Hills of Britain and Ireland
OS Map of Sgurr Sgumain
Height: 948m / 3110ft • Prominence: 27m / 89ft • Summit : rock by cairn • Trip reports (hill-bagging)
The climb to Coire Lagan, the Great Stone Chute and Sgurr Alasdair, second from right, 993 metres, 3,258 feet, Black Cuillins, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Poem. Serrated, dog-tooth ridge. Wall of rock. Gabbro and basalt. Ten mile volcanic tee. Remnant of a super-volcano. Glacially scoured. Massive striated bluffs. Pot-bunker-like corrie lake of Coire Lagan. Great Stone Chute. Two thousand foot boulder path of ice-riven debris. This is what makes such a climb memorable and magnificent.
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54141571284
Coire Lagan lochan was already over 1,500 feet above our base at Glenbrittle beach. Still over 1,700 feet to climb, including the incredibly rugged Great Stone Chute, a massive scree slope, left, to reach the summit of Sgurr Alasdair at 3,258 feet.
Commentary. This 300° wall of steep, rugged mountainous slope and ice-shattered scree is a horse-shoe of awesomeness. Only a few places in Scotland can match it for grandeur and breath-taking scale:- the north face of Ben Nevis, Lochaber, the north face of Liathach, Torridon, the north face of An Teallach, Dundonnell, mountains of Glencoe, Lochaber and Coire Adair and Creag Meagaidh near Loch Laggan. It is overwhelmingly magnificent. But still, realistically, only just the half-way marker to reaching the summit of Sgùrr Alasdair. That goal must be met because the views from the summit on a clear day are simply unparalleled and totally unforgettable.
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54126169837
Incredible summit view from Sgurr Alasdair, highest point on the 6,000 offshore islands of Britain. Left to right, Isles of Eigg, Soay, Rum, Sanday, Canna and Outer Hebrides. Glenbrittle and beach, bottom right.
Commentary. 08:00, my son, James, and I left base-camp at Glen Brittle beach. Ninety minutes in and the gentle foothills are behind us. As we stare into Coire Lagan, Sgurr Alasdair looks awesome, impenetrable, and unclimbable. As we summit the corrie’s smooth-rocked, ice-scoured lip to the corrie lake the basalt and gabbro wall of rock shows a thin grey streak of ice-shattered scree. The two thousand foot, “Great Stone Shoot,” gives a narrow but climbable rocky desert. Three hours in and we reach the col at the base of the summit. One final scramble and this view south welcomes us at 11:22. On top of the world, level with powder-puff clouds we peer down on a balmy Hebridean Sea, Rum, Soay, Rubha an Dunain peninsula, Loch Brittle and the beach campsite. Further on the horizon the southern end of the Outer Hebrides, as far as Barra, can be seen, over fifty miles distant. How this feels like a God-like throne – Shared by us – mere mortals. Panorama from Sgurr Alasdair, 993 m. (3,258 feet), Isle of Skye. Poem. A seat with the Gods. Brush the clouds. Touch the sky. Nigh on one thousand metres up on precipitous ridges of gabbro, basalt and bands of quartz. On the serrated, pinnacled, fragmented remnant ridge of a long-time extinct and exploded super-volcano. Having clambered past the Fairy Pools, The Cioch, Coire Lagan, the Inaccessible Pinnacle and two thousand foot of sharp, shattered scree making up the Great Stone Chute and the final summit arête, this is the view southwards. To stand here. And see this. It is surreal. Spiritual. An honour. A privilege. A sight that relatively few have seen. But those that have seen it, will not forget. To see for 80-100 miles in all directions. To see Ben Nevis, An Teallach, Ben More on Mull, Canna, Rum, Eigg, Muck and Soay. And to see a large part of the incredible Isle of Skye, itself, and the Outer Hebrides. It is too much to take in, too much to believe. I shall have to return and confirm that it was real, not, merely, a wonderful dream!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54093106263
