Number 14 of 282 by height · Northwest Highlands
Mam Sodhail
Màm Sodhail
3,869 ft (1,179 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NH 120 253
- Latitude, longitude
- 57.27982, -5.12027
- Area
- Northwest Highlands
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 6.6 mi (11 km)
- Climb
- 3,182 ft (970 m)
- Estimated time up
- 3 h 45 min
- Start
- River Affric
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 17:07. Not live.
- Weather
- Fair
- Temperature
- 32°F (0°C)
- Wind chill
- 28°F (−2°C)
- Wind
- 4 mph (7 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 18%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 3,868 ft (1,179 m), below the summit
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:31, 16:37
The way up
From River Affric, follow the road west for 1.2 mi, almost level. On the way you pass Loch Affric on your left. Then follow the track west for 2.8 mi, climbing gently from 790 ft to 1,500 ft. Then follow the path west for 1.9 mi, climbing steeply from 1,500 ft to 3,400 ft. It then turns north for the last 0.5 mi to the summit, climbing steeply from 3,400 ft to 3,850 ft. The steepest part is between 2,850 ft and 3,550 ft, about 5.5 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,869 ft (1,179 m).
Written from the map, not from walking it. Paths on the ground can differ, so carry a map and compass.See it in 3D.
Getting there
By car
River Affric. Pay to park. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Mam Sodhail car park57.26503,-4.98481
By train
Nearest station: Attadale, 20 mi (32 km) from the car park. Too far to walk in from.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: Top Car Park, right by the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Near the start
- Toilets by the start
From OpenStreetMap. Places close or change hours, especially in winter, so check before you rely on one.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Mam Sodhail
- In Gaelic
- Màm Sodhail
- Means
- Rounded mountain of barns
Mam Sodhail stands on the north side of Glen Affric, the twin of Carn Eighe just 0.6 miles away. The two are close in height and look alike, and a high col joins them above Gleann nam Fiadh. Three ridges run down towards Glen Affric. The longest, to the east-south-east, runs about 2.5 miles over Mullach Cadha Rainich to Sgurr na Lapaich, 3,399 ft (1,036 m), which looks like a separate peak from the glen and was a Munro in the first list of 1891. The other two ridges carry An Tudair and Creag Coire nan Each.
The Ordnance Survey used the summit in its 1840s mapping of the northern Highlands. Pits on the ridge towards Creag Coire nan Each probably supplied the stone for its huge summit cairn.
It rises 434 ft (132 m) above the col linking it to Carn Eighe. The true summit is a rock by a tiny cairn about 45 m south-east of the wind shelter, about 40 cm higher than the ground at the shelter.
Tops on Mam Sodhail
4 lower summits in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| An TudairNH 127 239 | 3,522 ft (1,073 m) | 1.0 mi (1.6 km) |
| Creag Coire nan EachNH 113 232 | 3,461 ft (1,055 m) | 1.4 mi (2.2 km) |
| Sgurr na LapaichNH 154 243 | 3,403 ft (1,037 m) | 2.2 mi (3.5 km) |
| Mullach Cadha RainichNH 139 246 | 3,266 ft (996 m) | 1.3 mi (2.1 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Mam Sodhail in the middle of each month. The shorter the day, the earlier you need to start.
Stag stalking season, 1 July to 20 October. On many estates, walkers are asked to keep to set routes on stalking days: check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code site's Heading for the Scottish Hills service before you go.
Nearest Munros
| Munro | Height | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|---|
| Carn Eighe | 3,881 ft (1,183 m) | 0.6 mi (0.9 km) |
| Beinn Fhionnlaidh | 3,297 ft (1,005 m) | 1.8 mi (3.0 km) |
| An Socach | 3,017 ft (920 m) | 2.4 mi (3.9 km) |
Common questions about Mam Sodhail
- How high is Mam Sodhail?
- Mam Sodhail is 3,869 ft (1,179 m), number 14 of the 282 Munros by height, in the Northwest Highlands.
- How long does it take to climb Mam Sodhail?
- About 3 h 45 min up and 2 h 10 min back down by our route from River Affric, before stops: 6.6 mi (11 km) each way with 3,182 ft (970 m) of climbing. That is one of the longer Munro days. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Mam Sodhail?
- Our route starts at River Affric. There is a parking charge.
- Can you climb Mam Sodhail without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Attadale, 20 mi (32 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is Top Car Park, 0.0 mi (0.1 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Mam Sodhail a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is one of the longer Munro days, with 3,182 ft (970 m) of ascent over 6.6 mi (11 km). Like every Munro it reaches over 3,000 ft, where the weather can be far worse than at the car park, so take a map and compass and check the mountain forecast.
- What does Mam Sodhail mean?
- In Gaelic it is Màm Sodhail. It is usually translated as "rounded mountain of barns".
- When is the best time to climb Mam Sodhail?
- Daylight runs from about 18 hours in mid June to 7 hours in mid December, so summer gives the most time. From 1 July to 20 October it is the stag stalking season, when some estates ask walkers to keep to set routes. In winter, snow and ice turn most Munros into mountaineering terrain.
A guide only. Mountain conditions change fast: carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and read the mountain forecast for the Northwest Highlands before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the Northwest Highlands, written by forecasters for walkers and climbers. In winter, also read the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for the area.
Where does the summit weather come from?
From MET Norway's forecast model, fetched for every Munro once an hour at the summit's own height. It is computer output for one point, not a forecast written for mountains, so treat it as a guide. The past hours are what the forecast said at the time. Wind chill, the freezing level and sunrise and sunset are worked out by this site from those figures; the freezing level assumes temperature drops steadily with height, so it can be well out when cold air sits in the glens.
How was this route drawn?
It follows footpaths and tracks mapped on OpenStreetMap, from a public car park to the summit, with heights from Copernicus elevation data. A computer picked the start as the car park with the quickest mapped way up, counting the climbing as well as the distance. Nobody has checked it on the hill yet, so it may not be the usual way up, and the path may be faint or missing on the ground. A line on a map is not a description of the ground.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T20:03:25.525Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Glen Affric, found by grid reference NH200233) with the shortest mapped-path route to the summit.
- Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA), sampled every 50 m, 3-sample median, 5 m hysteresis on ascent.
- Summit position: Database of British and Irish Hills v18 (CC BY 4.0).
Built 2026-10-25.
How is the time up worked out?
With Naismith's rule, the standard hill-walking estimate: an hour for every 3.1 miles (5 km), plus an hour for every 1,969 ft (600 m) of climbing, with no stops. For this route that gives about 3 h 45 min, one way. It ignores rough ground, weather, stops and the walk back down, so most people take longer.
Where do the car parks and bus stops come from?
From OpenStreetMap. Distances are straight lines, not the way you would walk or drive. A bus stop on the map says nothing about how often a bus calls: many Highland buses run a few times a day, some only on school days or by booking, so check Traveline Scotland first. The map cannot tell whether a car park is on a public road, so a remote one may only be reachable on foot or by train.
Where do the Gaelic names and stories come from?
From the hill's article on English Wikipedia and its Wikidata entry, put into a few words of our own. Meanings and pronunciations are only given where the article states them; many Gaelic hill names are old and their meaning is uncertain. Read the full article.
Where do the height and grid reference come from?
From the Database of British and Irish Hills, the surveyed list most baggers use. Mam Sodhail is hill 804 there.
Sources: Database of British and Irish Hills (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, Copernicus elevation data, Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery by EOX. All credits and licences.