Beinn Eighe Complete Ridge Traverse - West to East

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With my appetite for Torridon whetted by the last outing on Liathach, I came up with another plan to make a more complete visit to neighbouring Beinn Eighe. I had climbed both of Beinn Eighe’s Munro summits twice previously but had not visited any of the 4 Munro sub-tops associated with Spidean Coire nan Clach. Time to put that right. As usual, I took guidance from the SMC Highland Scrambles North book and found Lawson, Ling and Glover’s route, the perfect way to get on to Sail Mhòr at the west end of the ridge. There would be another couple of scrambles along the way, Ceum Grannda en route to Coinneach Mhòr plus the Black Carls on descent.
After some early winter weather at the weekend, Tuesday’s forecast was excellent. It would be a longish day, so I headed across on Monday to overnight at the very convenient Ledgowan Bunkhouse. Basic but comfortable with all you need, and warmer than camping. I set off on the short drive to Glen Torridon in darkness stopping briefly in the layby at Cromasaig, about 1km south of Kinlochewe where I dropped off my bike. I had been debating whether to leave the car down there and cycle up the road to the Coire Dubh Mòr car park in darkness, but eventually elected to leave the pain of the bike transit until the end of the day. Bike safely shackled to the “P” sign I continued south to the Coire Dubh Mòr car park, arriving about 7am. A few camper vans there but no activity – it was still dark. I avoided my mistake of 2 weeks earlier and started out on the built path by the Right of Way sign at the roadside using the head torch for the first 15 minutes or so until there was sufficient dawn light.

Sunrise from Coire Dubh Mòr

Sun just hitting the Flowerdale Corbetts

Starting out it was very still, with the stags still at it, roaring away. By the time I got up to the point where the path to Coire Mhic Fhearchair branches off to the right however, a stiff breeze had come up with some sudden blustery gusts. I did have some concerns that excessive wind, and possibly snow of which there was still a fair bit higher up, might make the scrambling awkward.
Anyhow, I continued up the most excellent path to Coire Mhic Fhearchair arriving at the loch in just under 2 hours.

Approach to Coire Mhic Fhearchair

It’s a very fine coire, with the Triple Buttresses dominating the headwall.

Coire Mhic Fhearchair

The Triple Buttresses

Looking up to the right, the cone of scree at the base of the gully marking Lawson, Ling and Glover’s route is obvious. There was no snow on the lower grassy part of the route (my main concern) and the wind had dropped now I was round the corner and somewhat sheltered, so all good to go.

Lawson, Ling and Glover's route follows line diagonally up from mouth of gully, then over ridge seen on skyline in middle of photo.

The scree cone is really a pile of boulders of various sizes, steep but quite stable so I clambered up easily on the right-hand side under the cliff. The SMC guidebook mentions rock steps just right of the gully mouth, but these were vegetated, wet and slimy, so it was easier to continue up the gully for a few more metres before climbing out and traversing right a short distance to get onto a steep but manageable grassy slope intermingled with some vegetated sandstone outcrops. I’d advise against staying in the gully too long though, as climbing out will become more difficult as height is gained. The climb up this initial section was not particularly pleasant – it’s steep (although not on a par with the climb up to Liathach’s Meall Dearg) and the grass was soggy so care was needed to get good footing. The rock outcrops didn’t help much as there was too much slime to make for reliable foot holds although they did dry out as height was gained. Not really exposed, but a slip and slide down the slope would not be ideal. This section didn’t go on too long though, and soon I reached a series of more continuous sandstone rock outcrops maybe 30m right of the gully which were drier and had plenty of good holds for easy and entertaining scrambling, eventually to attain the broad and bouldery ridge. There were plenty of crampon scratches to confirm I was on track. I think in the right conditions this would be a good winter route for the suitably equipped and experienced. There were a few hinds up on this section too, presumably keeping out of the way of the rutting stags.

I had some company!

Quite steep looking back

Pinnacle at the top of the gully - it's actually a flat platform once up

I continued to clamber up the bouldery ridge which narrows with one fairly steep rock step to overcome. This is probably the crux of the route. Not too difficult though, sound blocky sandstone, lots of holds and still not that exposed. This brought me up onto a platform that had appeared as a pinnacle from below.

View from the Platform

More easy and secure scrambling ahead, with sandstone suddenly giving way to quartzite blocks, and the slope easing on to the summit of Sail Mhór. So that was the route first climbed by the intrepid Victorian gentlemen Lawson, Ling and Glover in 1899, no doubt in hobnail boots and tweeds. It is a most satisfying way to get to the Top of Sail Mhòr. Just note that it is a Grade 2 scramble, quite long with no easy escapes. Descending this way would be possible, but I certainly wouldn’t recommended it.