Ridges, peaks and vast corries. Panorama of the sensational Black and Red Cuillins. Key locations-Inn Pin, far left. Sgurr nan Gillean, left of centre and Bla Bheinn, far right. Taken from the summit of Sgurr Alasdair, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Commentary. Oh, shadowy igneous, rocks. Eroded remnants of a 60 million-year-old magma chamber by glacier, constant freeze-thaw in cracks and dykes, gravity as boulders tumble, wind, rain and subsequent burns and rivers. Foreground up to top left is the Black Cuillin, mostly Gabbro with some Basalt Dyke Intrusion. Beyond these hills, towards top right, but before the sea channel is reached are the lighter-coloured Red Cuillin Hills, made of granitic intrusions. Both sets of hills produced by massive eruptions that may have emitted projectile rock and lava-flows to a volume of 15 cubic kilometres, equivalent to the Krakatoa blast. Lava-flows travelled up to 41 km. to places like the Sgurr of Eigg where rapid cooling produced glassy igneous rocks like Pitchstone or Obsidian. The Red Cuillins eroded much more evenly, hence their more even, rounded forms. The Black Cuillin is a much more dramatic erosion leaving a ten-mile serrated, knife-edge arête with frequent vertical clefts. It is raw, bare, jagged and breath-taking. Many climbers of the Himalayas, Alps, Dolomites, Andes and Rockies have loved this ridge as their training ground. Few places in the world have 360° views of sea-channels, ocean, islands, mainland, bays, beaches, headlands, peninsulas, valleys, forests and layered mountains into the distance. The views are astounding and totally captivating, simply unforgettable. In this telephoto image, we look across the huge chasm of Coir’ Uisg at the head of the valley in which lies Loch Coruisk, to the ridge called Druim nan Ramh. Beyond is the equally cavernous Harta Corrie, above which towers the iconic peak of Sgùrr nan Gillean, 964 metres (3,163 feet). Just left of centre is the highest of the Red Cuillins, Glamaig, 775 metres (2,543 feet). Across the Sound of Raasay is Applecross Bay and some of the Torridon Mountains. The highest peak, in shot, is Sgùrr Mor, part of Ben Alligin, 986 metres (3,235 feet) almost forty miles away! No wonder that the Isle of Skye is often rated one of the single most amazing islands on Earth. It undoubtedly is!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54199646145
OS Map
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Photos
Please tag your photos and upload them to the British and Irish Mountains group on Flickr
The other photos have been geo-tagged as on or around the summit. For less busy mountains, it can be a little hit and miss.
The climb to Coire Lagan, the Great Stone Chute and Sgurr Alasdair, second from right, 993 metres, 3,258 feet, Black Cuillins, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Poem. Serrated, dog-tooth ridge. Wall of rock. Gabbro and basalt. Ten mile volcanic tee. Remnant of a super-volcano. Glacially scoured. Massive striated bluffs. Pot-bunker-like corrie lake of Coire Lagan. Great Stone Chute. Two thousand foot boulder path of ice-riven debris. This is what makes such a climb memorable and magnificent.
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54141571284
Coire Lagan lochan was already over 1,500 feet above our base at Glenbrittle beach. Still over 1,700 feet to climb, including the incredibly rugged Great Stone Chute, a massive scree slope, left, to reach the summit of Sgurr Alasdair at 3,258 feet.
Commentary. This 300° wall of steep, rugged mountainous slope and ice-shattered scree is a horse-shoe of awesomeness. Only a few places in Scotland can match it for grandeur and breath-taking scale:- the north face of Ben Nevis, Lochaber, the north face of Liathach, Torridon, the north face of An Teallach, Dundonnell, mountains of Glencoe, Lochaber and Coire Adair and Creag Meagaidh near Loch Laggan. It is overwhelmingly magnificent. But still, realistically, only just the half-way marker to reaching the summit of Sgùrr Alasdair. That goal must be met because the views from the summit on a clear day are simply unparalleled and totally unforgettable.
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54126169837
Incredible summit view from Sgurr Alasdair, highest point on the 6,000 offshore islands of Britain. Left to right, Isles of Eigg, Soay, Rum, Sanday, Canna and Outer Hebrides. Glenbrittle and beach, bottom right.
