The Forcan Ridge and The Saddle
The Saddle
Summit Location - NG93615, 13112
Height - 1010m
Munro Number - 121
Sgurr na Sgine
Meaning - Peak of the Knife
Summit Location - NG94393, 11571
Height - 946m
Munro Number - 223
Distance - 12.2km
Total Ascent - 1418m
Time Taken - 2hrs to Sgurr na Sgine / 1.5hrs to the Forcan Ridge / 1hr up via Forcan
Ridge / 1.75hrs down
Difficulty - 4/5
OS Explorer Map - 414
Climbed - 2015
Weather - Dry, some clouds above summits with sunny intervals.
You need to pay attention to where you're going when in the hills. Even the experts
at navigation have a crisis of confidence at some point that will see them heading
in completely the wrong direction. Experience suggests this can happen at the most
obvious places and in the most benign weather, for example coming off a summit in
the wrong direction or picking the wrong path when leaving the car park.
The Saddle and Sgurr na Sgine are often climbed together; they're linked by a high
col at 699m which means little re-ascent is required. Many will want to tackle the
Forcan Ridge on The Saddle, a Grade 2 scramble with some exposure and a short Grade
3 scramble that can be easily avoided. In fact the whole ridge can be avoided if
you're only in the market for a walk, but to do so would be to miss out on one of
Scotland's classic ridge's - and if you're aiming to compleat (sic) the Munros trickier
scrambles lie ahead anyway.
You need to pay close attention when leaving the roadside parking. The most obvious
path climbs up Faochag and Sgurr na Sgine. Fine you might think, you're climbing
them both anyway. But most would want to ascend the Forcan Ridge rather than climb
down it, so it makes sense to do the Saddle first. After I climbed Sgurr na Sgine
first I had to descend into Coire Mhalagain to reach the bottom of the Forcan Ridge
and then reverse direction to climb the ridge and bag The Saddle - not exactly the
most sensible route! Take my advice - bag The Saddle first as described below.
The Forcan Ridge itself was a fun scramble. Probably a touch easier than the Aonach
Eagach (and nowhere near as long) but a challenge all the same. It'll pose a descent
challenge to those who are comfortable at Grade 1 and looking for something a bit
more tricky. There's a short portion of Grade 3 scrambling, a downclimb just after
the Sgurr na Forcan summit - but this can be avoided on either the left or the right
- I took the gully to the left. After that it's an easy (if steep) climnb to the
Munro summit.
Continuing to Sgurr na Sgine doesn't pose any particular problems. The high col means
there's not a huge amount of reascent, and the descent via Faochag is via an obvious
path.
Route
1 - Park by the side of the road just west of the Alt Coire Mhalagain. A clear path
leads on to the hill from here. Make sure you don’t cross the Alt Coire Mhalagain
on the bigger track but instead head up the path toward Meallan Odhar.
2 - When the path reaches the ridge it turns to head south then southwest toward
the base of the Forcan Ridge. At this point the path forks, the walking route continues
on the left fork up the coire, the right fork climbs to the Forcan Ridge. This route
describes the latter route.
3 - To climb the Forcan ridge simply bear right and gain the ridge. The route is
obvious as it’s so well-trodden. The scrambling gets progressively tougher and the
exposure greater, though paths just below the ridge always seem to offer an easier
escape route. It’s Grade 2 if you stick to the crest of the ridge, Grade 1 if you
deviate.
4 - Towards the end of the ridge you’ll reach the minor top on Sgurr na Forcan. Descending
from here is the crux of the route - there’s a tricky downclimb. It’s probably scrambling
Grade 3 if tackled directly, though there are obvious to avoid this section to the
left and the right. The easiest way is to descend a gully on an obvious route to
the left. The remaining ascent to the Munro top of The Saddle, whilst steep, doesn’t
present any undue difficulty.
5 - Descend from the peak in a south the easterly direction, on an obvious path,
to the Bealach Coire Mhalagain. The path then ascends scree to reach a ridge, where
a more obvious path continues south to the summit of Sgurr na Sgine.
6 - To descend, retrace your steps along the path, but instead of descending to the
bealach continue along the ridge to the minor top of Faochag, then follow an obvious
path down the ridge to reach the Alt Coire Mhalagain close to the A87. Cross the
burn to reach the path used in ascent, heading right to reach the road.
