen routes here, all bar one climbed on a single day in 2002, and so obscure that nobody has yet bothered to put them into the UK Climbing database. They look quite good, but it's a long way to go for single pitch routes. Just right of these is a much more substantial blunt spur that runs the whole 400m height of the south face. This makes a good long scramble (Diff if you tackle the steepest section direct). I first found it in May 2009, then lured Noel Williams and Simon Fraser up it a little later, but given its location I wouldn't be surprised if nobody has been there since. The main disadvantage is that to get to the bottom of it you have to lose quite a lot of height after crossing one of the cols either side of Am Basteir or the Bealach a' Ghlas-choire at the foot of the South-East Ridge. Probably the most user-friendly way of climbing it is to traverse in from the latter, skip the first easy slabs and start up the slanting rake that avoids the steepest part. This still gives nearly 150m of scrambling, at a consistent grade but with the disadvantage that you can nearly always escape on the side you have just come in from, so it feels quite artificial. At least the approach from the north starts below the impressive side of the spur so you feel you've achieved something 🙂.
The South Face, the scramble mentioned is just right of the shadowed cliffs
By far the best way up Sgurr nan Gillean is the Pinnacle Ridge, which is thrilling, airy, varied and goes on forever. The third and fourth pinnacles are both impressive spikes - there's no way you're getting up these peaks without using your hands! The standard route starts on a shoulder at the mouth of Coire a' Bhasteir and zigzags up ledges (or scrambles direct) to the first and second pinnacles, which are actually just steps in the ridge. The third pinnacle is then climbed by a steep basalt staircase to its tiny summit.
The Third Pinnacle
Most people abseil the next section as the obvious descent is a wildly exposed V Diff, but there is a devious solution too. Go down rightwards from the summit to a platform, look below the overhang to your left and there's a juggy spike. Lowering yourself off this gets you a foothold on the wall below, little over a metre above the flat floor of the easy gully that splits the inside face of the pinnacle. It's easy enough to drop the short distance, although you have to let go of your nice comfortable jug first, which you really don't want to do! It's much harder for the short, as 5 foot 2 inch Jane discovered!
Jane Henderson and Andy Sutton descending from the Third Pinnacle.
The fourth pinnacle is also known as Knight's Peak, after the Victorian professor who first climbed it in 1873, and it had a brief period of infamy when a survey made it over 3000 feet and therefore a Munro Top. Many people who would normally stay shy of steep rock therefore ended up climbing it. There was a collective sigh of relief in much of the hill bagging world when a new survey placed it 12cm below the magic line. It isn't a hard scramble from either notch, but the third pinnacle side is very exposed and the best line down to the top of 4/5 Gully isn't obvious. It isn't unusual to abseil this bit too. 4/5 Gully had a brief period of popularity during Knight's Peak's period of Munro Top-dom, which is slightly surprisingly as it's harder than coming in from the east side, and very loose. I suspect that this was because it's fully described in Skye Scrambles whereas the route on the other side only gets a brief mention. Climbing the main peak from the notch has a hard move to start but eases quickly, although it's very exposed.
Looking up at the 3rd & 4th pinnacles and the summit
Pinnacle Ridge has around 550m of scrambling (including the down bits), but it can be made even longer by starting down left in Coire Riabhach. The Victorian pioneers put up a number of long scrambly climbs here but few people do them now and there is still scope for more – the jutting prow left of centre isn't in the current rock guide. In 1984 Paul Eastwood and I started up the slabs at the foot of the face then just followed our noses until we arrived on the First Pinnacle, probably via the rocks just right of Naismith's Route. My gear was awful in those days and by the end of the day my boots had fallen apart and the bottom had fallen out of my rucksack ☹️.
Riabhach Rib
A better way of starting is to go up the slabs to the first easing then bear left to climb the superb Riabhach Rib (Moderate) on immaculate gabbro. This deserves much more popularity than it gets, and could be climbed independently by escaping left from the top to join the "Tourist Route". It finishes on a big terrace and you can follow this up right to join Pinnacle Ridge just above its usual start. Alternatively you can go more directly up the rocks above the terrace, a bit loose in places but with some good bits too. Either of these options will get you a total of around 700m of scrambling/easy climbing, making one of the longest routes in Britain.
Pinnacle Ridge
This still doesn't exhaust all the possible ways of climbing Sgurr nan Gillean. Low down on the east flank is the steep Glen Sligachan Buttress, and the slabby spur above this has enjoyable Grade 2/3 scrambling, joining the "Tourist Route" at the boulder field just before it reaches the saddle. On a hot dry day (they do happen in Skye!) the Basteir Gorge can be used as an approach to either Pinnacle Ridge or the West Ridge (or indeed the rarely ascended rock climbs between them). You can either do it dryshod, escaping leftwards up Cooper's Gully (Moderate) or follow the example of the original pioneers and do the whole gorge as a climbing/swimming escapade. And then there's all that rock between the South-East Ridge and the top section of Pinnacle Ridge......
The Pinnacles from the Basteir Gorge
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