1836 climb -
The Tourist Route

grade - easy

The tourist route
of Sgurr Nan Gillean
The easy route
no ropes no gear
A modest name
quite unassuming
and welcoming
the summit clear

A happy night
Of scollops/ scallops
A giggly night
Around the hearth
We chat for too far
Up the coire
A steep traverse
To find the path

We kick up snow
In single file
We kick up scree
And gain some height
We stop for water
Take our bearings
We stop look up
The ridge in sight

The clouds roll up
We search for chocolate
The wind picks up
Our jackets out
We carry on
Towards the ridge line
Some carry too
Increasing doubt

The rain begins
The sky looks threatening
Rain lashes down
Or is that snow?
Mist shrouds the top
Rocks run with water
This is the Skye
We love and know

Rain permeates moods
Dilutes resolve
Makes each drop yawn
And holds look small
The mist like steam
From lava forming
Makes each drop a cliff
Each rise a wall

The biting rain falls
Horizontal
But soon the rain
Begins to stop
Two of our party
Choose to turn
Just as the mist
Lifts from the top

We scramble up
Care not to slip
Then clamber up
An exposed boulder
The ridge snakes off
Toward Am Basteir
A group sit huddled
On the shoulder

Now the return
The boulder's slippy
The ledge is narrow
The route discrete
Andy's got guts
But perhaps too many
His gut obscures
His ledge and feet

Our nervousness
Descends along with us
cold, wind and rain
and fear all pass
The sirens of
the Slighacan call us
But 'Tourist Route'?
My arse!