Red Cuillin from Blabheinn
The Black Cuillins of Skye have a reputation for being the fiercest of Scottish mountains. This photograph was taken on commission for The Great Outdoors magazine, who had been in touch looking for a suitable cover photograph for their next issue. I called around a few likely friends, and was lucky enough to hear that Dave and Seons were on Skye for a few days already, and could spare an evening for a quick blast up the hills for a cover shoot.
Blabheinn is an outlier to the main ridge of the Black Cuillins. Dave had been guiding elsewhere on the island through the day, so it was a little distressing that I struggled to keep up with him on the ascent from sea-level that evening. I kept telling myself it was because he didn’t have all the heavy camera kit, but we all know that’s only half the story…
Both he and Seons spend their lives in the mountains, and are perfectly comfortable with a little exposure amongst the crags and on more technical ground. This photo wasn’t a contender for the cover, but the composition, with Dave scrambling up the exposed arête in the light, was just too good not to shoot!
With our late start and darkness falling, we didn’t have a lot of time that night, but we got what we needed, then turned back. We never even ticked off the summit, which was only about 50 meters beyond our high point - it’s all about a good day in the hills and getting the photo in the bag rather than ticking boxes, at the end of the day.