Beinn a' Bheithir via Schoolhouse Ridge Hike Guide
A majestical non-technical mountain ridge walk which summits in two Munros. From the summits you’ll be greeted by sensational 360-degree panoramic views of the Scottish Highlands including mountain, sea, and loch. The ascent involves some easy scrambling up Schoolhouse Ridge.
Key Information
Type: Loop
Distance: 15.2km 9.5 miles
Duration: 6-10 hours
Ascent: 1,356m
Difficulty: Hard
Technical aspects: None
Car park & Start Point: Ballachulish village car park
Munros: Sgòrr Dhearg, Sgòrr Dhònuill
Where to Park
Parking is available in Ballachulish village car park. Here you will also find a Co-op supermarket and toilets.
My experience of the route
I was joined by long time friend and Scottish adventure guide Matt Waterston. We tackled the hike in Mid-January, meaning sunrise was shortly before 9am.
As the snow was not too deep and the weather forecast looked clear, I wore fleece lined soft shell trousers, a long sleeved base layer, hard shell jacket, alongside carrying a synthetic mid-layer and a down jacket in my bag.
For footwear I wore adidas Terrex Free Hiker 2.0 Gore-Tex boots, they are my go to walking boots for spring, autumn, and winter and are very comfortable, lightweight, and offer great grip.
We set off just before 7:30am and after getting clear of the village, got stuck into the brutal ascent up to Sgòrr Bhan. In total, it climbs 870m in just under 3km.
Matt set a relentless pace, which coupled with the iced over paths made things rather arduous.
Fortunately, we had beautiful conditions and epic views back over Loch Leven and towards Ben Nevis on the way up. I used this as an excuse to why I kept having to stop.
Constantly stopping to capture the insane views, it dawned on me that I wasn’t going to reach the summit of Sgòrr Bhan before sunrise. Not wanting to miss the sun creeping up over the mountains, I got the drone out and captured what I could as I climbed the final flat section of the snow-capped ridge.
Reaching Sgòrr Bhan shortly after sunrise, myself and Matt soaked in the views before taking the sweeping, snow-capped ridgeline up to the first munro of the day.
As I had forgot to put the memory card back in my drone, I had quickly used up all of the storage of my DJI Mini 4. Because of this slight mishap, I went up the ridge first, letting Matt film me on his drone, before I returned the favour and captured him on my camera from the summit.
The view from Sgorr Dhearg was magnificent. The 1,024m munro offers sensational 360-degree panoramic views of the Scottish Highlands including mountain, sea, and loch.
Visibility was perfect and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, in fact it was so good we could almost see over to Northern Ireland. The refraction of the light combined with the ice crystals also made it look like the Cuillin ridge was melting upwards into the sky.
After a quick snack we jogged and bum slid our way down the other side of the peak to the bealach before making the short punch ascent up to the second munro of the day .
Although it looks tricky and technical, the gnarly ridge was actually very straightforward. It starts off steep and grassy, before becoming increasingly more rocky. The ascent does involve is minimal amount of non-exposed scrambling towards the top.
The views from the second munro of the day, Sgòrr Dhònuill, were equally as good if not better than the first.
The flat topped plateau of the 1,001m summit have a more distinct view out over Loch Linnhe towards the islands of Lismore and Mull. It was clear enough to clearly see the Paps of Jura and could just about pick out Northern Ireland in the distance.
After soaking in the views, we made the descent back down to the Bealach before starting the rather boggy and tedious descent back down towards the A82. We arrived down on the roadside just over 6 hours after setting off.
Final Thoughts
This is now one of my favourite hikes in Scotland.
The incredible 360 panoramic views of mountain, sea, and loch combined with the non-technical and exposed ridge walking made it one special day out.
Save this hike for a good day and you will be blown away by the views.
The only downsides are the savagely steep start to the hike, alongside the rather dull and boggy hike out.
As we had two cars we left one in a layby on the roadside of the A82 to remove around 2km of road walking.
So there we have it, My hike guide to Schoolhouse Ridge, in the Scottish Highlands.
Did you find the blog useful? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
If you did find the blog helpful, I’d appreciate you giving it a share or giving me a follow on social media, every bit of support goes a long way.
For more hiking inspiration check out my other guides below
For some Welsh travel inspiration check out my in-depth guides to each of my favourite Welsh regions below.