The hardest, the most wanted - the In Pinn

Which comes first? The simple joy of the peak or the compulsion to notch up more 3,000 footers?

The Inaccessible Pinnacle on Skye is unpredictable and dangerous.

One day dark, misty and steep, on another it is clear, dry and easy.

That makes it the Munro-baggers dream, tricky, elusive yet achievable.

But forget the bagging for a moment. The In Pinn is a wonderful peak to reach whether it is your first or last or only.

The Inaccessible Pinnacle, or In Pinn, on the Cuillin Ridge, Skye

For me, totals don't matter, or so I claim. Andy has swallowed well over a hundred Munros and he's hungry for more. Dave has chomped enough to be close to his half century. One guide said he gobbled them all up in his early twenties, just so he wouldn't have to worry about them any more.

But I am barely into double figures. In my case there is no hope of climbing all 282 Munros, Scotland's three thousand foot summits. So I can simply enjoy the mountain.

Eas Mòr waterfall, on the approach

And what an unusual peak we have here. The In Pinn is capricious, there one moment and hidden the next. It throws the mist around itself then lets it slip down, like someone playing a game with a big scarf. It is oddly deformed, a narrow wedge-shaped head with a single cocked ear at its summit. The ear is a rock at an impossible angle, seemingly unattached.

The In Pinn beckons and it deters. The front, the end you are likely to see first, is steep, dark and intimidating. The rear presents an easy-angled staircase of rock, hardly more than a testing scramble though very exposed.

The In Pinn staircase

Then it's an abseil down the dark side

On the In Pinn

The Inaccessible Pinnacle is properly known as Sgùrr Dearg. Circle the corrie and you arrive at Sgùrr MhicChoinnich, somewhere behind me in the photo. Yes, it's another Munro, if that's what you're after. To my left you can see Sgùrr Alasdair and the Great Stone Chute - more about them later.

Round at Sgùrr MhicChoinnich we had a fabulous view back towards the In Pinn. It's the little finger below. Plus, you can take in the rugged nature of the Cuillin Ridge.

The evening after we climbed the In Pinn we were treated to beers by our very kind hosts on their boat off Carbost. This is an inlet bristling with muscles and oysters. There is a comfortable pub, the Old Inn.

What would you do next? Go back to Ridge, of course, even if the weather was set to change. Hence, the following day, we had a wet time of it trudging up to Bruach na Frithe, an otherwise straightforward walk through rocks, then declined the option of tackling the adjacent peak of Am Bàsteir, which was wreathed in cloud.

On the third day, though, the sky cleared. From a distance we could see the entire Ridge against the morning blue. We drove over to Glen Brittle to have a go at Sgùrr Alasdair, a blocky, triangular summit sitting majestically above an azure stretch of water , the Loch Cooir a' Ghrunnda.

Sgùrr Alasdair and its little loch

A fair amount of climbing and scrambling is needed around here. The rock, gabbro, is rough and easy to hold. In places there are patches of basalt, which can become much more slippery in the wet. Above is the view, I think, from Sgùrr nan Eag across the corrie. The tour of the corrie took us from there via Sgùrr Dub Mòr to Sgùrr Alasdair itself.

A bit of hand over hand is required

Here we are on Sgùrr Dubh Mòr

Cuillin Ridge from Sgùrr Alasdair

The views across the Cuillin Ridge and over the islands from Sgùrr Alasdair on a clear day like this justify all the effort. Anyone venturing to these heights and actually seeing very much is fortunate. So often the skies close in. Discouraging mists can descend. The water drips down your neck. Sometimes it enters your boots. Your thoughts drift to warm hearths and dry toes, and that is during what everyone knows has been a very dry summer.

The Munro tally for the trip was at six. But were we counting? Not really. That was for later. Now was the time to take in the spectacle, to look along the Ridge and out to sea and enjoy being above everything below. Also, to think that we'd be able to get down quickly by boot-skiing our way down the Great Stone Chute on the far side of the peak.

Thanks to Andy and Dave, to Ann and Colin for their hospitality and to Climb Torridon for showing the way.

Looking back up the Great Stone Chute

The hump of Sgùrr nan Eag and what looks like a portion of Soay on the right