Commentary. 08:00, my son, James, and I left base-camp at Glen Brittle beach. Ninety minutes in and the gentle foothills are behind us. As we stare into Coire Lagan, Sgurr Alasdair looks awesome, impenetrable, and unclimbable. As we summit the corrie’s smooth-rocked, ice-scoured lip to the corrie lake the basalt and gabbro wall of rock shows a thin grey streak of ice-shattered scree. The two thousand foot, “Great Stone Shoot,” gives a narrow but climbable rocky desert. Three hours in and we reach the col at the base of the summit. One final scramble and this view south welcomes us at 11:22. On top of the world, level with powder-puff clouds we peer down on a balmy Hebridean Sea, Rum, Soay, Rubha an Dunain peninsula, Loch Brittle and the beach campsite. Further on the horizon the southern end of the Outer Hebrides, as far as Barra, can be seen, over fifty miles distant. How this feels like a God-like throne – Shared by us – mere mortals. Panorama from Sgurr Alasdair, 993 m. (3,258 feet), Isle of Skye. Poem. A seat with the Gods. Brush the clouds. Touch the sky. Nigh on one thousand metres up on precipitous ridges of gabbro, basalt and bands of quartz. On the serrated, pinnacled, fragmented remnant ridge of a long-time extinct and exploded super-volcano. Having clambered past the Fairy Pools, The Cioch, Coire Lagan, the Inaccessible Pinnacle and two thousand foot of sharp, shattered scree making up the Great Stone Chute and the final summit arête, this is the view southwards. To stand here. And see this. It is surreal. Spiritual. An honour. A privilege. A sight that relatively few have seen. But those that have seen it, will not forget. To see for 80-100 miles in all directions. To see Ben Nevis, An Teallach, Ben More on Mull, Canna, Rum, Eigg, Muck and Soay. And to see a large part of the incredible Isle of Skye, itself, and the Outer Hebrides. It is too much to take in, too much to believe. I shall have to return and confirm that it was real, not, merely, a wonderful dream!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54093106263
Ridges, peaks and vast corries. Panorama of the sensational Black and Red Cuillins. Key locations-Inn Pin, far left. Sgurr nan Gillean, left of centre and Bla Bheinn, far right. Taken from the summit of Sgurr Alasdair, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Commentary. Oh, shadowy igneous, rocks. Eroded remnants of a 60 million-year-old magma chamber by glacier, constant freeze-thaw in cracks and dykes, gravity as boulders tumble, wind, rain and subsequent burns and rivers. Foreground up to top left is the Black Cuillin, mostly Gabbro with some Basalt Dyke Intrusion. Beyond these hills, towards top right, but before the sea channel is reached are the lighter-coloured Red Cuillin Hills, made of granitic intrusions. Both sets of hills produced by massive eruptions that may have emitted projectile rock and lava-flows to a volume of 15 cubic kilometres, equivalent to the Krakatoa blast. Lava-flows travelled up to 41 km. to places like the Sgurr of Eigg where rapid cooling produced glassy igneous rocks like Pitchstone or Obsidian. The Red Cuillins eroded much more evenly, hence their more even, rounded forms. The Black Cuillin is a much more dramatic erosion leaving a ten-mile serrated, knife-edge arête with frequent vertical clefts. It is raw, bare, jagged and breath-taking. Many climbers of the Himalayas, Alps, Dolomites, Andes and Rockies have loved this ridge as their training ground. Few places in the world have 360° views of sea-channels, ocean, islands, mainland, bays, beaches, headlands, peninsulas, valleys, forests and layered mountains into the distance. The views are astounding and totally captivating, simply unforgettable. In this telephoto image, we look across the huge chasm of Coir’ Uisg at the head of the valley in which lies Loch Coruisk, to the ridge called Druim nan Ramh. Beyond is the equally cavernous Harta Corrie, above which towers the iconic peak of Sgùrr nan Gillean, 964 metres (3,163 feet). Just left of centre is the highest of the Red Cuillins, Glamaig, 775 metres (2,543 feet). Across the Sound of Raasay is Applecross Bay and some of the Torridon Mountains. The highest peak, in shot, is Sgùrr Mor, part of Ben Alligin, 986 metres (3,235 feet) almost forty miles away! No wonder that the Isle of Skye is often rated one of the single most amazing islands on Earth. It undoubtedly is!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54199646145
From the summit of Sgurr Alasdair in the Black Cuillins of Skye. Left to right. Ben Cruachan in Argyll, Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Ben More, Isle of Mull, Isles of Eigg, Soay Muck and Rum. Sensational!
