The Slabs

Videos
1

To all the UK and Scottish riders:
Does anybody know, if that has been done on a unicycle?

2

riding it with unicycle is no doubt safer.

3

And it’s easier to carry to the top.

2 Likes
4

I wonder what the rest of the Skye is like for muni. Is it the UK equivalent of Moab’s slabs?

Could be a fun BMW (British Muni Weekend) location if anyone can be bothered to travel that far :grin:

1 Like
5

I`m forwarding this question to @DrD

6

It’s pretty decent.

We went to Skye on the Voodoo Unicycles highland roadtrip. Our main focus on that trip was trials and it was snowing for a lot of the time but there’s some really good muni. We rode from the top of The Old Man of Storr, some street/trials in Portree and we also rode at The Fairy Pools but none of that footage made it into the film. I didn’t see anythin Moab-esque but we barely scratched the surface, we were only there for two days.

Skye footage from 1:25-3:00

I’d love to go back and spend more time and ride more muni on Skye. The Cuillin hills look great. Scottish Muni Weekend anyone?

3 Likes
7

Yes please.

8

“Yeah, it looks pretty scary.”

That was his brain telling him, “This is a really bad idea.”

9

I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time on Skye over the years, we used to go for at least a long weekend every year at one point. It was starting to get insanely busy in the summer time (pre-covid19) so much so that the police were stopping folk going on to the island at times – and it isn’t a small island! So in summer the roads can get pretty busy if you are interested in road touring.

There was a unicycle tour to Skye organised a few years ago (I think organised by Alan Hogan) which was attended by a few folk still on here I think – Roger posted a photo from that on the ‘Pictures from your latest ride’ thread a few days ago and I’ve linked a video of the tour below. Quite a bit of the video isn’t actually on Skye, but you get a reasonable idea of what the countryside is like. That was all before I was converted to the merits of one-wheel transport BTW.

The Dubh Slabs in Danny MacAskill’s video are beside Loch Coruisk, it is a pretty difficult place to get to, the easiest way is actually by boat from Elgol (there are tour boats that go). You can walk from there too, but there is a part called ‘the bad step’ which might put a lot of folk off.

We did set off to get to Loch Coruisk via Glen Sligachan quite a few years ago, but it is a pretty long walk there and back and we left it too late in the day so turned back. I was thinking that that might be a good cross-country single track muni route. It is pretty long and in pretty remote country though.

There would certainly be plenty of technical muni, places like the Old Man of Storr and the Fairy Pools which Edd refers to above are pretty accessible just from the road. The path to the Fairy Pools would be a nice ride as far as I can remember, but both these places get stupidly busy unfortunately.

Danny’s “The Ridge” video is probably at the far end of what you could do on technical terrain, check it out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it. I don’t know if anyone has done much on the Cuillin ridge with a unicycle or not, it is not for the fainthearted even on foot and in reality a pretty dangerous place with lots of rock and exposure and once you’re on it, it is go to the end or go back (11km worth). In my opinion that is probably Danny’s best video and has the iconic image of him on the Inaccessible Pinnacle with his bike. I suggested to my wiser-half that I could go up there with a unicycle for a similar pose (in jest) – I think she just looked at me and smiled… :smile:

To be honest, in my opinion, Skye isn’t really much of a mountain bike place, there aren’t a lot of off road trails, it is more of a walking and mountaineering environment. There are plenty of single track paved roads though so if you wanted to tour on a unicycle it could be pretty good, assuming the traffic isn’t too bad.

When I saw this thread the first thing that came to mind was Kris Holm on the Prow Wall and him riding down to the edge (I recall a video where he is UPDing on his run down the slab).

There are a couple of pictures of my 29"er on Skye posted on here. One of them is at the Glen Brittle camp site which is where Danny does the front-flip over the fence at the end of ‘The Ridge’. My 29"er is hanging on the fence where he did it. That was a week of terrible weather and the only place I rode on Skye!

Anyhow, here is the video I mentioned above,featuring people far more accomplished than me:

4 Likes
10

Thinking about stuff when I was out clearing some of the latest instalment of snow to grace the North of Scotland, here is a photo at Neist Point on Skye. There is a nice path over to the lighthouse from the car park (and a potentially pretty nice ride in on the road from Dunvegan (the turnoff being beside the aforementioned Mr MacAskill’s parents house/museum).

Another nice place to ride would be the Quiraing – there is a nice walk there and it is pretty spectacular. Here is a video of Hans Rey, Steve Peat and Danny there (amongst other places), and another documenting Danny’s photo at the Quiraing on the solar eclipse of March 2015 – it is a pretty spectacular photo.

I think the Quiraing also features in The Lord of the Rings film (but I am probably one of the only folk on the planet who haven’t seen it).

1 Like
11

As a follow up for anyone interested in the video, or who may be contemplating doing this on one wheel instead of two (!) – there is now a “Behind the Scenes” video and a podcast discussing it.

I think the behind the scenes video shows how steep the slab is more than the actual video. The podcast is from Duncan Shaw (the producer of the video and friend of Danny) and he is talking about making the video with Danny and Robbie Meade who filmed it. There is some interesting discussion on the type of rock in the Cuillin (very grippy) if you are thinking of riding there. As well as You Tube it is on Apple Podcasts and probably a bunch of other places.

2 Likes
12

I bet Kris Holm could do it.

13

Maybe. But with no disrespect to Kris, he is not the youngest now and doesn’t seem to be a super active rider.
If I had to pick one guy for the job, it would for sure be Ben Soja, if he can’t do it, no one can.

1 Like
14

@dangeruni show @soja_ben, who is the king of muni :grinning:

15

Aren’t there more than just these both? What about Ryan Kremsater?

16

you are right Eric, cmon you muni riders, show us how the slabs are ridden on one wheel. :grinning:

1 Like