The Great Outdoors – August 2019

PHOTOS: TOM PRENTICE

In creating a modern photo-rich guidebook to Skye’s peaks, Tom Prentice

gained an intimate knowledge of the island’s many nooks and crannies

visited ridges in the Cuillin.

It’s a quiet landscape away from the

crowds, crossed by rough gabbro walls,

sheltering hidden lochans. With a crux

right at the top it is one of the massif ’s best

off-the-beaten-track routes, encircled by the

30 or so peaks forming the Cuillin Ridge’s

jagged crest. The following year I came back

and climbed the whole ridge in a 24km,

9hr round trip from Sligachan – one of the

longest routes in the Cuillin.

Writing a guidebook to a complex area

like the Cuillin requires time, a lot of effort,

exploratory enthusiasm and good weather.

The volume of bare rock and scree means

that paths are not obvious and routes often

follow devious lines, with many variations

possible. Finding the correct or easiest line

requires repeated visits to the same location,

especially if you want a decent photograph

to show the line. And I wanted a guidebook

that was driven by photography.

The first modern photo-driven

guidebook to the Cuillin was W.A. Poucher’s

1945 The Magic of Skye. Poucher was a keen

photographer whose mountain guidebooks

reached their peak in 1965 with The Scottish

Peaks. This Constable guidebook included

descriptions of routes in the Cuillin and

the Quiraing, illustrated with mountain

CAPTURING THECUILLIN

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