Beinn Eighe

Peaks: Ruadh-stac Mor (1010m), Coinneach Mhor (976m), Spidean Coire nan Clach (977m), Sgurr Ban (970m), Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe (963m), Creag Dhubh (909m)
Area: Beinn Eighe, Torridon
This is one of the great Scottish mountain days. Beinn Eighe is an entire massif rather than a single mountain and the standard munro bagging approach doesn't do it justice: I wanted the whole ridge, particularly the less frequented eastern end that we could see from our cottage. It would have been nice to have taken my time, such was the quality and variety of scenery and ridge walking, but as usual a lightweight running approach was more suitable and Kate dropped me off at the Coire Dubh at 7.30am. My aim was to get back to the cottage in Kinlochewe before midday via every peak on the Beinn Eighe ridge without touching a road or seeing another person! I didn't quite achieve this, as I missed Sail Mhor and saw one person on Coire nan Clach, but I did reach our cottage from the nature reserve path direct from Creag Dubh before midday. A superb path through Coire Dubh Mor leads between the steep slopes of Liathach and Sail Mhor to the remote northern corries and great views out over the peaks of Beinn Dearg and Bhaosbeinn. Crystal clear skies and cool breezes as I continued the long run curving east towards the famous Coire Mhic Fhearchair, arguably the most impressive in Scotland. It was indeed superb, although a little frustrating as I would have loved to have done one of the long climbs up the Triple Buttress. Instead, I had to settle for taking a scrambling line left of the main scree couloiur to the col below Ruadh-stac Mor. This was very reminiscent of the Maritime Alps and gave good sustained scrambling by weaving around. I finally gained the main ridge, well over 90 mins after starting out: an indication of the distance. From here back to Kinlochewe was just stunning: one massive gentle run along the huge ridge. I dumped the sac and ran up to the highpoint of Ruadh-stac Mor, then followed the ridge south to mild scrambling up to Coinneach Mhor. The ridge then begins, finally, to head east towards the cottage. It narrows too, giving superb and spectacular running along the crest. Liathach looks spectacular from here. A few little walls give a scrambly approach to the second munro, Spidean Coire nan Clach, where I surprised the only other person seen all day. Then the sun came out for a descent down a large snowfield to the less frequented, but even better, eastern end of the ridge. Good easy scrambling up shattered quartzite led quickly to Sgurr Ban, an Alpine fang from some angles. Then came the fine climax, very steep and quite exposed scree to a deep col with great views to the wild cwm and lake of Tuill Bhain. Above, Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe gives good scrambling up to an along its shattered crest: the 'black men' of the name are a series of gendarmes, quite loose in places and tricky to negotiate with numerous snow patches. One was very reminiscent of Tower Gap on Glyder Fach. A great finish along the crest, which led to Creag Dubh and a large cornice. From here, I could see Kinlochewe far below and pelted down the screes, flat out, only slowing to negotiate an unexpected and potentially dangerous rock band. Below this, the path flattens out in a little valley with ancient pines. This gave excellent fast running for several km before a kink west allowed me to avoid the village and emerge from the pine woods, as planned, directly opposite our cottage at 11.50am.