Beinn Fhada
4 classifications here — Marilyn, HuMP, Simm and Murdo — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.
- Height
- 1031.9 m · 3,385 ft
- Prominence
- 647 m
- Grid reference
- NH 01858 19243
- Coordinates
- 57.22100, -5.28352
- County / area
- Highland
- Region
- Loch Duich to Cannich
- OS Landranger
- 33
- OS Explorer
- 414N
- Summit feature
- trig point
- Key col
- NH030204 (385 m)
About Beinn Fhada
Beinn Fhada means 'long mountain' in Gaelic, and the hill is also known by the anglicised form Ben Attow. The name fits its structure: a craggy, undulating ridge that runs south over Sgurr a' Choire Ghairbh before turning east across the broad expanse of the Plaide Mhor to reach the 1,032-metre summit. One short section of downward scrambling interrupts the crest.
Approaches from Morvich to the north-west cover around 7 km with roughly 1,100 metres of ascent once undulations are counted, and Gleann Choinneachain gives a line off to the north-west. Not every guidebook writer has warmed to the hill; some have called it dull.
Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Beinn Fhada (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.
Access rights here
Yes Right to roam: Statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water.
Yes Wild camping: Wild camping is broadly lawful under the 2003 Act.
General position for Scotland — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Scotland · check another location.
Daylight at this summit today
- Sunrise
- —
- Sunset
- —
- Daylight
- —
- Civil twilight ends
- —
Computed astronomically for 57.221, -5.284. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.
Summit weather live
Loading forecast for the summit (1032 m)…
Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).
Finding the summit
The recorded summit point is trig point. On broad or flat summits the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.
- Survey method
- Leica RX1250
- Record revised
- 04-Aug-19
- Drop measured from
- NH030204 · 385 m
Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.
Long-distance paths past this hill
2 waymarked long-distance routes run within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.
| Route | Total length | From summit |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Wrath Trail (Fort William → Invergarry → Morvich) | 107 km | 2 km |
| Affric Kintail Way | 75 km | 2 km |
Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.
The Beinn Fhada group
2 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Beinn Fhada as the independent hill at its head.
| Summit | Height | Drop |
|---|---|---|
| Sgurr a' Dubh Doire | 962 m | 48 m |
| Meall an Fhuarain Mhoir | 955 m | 65 m |
Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.
Nearest listed peaks
| Peak | Height | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sgurr a' Dubh Doire | 962 m | 1.8 km |
| Meall an Fhuarain Mhoir | 954.9 m | 1.9 km |
| Sgurr Gaorsaic | 838.2 m | 3.2 km |
| A' Ghlas-bheinn | 918 m | 4 km |
| Saileag | 956 m | 4.4 km |
| Sgurr nan Saighead | 929 m | 4.6 km |