I cannot say this often enough. If you are going to walk on Skye, make sure you have good boots, midge repellent, food and drink, and weatherproof clothes. You will also need a map, a compass and, if possible, a GPS hand held satellite navigator and you must know how to use these things. Don't rely on a mobile phone. Reception is very hit and miss in these mountains. Make someone aware of where you are going and stick to the route you have given.
Running south from the Sligachan Hotel is Glen Sligachan which gives access to, amongst other places, Loch Coruisk and the Black Cuillin Mountains. The glen is long, but easy walking until you come to the back wall which, although it does not look it, is about seven or eight miles from the hotel.
The beauty of this glen is that you can walk for as little or as far as you like. Anywhere near the river is a nice place for a picnic. If you are hardy, fit adventurous and you know what you are doing (I keep stressing this safety thing, you will see why as you read on.) it is possible to ascend the mountain at the rear of the glen and walk all the way to Loch Coruisk. The round trip is at least sixteen miles on foot. You will skirt a mountain called Sgurr Hain and from there you can either descend to Loch Coruisk or maintain altitude and contour along the side of Sgurr na Stri to get an eagle's eye view of Coruisk.
Way up the mountainside between Sgurr Hain and Sgurr na Stri is a monument, a perfectly shaped pyramid, to the memory of one Captain Maryon. The inscription reads:
"Erected in the memory of Staff Captain A.J. Maryon G.H.Q. India Command who met his death here in July 1946. He lay on this spot for nearly two years and now rests in Portree. This cairn was built by his friend Myles Morrison ex staff captain R.E. who served with him in the 1939-45 war."
Captain Maryon went walking from the Sligachan Hotel, never to return. The spot where he died is awful, majestic, lonely wilderness even today. In those immediate post war days, when tourism was virtually non existent and mountain rescue helicopters were unheard of, he would have been horribly isolated when whatever misfortune befell him. Now you see why I go on so much on this website about mountain safety.
Captain Maryon was not the only military victim of these mountains. At 7.45pm on Tuesday 7th December 1982 a United States F-111F aircraft, tail number 70-2377 crashed fatally and spectacularly on Sgurr na Stri. Maj Burnley L. Rudiger and 1 Lt Steven J. Pitt were killed.
Major Rudiger (37) , the pilot, was from Virginia USA and 1st Lieutenant Pitt (28), the aircraft's weapons systems officer, was from New York. Both men left a wife and two children who were, at that time resident in the south of England. Major Rudiger was highly experienced, having flown F-111s since 1969.
The aircraft was stationed at the American Air Force base at Lakenheath, Suffolk, England and it was on a night time automatic-flying training exercise. Although the aircraft had terrain-following radar, which theoretically enabled it to fly on auto pilot at heights as low as 200 feet, something went horribly wrong and it flew straight into the rock face of Sgurr na Stri.
The accident was witnessed from Elgol by John Alec MacKinnon, a local man who was 17 at the time and who contacted the local police. He described a huge fireball which made it look as if the whole mountain was on fire. The aircraft was not carrying live weapons, so presumably this was the fuel load, since Sgurr na Stri is more or less solid rock.
The aircraft had been flying in company with a second F-111 which stayed in the area until an RAF rescue helicopter arrived.
The accident was also witnessed by a group of climbers who were spending the night in a hut at Camasunary, less than a mile from the crash. They also described a huge red fireball which lit up everything for miles around.
The climbers joined an RAF rescue team which arrived by helicopter about an hour and a half later and the combined party then split up and climbed the mountain by two routes. Shortly after midnight they arrived at the crash site, one party camping there overnight, the other returning to Camasunary. The remains of the aviators were brought down at 10am on Wednesday morning by a fresh rescue team.
Low flying military aircraft are a constant worry to the people of Skye. The area is still used for military training. Only two years previous to this incident a British Hunter jet crashed into Blaven, another mountain nearby.
Much of the information relating to this incident was kindly supplied by the West Highland Free Press, Skye's excellent local weekly newspaper. This paper is a most worthwhile guide to news and local events on Skye and is well worth buying. For those wishing to keep in touch with Skye events from afar, it is possible to subscribe to the paper by credit card and have it delivered through the post.
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When you are young, you are fit enough to scramble to Loch Coruisk to take your close up photos. When you are older your enthusiasm wanes, but you can afford a telephoto lens to do the job for you. At the top right, note the tracks where tourists from the Elgol boat have walked beside the river to Loch Coruisk |
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Copyright © Gareth Boote 2000