Beinn Eighe

Walkhighlands recommends this anti-clockwise direction because the screes above Coire Mhic Fhearchair are marginally more tolerable in descent. From the Coire Dubh car park on the A896 in Glen Torridon walk 2 km east along the road to the parking area for Coire an Laoigh (an alternative start). A cairned path climbs grassy slopes, then steepens into the corrie between the main ridge and the spur of Stùc Coire an Laoigh. After a brief respite on the corrie floor a very steep climb up the headwall reaches the ridge at a large cairn with a sudden view of Liathach. Turn right up quartzite scree to the trig point at 972 m on the main ridge; in mist it is easily mistaken for the Munro. Spidean Coire nan Clach lies a short detour east along a narrow quartzite crest, finishing with a mild scramble up a quartzite staircase that is slippery when wet. Return to the trig point and follow the ridge west: slabby sandstone gives way to stones again on the descent to a bealach at about 820 m, then a grassy climb leads to the flat top of Coinneach Mhòr, close to the head of the Triple Buttress. Descend the steep, stony ridge to the narrow bealach below Ruadh-stac Mòr; the climb beyond is rough at first, then easier over a plateau to the summit scree cone. This detached top is the highest point of Beinn Eighe. Return to the bealach. The only way down into Coire Mhic Fhearchair for non-climbers is the very steep, narrow and eroded scree gully heading north-west: keep to its right edge, where bedrock forms a rough staircase, pass a near-blocking chockstone on the right, then follow a path below broken cliffs and pick through boulders to easier ground. A path descends sandstone terraces to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair. Cross the outflow and follow the well-built stalkers' path round the base of Sàil Mhòr to the junction cairn with the Coire Mhic Nobuil path, then keep left down Coire Dubh Mòr to the road.