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The SaddleThe Saddle is one of the great Scottish mountains; seen from the site of the Battle of Glen Shiel it forms (with Faochag) one of the best known views in the Highlands. It also provide exciting and challenging climbing. The traverse of the Forcan Ridge — in winter or summer — is one of the classic Scottish mountain expeditions. The usual approach is to parked beside the A87 just before the old quarry near Shiel Bridge. A fine old stalker's path leads up westwards to to a ridge at about 500m below the outlying top Biod an Fhithich. From here the route turns south and climbs steeper ground to the foot of the Forcan Ridge. From here the route continues westwards up and over Sgurr na Forcan and so up to the main summit. This section is one of the best ridge walks in Scotland. There is no technical rock-climbing required, but a good head for heights, plus the appropriate footwear and an experienced leader will help. At the top there are two summits, the westerly one has a trig point; it may not be obvious which one is the true summit, so Munro baggers had better climb both. To descend back to the starting point, one can either retrace the ascent route, or drop south and then south east to reach to reach the Bealach Coire Mhalagain, at NG944125. From here one can continue to Sgurr na Sgine or follow the line of an old dry-stone wall north east to get back to the top of the stalker's path to Glen Shiel. The walker not wishing to combine the ascent of the Saddle with its neighbour will find that a rewarding day can be had by continuing westwards over the smaller tops of the Saddle and descending to Shiel Bridge about three miles north west of the starting point above.
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