How to Climb Ben Cruachan: The Horseshoe & Two Munros

Ben Cruachan is the highest mountain in Argyll at 1,126 metres, a great granite peak presiding over Loch Awe and the Pass of Brander. It is known as the "Hollow Mountain" because a hydro-electric power station is built inside it, drawing water from a reservoir high on its southern flank. Above that reservoir rises one of the finest ridge rounds in the Southern Highlands — the Cruachan Horseshoe.

The Cruachan Horseshoe

The classic day here is not a single summit but a horseshoe taking in two Munros — Ben Cruachan itself and Stob Diamh — linked by a superb, narrow granite ridge. Most walkers start near the Cruachan reservoir off the A85 by Loch Awe (the Falls of Cruachan railway station and the visitor-centre car park are the usual jumping-off points), climbing steeply beside the dam before gaining the ridge. The Munros app lists the routes and their distances; the full round is a proper mountain day of several hours, with a lot of ascent packed into a fairly compact circuit.

The ridge — and a note on the rock

The connecting ridge between the two Munros is the highlight: rocky, characterful and airy in places, with a short section of easy hands-on scrambling that most walkers take in their stride but which feels serious in the wet or under snow. It is not a difficult scramble, but it is enough that anxious scramblers or anyone in poor conditions should pick their line carefully. Our guide to the best Munro ridge walks puts Cruachan in context alongside Scotland's other great ridges.

The view, and doing two Munros in a day

From the summit the view is one of the widest in the west: Loch Awe stretched out below, the hills of Mull and the Argyll coast, and, on a clear day, Ben Nevis away to the north. Bagging two Munros in a single round makes Cruachan excellent value, and it is a natural step up for walkers who have a few straightforward hills behind them and want their first taste of a proper ridge day.

When to go and what to pack

Ben Cruachan is best from late spring through autumn, when the ridge is dry and the scrambling straightforward. In winter it becomes a genuine mountaineering route — the ridge holds snow and ice and the scrambly sections need an axe, crampons and the skills of a winter round. In any season carry warm layers, waterproofs, food, a headtorch and a map and compass, and check the mountain forecast before you leave the car.

Related guides

• Best Munro ridge walks — where Cruachan sits among Scotland's ridges
• Munro bagging in the Southern Highlands — the wider area
• Argyll Munros — every peak in the region