Liathach from Sail Mhór

Beinn Dearg from Sail Mhór, Beinn Alligan behind, Baosbheinn on right

That was 3 hours into my day, so after a quick cup of tea while taking in the views, I descended the stony ridge towards Coinneach Mhòr. Ceum Grannda is the westernmost upper part of the Triple Buttresses, which presents a short but steep interruption on the ridge with big quartzite blocks.

Ceum Grannda

Again, this is easily scrambled. The blocks are full of good secure positive holds, and the exposure is limited. The only brief bit of exposure I noticed was on one move around a blocky corner, but of no concern with such good rock to hang on to. There are various routes up, and I think the steepest part can be bypassed via a gully on the south side, which can also be used in descent if visiting Sail Mhòr from the east. The sub-top of Coinneach Mhòr appears soon after completing the scramble.

Ruadh-stac Mòr from Coinneach Mhòr - phone camera alighnment wind affected!

I didn’t hang around there long, still plenty of walking to do. It had crossed my mind to miss out Ruadh-stac Mòr to shorten the day as it is a detour off the ridge and that box had already been ticked but decided that would be plain wrong. The traverse must include the highest point on the mountain. Thankfully it’s not that far, and not a great deal of height to lose and regain. Much of the high Beinn Eighe terrain allows for rapid progress (e.g. compared to Liathach) so not much energy was expended zipping over, and I reached the summit a little over 4 hours into my walk.

A look at Sail Mhór and ascent route (right side of central scree cone and gully) from Ruadh-stac Mòr -

View east over ridge of Beinn Eighe from Ruadh-stac Mòr

Triple Buttresses from shoulder of Ruadh-stac Mòr

Time for brunch, then back to the ridge. I saw a couple of walkers plodding up the scree gully from Coire Mhic Fhearchair and was glad I hadn’t had to face that. There is a helpful bypass path across the upper rim of Coire Ruadh-staca that avoids 50m of ascent, but I did have to kick a few steps in the disappearing cornice from the weekend snow to regain the ridge. From there, a straightforward stroll to Spidean Coire nan Clach, with some minor scrambling and clambering up bouldery slopes along the way. I met quite a few folk heading east to west along the ridge in this section. Past the trig point at 972m (presumable there due to better lines of sight than from the true summit) and on to the summit cairn.

View west from Spidean Coire nan Clach

View east from Spidean Coire nan Clach

From there it was on to Sgurr Bàn and then the final sub-top Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe.

Sgurr Bàn looking towards Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe

Quite busy on the summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach in the distance as viewed from Sgurr Bàn

Sgurr Bàn from Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe

The ridge is sharp and well defined in this section, steep scree to the south and cliffs to the north into Toll Bàn. Heading northeast from Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe the ridge quickly becomes Bodaich Dudh or the Black Carls.

Descending ridge from Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe towards Bodaich Dudh

These appear as very distinct pinnacles from the A896. The small quartzite pinnacle blocks sit atop a series of 3 descending towers. These could easily be climbed direct if heading in the opposite direction, but I found safer lines for downclimbing on the right for the first two towers, then on the left for the final tower. There are signs of a bypass path which helps with route finding.

Looking back at Bodaich Dubh - easier to climb up than dowm

After this little bit of careful downclimbing, the Bodaich Dubh were dealt with and it was a simple walk northeast to Creag Dubh at 907m, before turning right and heading down the path on the shoulder due east towards Cromasaig.

Looking down to Kinlochewe from ridge towards Creag Dubh

It’s a nice easy path to descend at speed – not too steep, well-placed zigzags and scree that is not too loose. The path heads left off the shoulder at 670m above a crag, descending steeper ground but still easy enough before rejoining the shoulder and continuing down to where it crosses a burn just upstream from its confluence with the Allt a’ Chuirn. This provided the last bit of excitement of the day, as there appears to have been a small landslide which has removed parts of the path. Not on a par with the scrambling up the mountain and easily negotiated, but it might put a halt to anyone looking for a gentle ramble up the lower slopes from the layby at Cromasaig.

The final scramble to cross here

From there, it’s a pleasant walk through some native forest of Scots pine, alder and birch beside the Allt a’ Chuirn.

Final look back from path beside the Allt a’ Chuirn

I arrived at my bike (which to my great relief was still there) at 3:15pm, 8 hrs and 15 minutes after setting off.
I had been dreading the bike ride up the road, but it wasn’t too bad. Thankfully the southerly gale had largely subsided, so I covered the 8.9 km in 35 minutes. I set off for home by 4pm, arriving at 7:45pm after taking on some electricity for the car and coffee for me in Inverness.
I’d say this is the best way to do Beinn Eighe if you don’t mind the Grade 2 scrambling and have a bike or 2 cars to cover the road section.