Beinn Alligin, NW Highlands
This high-level circuit in Scotland’s majestic Torridon mountains offers narrow ridges and fantastic scrambling
Beware the Eag Dhubh na h-Eigheachd! The name means ‘Black Gash of the Wailing’ in Scottish Gaelic and it’s a huge rockslide slash in the side of the this mountain range just before Sgurr Mor. Legend has it local shepherds would hear cries from this terrifying drop, yet if they went to investigate they would fall to their deaths and become part of the eerie soundtrack themselves. I didn’t hear any wailing but the wind when I walked this and it remains one of my favourite walks of all time.
The name Beinn Alligin means Jewelled
Hill, and it certainly is a gem of a circuit. It’s straightforward for experienced scramblers without snow and ice, but winter skills are needed for colder conditions. After just one big climb up to the first Munro, Tom na Gruagaich (922m), you enter into a high, mountainous world. Here at the trig point, pause to take in the fantastic view of the swooping, triangular-peaked and narrow ridge ahead to Sgurr Mhor and Na Rathanan. It’s also interesting to know that Tom na Gruagaich received Munro status relatively recently, being promoted from a Top in 1997.