Ben Alder

About Ben Alder

Ben Alder is the highest mountain in the remote country between Loch Ericht and Glen Spean, and the 25th highest Munro. Its extensive summit plateau holds Lochan a' Garbh Coire, one of the highest standing waters in Britain.

The north-east corrie is of particular interest. At around 1,030 m a narrow band of metamorphosed Kinlochlaggan Limestone is exposed alongside a dark epidiorite sill, forming a small pale cliff with ledges, runnels and sinkholes. The juxtaposition of calcium-rich 'sugar' limestone with igneous rock, set among schists and quartzites, produces a tight mosaic of substrates and microhabitats. The result is one of Britain's richest montane limestone lichen floras — over 100 species, many of them nationally rare, recorded within roughly a hectare, and reckoned second only to Ben Lawers.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Ben Alder (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

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

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 56.814, -4.465. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is trig point. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Record revised

28-Oct-01

Drop measured from

NN262668 · 365 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.

Nearest listed peaks