Glamaig (race route)

Peak: Glamaig (775m/2543ft)
Area: Red Cuillin, Skye
This peak was famously run in less than an hour by a Gurkha in 1899: it is now an annual race, and that record has long since been broken. I thought that an attempt to break the hour would make a nice pre-lunch birthday treat. In the morning, we enjoyed a truly memorable long family walk out to the tidal Oronsay island in constantly changing weather conditions and huge skies. From there, an ultra-strong Cuban coffee in Struan set me up nicely for an attempt at the race route. I started my stopwatch when I gained the path near the Sconser road car park opposite the Sligachan Inn (which is, I think, where the race starts). The level section up to the base of the hill was horrendously boggy: just one giant aquatic plod, knee deep at times. Gaining the steep slopes of Glamaig was a relief by comparison, but this is an extremely steep hill. Its shape echoes Mount Fuji, although it is a narrower cone. The angle is unrelenting and not really runnable, but I made steady striding progress up to the screes which start half way up the peak. This slowed me a bit, and the last section beyond a small forepeak was even slower. I gained the summit and stopped my watch on 42 minutes: slower than expected but great views as the weather had cleared again during my ascent. Raasey and Loch Sconser, Sgurr nan Gillean and Am Basteir, and the nearby Red Cuillin all impressive. I ran flat out back down the screes, superbly enjoyable, and plunged into the bog at the bottom, getting back to the car park in 22 minutes from the summit (64 minutes in total). A big birthday lunch at the Sligachan followed, setting us up for a walk up Coire na Creiche to see the Fairy Pools.