Introduction
The Glen Brittle campsite provides easy access to all sections of the south ridge. This section concentrates on the summits surrounding Coire Ghrunda and Coire Lagan. That's five munros from Sgurr nan Eag to the Innaccessable pinnacle. Approach paths to the Cuillin hills are generally very good - not the boggy affairs you get elsewhere in Scotland. Despite the good paths, the approaches to these hills are probably the longest slogs.

The Cuillins seen from Elgol

In Pinn

Sgurr Alasdair seen across Coire Ghrunda

Coire Lagan and Ghrunda are pretty spectacular. Lagan has superb cliffs all around - particularly those on Sron na Ciche which includes the famous Cioch. Ghrunda has a more interesting approach, massive slabs form the corrie bed. Some easy scrambling is needed to get to the hidden Lochan higher up. The upper part of Coire Ghrunda feels quite remote but the summits are only 300m above you so it feels like less of a slog to get to the tops.

Sgurr nan Eag and Sgurr Dubh Mhor
The main ridge is quick and easy to get to from Coire Ghruda, just a short 100m clamber up to the ridge near the tower of Caisteal a' Garbh Choire. Sgurr nan Eag from here looks to have some steep rock walls to climb up from here but these are bypassed easily on the right via some simple boulder clambering to the level ridge (grade 1). From here the summit is a simple walk on the path or an easy slabby scramble on the crest.

Sgurr nan Eag's north ridge

Gars Bheinn seen from the northwest

Sgurr Dubh da Bheinn and Dubh Mhor

You can continue to Gars-bheinn at the extreme southern end of the Cuillin ridge. A nice walk apparently and well worth it for the sea scape views - the slopes plummet steeply nearly all the way down to the shore!

Going the other way from Sgurr nan Eag, you can reach Sgurr Dubh da Bheinn on its south ridge. From the lochan this ridge looks like it has vertical sections but it's fairly simple. The guide says its a grade 2 scramble but it felt more like a 1/2. It's a clamber up large blocks low down on super grippy rock and higher up the scramble turns into a rough walk. From the top, the munro of Sgurr Dubh Mhor (SDM) can be reached.

Sgurr Dubh Mhor seen from 'da Bheinn

In Coire Ghrunda

Coire Lagan

The ridge to SDM is easy down to the bealach at first but then you come across some pinnacles. Tackling these direct looks pretty scary but they can be bypassed easily on the right. Don't be tempted by an obvious path - this leads nowhere. Try and stick as close to the crest beneath the pinnacles so you can reach the buttress where it meets the ridge. The next section is a grade 2 scramble (it felt steeper than that though). Take the path on the ledge to the right and weave up well scratched blocks and ledges. This isn't too hard and soon you're on top!

Sgurr Mhic Coinnich seen from
Coire Laggan

Sgurr Alasdair and Sgurr Mhic Coinnich
Sgurr Alasdair is the highest Skye summmit at 992m. From Coire Chrunda, the direct continuation tackles the T-D gap. A V Diff rock rockclimb on the south east ridge of Sgurr Thealach. For the scramblers, traverse round scree slopes to the south west ridge where a grade 3 scramble can be taken up to the summit. The view from the top is superb. The southeast ridge (grade 2) takes you easily down to the top of the stone chute. The stone chute isn't too steep - certainly not scary when you're on it but certainly looks forbidding when seen from In Pinn. In descent it took me half an hour for the 400m drop on loose ground. The ascent took an hour and was moderately punishing (not as bad as I thought though!).

Sgurr Sgumain seen from Sgurr Alasdair

The north ridge of Sgurr Thealach seen from Sgurr Alasdair

On the north ridge of Sgurr Mhic Coinnich

To get to Sgurr Mhic Coinnich from Sgurr Alasdair direct, you need to traverse Sgurr Thealach - overall this is a moderate rock climb so if unsure, descend the stone chute and reascend An Stac Screes - which is how I did it. The north ridge of Sgurr Mhic Coinnich is a grade 2 scramble overall. It starts off broad and ahead lies what seems to be an impenetrable buttress. Actually it's easy. Traverse round the right and hey presto, an easy way can be found upwards! The ridge above is initially easy. There are one or two nimble scrambles but these arent too exposed.

An Stac with Sgurr Mhic Coinnich and Sgurr Alasdair behind

Looking into Coire Laggan

The Imposing Mhic Coinnich ridge looms ahead

Finally the ridge becomes a narrow angular slab. A path traverses the slab on the left but the crest itself is easy enough (still exciting though!). It's basalt up here meaning slippery in the wet. The final summit rise presents itself soon and a way round the left of the short buttress gives easy access to the top. It's a great summit. It's probably the second sharpest after the In Pinn.

The Inaccessable Pinnacle
The In Pinn is the crux of any munro bagging traverse. Egress from the summit requires an abseil and the climb up the easy way is a moderate rock climb. The east ridge is the narrowest crest in the Cuillin. You can straddle the crest and have one leg over one vertical drop with the other over a slight overhang! It's a 200 foot drop to the slabs below should you fall off. Most parties as you can imagine use ropes for this summit!

The easiest way off!

The south west ridge of Sgor Dearg

The descent to the bottom of In Pinn

The most straightforward approach to the bottom of In Pinn tackles Sron na Ciche to the summit of Sgor Dearg. This is a broad stony ridge for much of the way except for the final easy scramble to Sgor Dearg. The more interesting approach is via Coire Lagan and An Stac screes. From the top of the screes you have two choices - the easy way or the hard way. The easy way ascends left past the An Stac Buttress (grade 2). The hard way tackles the buttress direct (moderate)!

The first rise up

On the narrow bit of the ridge

An Stac

The climb up the In Pinn as I've explained before is pretty exciting but not too hard. Actually I was imagining it to be much harder than it actually was. There was only one awkward bit half way up - good handholds were abundant elsewhere. The climb up the easy route is a little longer than one pitch but one or two belay ledges present themselves on the crest. But none-the-less you get to the top surprisingly quickly. Beware of big fairground type queues at the bottom on good days - it's a popular summit!

Cross country routes
Of course I nearly forgot to mention Loch Coruisk! There are several possible routes from Glen Brittle down to Loch Coruisk. This page deals with the southern routes. Loch Coruisk is probably set in one of the finest mountain locations in the UK. Three sides of the loch are surrounded with steep mountains and on a fine day when the snow's still on the summits it's absolute magic. All the routes from Glen Brittle have some degree of steepness about them and form fine adventures.

Loch Coruisk

Sgurr na Stri - by Loch Coruisk

The easiest route goes into Coire Ghrunda, up and over east into An Garbh Choire which descends not too steeply into the Coruisk valley. There's no mapped path on this route. The other route is Coire na Banachdich and then down Coireachan Ruada. It's quite an easy route demanding hardly any scrambling but the correct route should be noted to avoid a wrong turn.