The western of Liathach's two summits, a Munro on the great grey terraced ridge that rears straight up above Glen Torridon
Open accessin a National Nature Reserve open to the public
Liathach is one of the mountains people mean when they talk about Torridon: a long, steep wall of terraced sandstone that rises almost straight from the road in the glen. The name is usually taken to mean “the grey one”. The ridge has two separate Munros (Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet), and Mullach an Rathain, at 1,024m, is the western of the pair. The higher one, Spidean a’ Choire Leith, sits about 1.8km to the east along the crest.
This is a serious hill, not a stroll. Most people climbing Liathach do the full traverse between the two summits, and the connecting ridge includes the Am Fàsarinen pinnacles, a stretch of narrow, exposed rock with big drops on both sides. There is a rougher bypass path below the pinnacles, but it is loose and doesn’t remove the exposure entirely. The climbs onto the ridge from the glen are steep and pathless in places. It suits confident hillwalkers who are happy with a bit of scrambling and a good head for heights, in clear weather. If cloud is down or the rock is wet, the traverse becomes a much bigger undertaking, so it’s worth checking the forecast carefully before setting out.
Most walkers start from the roadside in Glen Torridon and finish back along the same road. The village of Torridon sits at the western foot of the mountain, with the Torridon Inn nearby for afterwards, and the national nature reserve at Beinn Eighe is close by if you want to make more of the area.
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