which of these mountains is most difficult

[garym]

i was in scotland this july and done some climbing, and now it looks like i will be there next year. i climbed beinn eighe, another 2 mountains i have in mind is the saddle including the forcan ridge and beinn alligin. of these 3 mountains which is the most difficult in order and why. i am really interested in your views on this.......thanks gary

[SimonP]

The Saddle is the most difficult. The other two are walks; The Forcan Ridge is a scramble.
_________________
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[garym]

thanks simon. i am reading a book here ralph storer 100 best routes and he states that the saddle is 5 and beinn eighe is 6 for seriousness

[ben-y-hill]

does ralph not include the black carls route as part of a complete traverse of Eighe? never done them but it is apparently fairly exposed on crumbly rock. The Saddle is all good solid scrambly stuff with one unexpected steep drop you can either scramble down (very vertical descent!) or take a really crappy, worn steep path around it. If you dont do the Carls then yes, the Saddle demands more. Havent done the horns of Alligin which in Torridon terms are rated as 'average' I think.

To be honest, they are all big days out - I would rate them all much the same, Carls aside.

[Ronaldo]

Horns of Alligin are straightforward, they look worse than they are, and they definitely have no down climbing like the end of the forcan ridge. So for me the order would be

1) Forcan Ridge
2) Ben Eighe including Black Carls ( crappy rock aspects)
3) Horns of Alligin - straightforward on reliably sound sandstone

All are equally great days out so this is not an order of recommendation!

Enjoy

Ronaldo

[620]

Excuse my ignorance, so what is and were about is Ben Eighe's Black Carls?

[anne3366]

Assuming you get good weather for all three I would reckon:

Easiest is Beinn Alligin. Do the two Munros first and then descend over the horns back to the path. This route allows good views and a spot of gloating about the wonderful ridge you have just walked over.

If you are only going to do the two Munros on Beinn Eighe it is no more difficult than Beinn Alligin but by far the hardest if you traverse the whole range. A very long day out plus Black Carls are a bit loose and slippy.

The Forcan Ridge is OK and I found it far easier than the full traverse of Beinn Eighe. You can do both Munros from the saddle between the two but this really is the cowards way out and doesn't do justice to the mountain. An excellent day and we have managed to get the dogs along the ridge as well which added to the entertainment value but didn't do a lot for my stress levels.

Whatever you decide to do they are all excellent days out which will alllow you to crawl into bed with the wonderful glow of achievement.

[ben-y-hill]

[620]

[WolfofBadenoch]

The Black Carls are at the far eastern end of Beinn Eighe. If only climbing the Munros you wont go near them, if climbing the Munros + tops you don't need to do them either. It's only if you want to go to the far eastern end of the ridge that you pass them and this will take you to a former top demoted many decades ago.

Here's my report on it

They were pretty loose but any difficulties could be avoided.

1st time i did the Saddle i remember getting to the top of the steep section and basically freezing - there was no eroded path in those days. Nothing sticks in my mind about the 2nd ascent but it was 11 years ago. As i remember it's longer and more exposed than the Black Carls.

As others have said Beinn Alligin is the easiest of the three.

[jamesk]

The midges will be worse in Torridon, so maybe you need to factor that into the difficulty . Whatever you do, do NOT camp in the valley beneath Beinn Alligin or you will be eaten alive

[garym]

thanks all, the only thing to do is to climb them all including the black carls