East to West on Beinn Eighe - A great ridge traverse in North-West Scotland

This was my eighth ascent of Beinn Eighe, a mountain in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. It was my first time via the ‘Black Carls’ ridge of Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe. The ascent of this 963m high peak is around winter grade I/II heading west, with the crux being a steep climb out of the prominent notch you can see on the rocky ridge on the picture below.

In 1951, Beinn Eighe was designated Britain's first National Nature Reserve. The NNR website details how the massif 'embraces a vast area of 48 square kilometres' between Loch Maree and Glen Torridon, 'stretching from loch-side to mountain top', with a 'huge cluster of rugged peaks, ridges and scree-covered slopes' in between.

For mountain walking, Beinn Eighe is a dream hill. It has 9 summits, two of which are Munros (Scottish mountains over 914.4m high), and it is home to arguably the UK's most majestic mountain corrie, Coire Mhic Fhearchair, with its deep loch and 300m high cliffs that form the Triple Buttress. The mountain also forms part of the 42km long running route for the Celtman Extreme Scottish Triathlon.

We started our day near Kinlochewe, in beautiful Spring weather, ascending a scenic track and then snow to reach the summit of the most easterly peak on the Beinn Eighe massif, Creag Dubh. From there, we headed west, following the most amazing ridgeline, 5km+ long, that took us over the Black Carls, Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe, Sgurr Ban, Spidean Coire nan Clach, Coinneach Mhor and Ruadh-stac Mor before we descended steep ground into Coire Mhic Fhearchair and headed for home.

My only regrets are we chose to miss out Sail Mhor, which would have maximised the aesthetic but been a 3km round trip, and we skipped the descent of the scree gully into Coire Mhic Fhearchair due to bullet hard ice at the entrance, choosing instead for safety reasons the steeper descent of the western slopes on Ruadh-stac Mor - which, whilst not difficult, proved to provide a couple of awkward moments due to the late season snow.