2005 was again a poor year for me in terms of new Marilyns added, however I did complete both the Murdos and the Grahams (see page 5), and 're-completed' the Corbetts on the new summit of Sgurr nan Eugallt. I also celebrated with Chris Crocker on the completion of his last Welsh Marilyn, Moel-ddu. So, I suppose it was not a bad year after all.
The Murdo completion was on Stob an Duine Ruaidh, the new top on Ben Starav, back in August with Laurence Rudkin. The day was still, warm and very humid. The midges were out in huge squadrons and attacked anything containing blood that dared to move at less than three miles per hour. It was a long pull up from Glen Etive and we didn't stop until a faint breeze hit us at 900m. By the time we were on the summit, the faint breeze was a stiff wind, the cloud base had descended to below 800m and it began to rain. By the time we got to my last Murdo, it was raining hard and consequently only a brief handshake sufficed as celebration. We then made a swift retreat back to Glen Etive and looked forward to a 300-mile drive back to Cheshire.
When I completed the Corbetts, the summit of Sgurr nan Eugallt was still deemed to be at the SE end of the summit ridge, so I have always been keen to go back and do the hill properly. I finally got the chance this year when we had a long weekend at Loch Lochy youth hostel. It was a cracking day with wall-to-wall sunshine, and we went up the stalkers' track from Coireshubh and then along the summit ridge. I have to say that I think the old summit is the better viewpoint. We came back along the ridge and then continued on over the two Corbett Tops before dropping down to the road.
Other memorable days of 2005 were the ascent of Slat Bheinn, the Graham behind Sgurr nan Eugallt, and a trip over to Rum. We did Slat Bheinn on another brilliant day in March, starting at the road along Loch Quoich and, after about 6km of rough moorland, followed the Abhainn Chosaidh path then ascended via the east ridge. Although only a 700m hill, it is in the middle of nowhere and there are excellent views of all its larger neighbours. From Slat Bheinn we returned to the stalkers' track again, which is very scenic in its lower reaches, and picked-off Meall nan Eun, before heading back to Kinloch Hourn.
Rum is one of my favourite islands and we were again fortunate in choosing a fine weekend. Catching the early-morning ferry and breakfasting on Caledonian-MacBrayne's sausage baps didn't exactly give us the best of starts for a traverse of the Rum Cuillin, but the weather was too good to give the hills a miss. They were even better than I had remembered, and I particularly enjoyed the view from Trollaval. Last time I did the ridge we dropped down to Dibidil and then followed the stalkers' track back to Kinloch Castle. This time we returned via the Bealach an Fhuarain and the Bealach an Oir, an equally interesting return. Over the next two days we also climbed Orval and Mullach Mor to complete the Marilyns of Rum, but the highlight of the trip was seeing a basking shark on our way back over to Mallaig on the ferry.
