Beinn Damh (903m) - a mountain in the Glen Torridon area, had been on my list of ‘to-dos’ for a while. One early morning sunrise attempt didn’t end in success trying to reach the summit, since cloud descended over the mountain. I didn’t consider it worth navigating through cloud to get to the top when the objective was for photos! Ironically if I had waited 2-3 hours it would have all cleared!

It took another two visits before finally getting to the main summit on the third visit.

The second attempt was in January 2025 after we had a good amount of snow that had covered the mountains. It was a hike ‘like no other’, involving wading through knee high and at times thigh high snow. Total exhaustion resulted in stopping short of the final haul up the ascent to the main summit, which instead happened a number of weeks later after the snow had gone.

In this blog I’ve tried to combine both of the last two visits to show a comparison in the conditions. Both great days out.

The January visit started with some stunning wintry scenery as we made our way to Glen Torridon around sunrise.

The hike up from the car park was quite a contrast between the two visits.

Here are views looking towards Toll Ban from about the same position on each visit.

From the saddle between Meall Gorm (675m) and Toll Ban the views were stunning.

Here’s the view towards the main summit. In the snow, totally exhausted, that final drop down and then ascent up the shoulder of the summit looked steeper than the photos implied!

The third visit which was in February, had amazing weather - perfect. Virtually no wind and clear skies - displaying the Highlands in all its glory.

The Old Man of Storr across on the Isle of Skye was clearly visible as well.

A further selection from February visit.

With both visits we waited for the setting sun which transformed the landscape - such a difference in the colours between the snowy experience and the orange glow of sunset in February.