Beinn Fhada - West Ridge

A bad weather forecast in the east and heaps of snow in the west lead me to the conclusion that a walk or a scramble in the west would meet with the best chance of success. Seen from the bottom of Glen Shiel, the west ridge of Beinn Fhada is enticingly jagged and it is something I have wanted to do for a while now. According to the books there is one section of the ridge that can be problematic in poor conditions. So I decided to be prudent and packed a 20m rope just in case.

From the car we headed up steep grass slopes of Beinn Bhuidhe before we hit the snowline at 450m. Beyond this the snow rapidly became deeper and once up on the crest it was proper winter conditions. The ridge was fantastic. Long, surprisingly narrow, sinuous and with superb views both to the north and south. With about 4 inches of fresh snow covering everything, the slabby 'bad step' lived up to it's reputation. However, using the rope as a backup, the difficulties (about a 10m section of steep slab) were soon down-climbed and the remainder of the ridge was uneventful, although spectacular.


The way back was via a very well constructed stalkers path down into Coire an Sgairne, and then Gleann Choinneachain, continuing all the way back to the car. The glen was surprisingly steep-sided, much more like the kind of glen you see in Glen Coe with deeply carved ravines. The crags backing the coires were well plastered with snow and looked like they could offer up some good routes - once the snow has consolidated.