Poem. A seat with the Gods. Brush the clouds. Touch the sky. Nigh on one thousand metres up on precipitous ridges of gabbro, basalt and bands of quartz. On the serrated, pinnacled, fragmented remnant ridge of a long-time extinct and exploded super-volcano. Having clambered past the Fairy Pools, The Cioch, Coire Lagan, the Inaccessible Pinnacle and two thousand foot of sharp, shattered scree making up the Great Stone Chute and the final summit arête, this is the view southwards. To stand here. And see this. It is surreal. Spiritual. An honour. A privilege. A sight that relatively few have seen. But those that have seen it, will not forget. To see for 80-100 miles in all directions. To see Ben Nevis, An Teallach, Ben More on Mull, Canna, Rum, Eigg, Muck and Soay. And to see a large part of the incredible Isle of Skye, itself, and the Outer Hebrides. It is too much to take in, too much to believe. I shall have to return and confirm that it was real, not, merely, a wonderful dream!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54129344106
Glenbrittle Bay, Beach and Glen and Coire Lagan's Corrie Lochan from the summit of Sgurr Alasdair, Black Cuillins, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Commentary. Rocky summit of the Isle of Skye. Sgùrr Alasdair. Threaded path- our route taken from Glen Brittle Camp Site. Swam in the bay the day before the climb. Water comfortable-15° Celsius-Gulf Stream. Trekked to the corrie loch of Coire Lagan at 570 metres. Blue-sky day, balmy and warm. After Lagan ascended 1,500 foot of scree, the “Great Stone Chute.” One final Grade 2 clamber along an arête and on top of the world. Seeing islands and mountains and bays and headlands from 20-50 miles away. Breath-taking, simply wonderful!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54184301406
Summit view from Sgurr Alasdair of the "Inaccessible Pinnacle" on Sgurr Dearg, Black Cuillins ridge, Isle of Skye.
Commentary. The ten mile horseshoe ridge of the Black Cuillins of Skye is spectacular and awesome to the nth. degree. On a clear day they afford views of 80-100 miles, north, south, east and west. Their location at the centre of an amazing island give endless mountain and island-studded seascapes made up of over fifty large, small, mountainous, hilly and flat Hebridean islands. What they lack in the myriad of green, blue, brown, tan and purple hues of the mainland Highlands, these grey volcanic peaks make up for in pure, brutal, raw, breath-taking, magnificence. The drama of their precipitous, angular, serrated ridge is stupendous and unforgettable, even other-worldly. The Inn Pinn, seen here, is often the last of 282 “Munros” to be tackled, due to a marked increase in its technical difficulty.
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54099592836
Broken cloud over Sgurr nan Gillean and the Red Cuillins in a summit view from Sgurr Alasdair, Isle of Skye. The mainland is clearly visible across the Inner and Outer Sounds.
Commentary. Oh, shadowy igneous, rocks. Eroded remnants of a 60 million-year-old magma chamber by glacier, constant freeze-thaw in cracks and dykes, gravity as boulders tumble, wind, rain and subsequent burns and rivers. Foreground up to top left is the Black Cuillin, mostly Gabbro with some Basalt Dyke Intrusion. Beyond these hills, towards top right, but before the sea channel is reached are the lighter-coloured Red Cuillin Hills, made of granitic intrusions. Both sets of hills produced by massive eruptions that may have emitted projectile rock and lava-flows to a volume of 15 cubic kilometres, equivalent to the Krakatoa blast. Lava-flows travelled up to 41 km. to places like the Sgurr of Eigg where rapid cooling produced glassy igneous rocks like Pitchstone or Obsidian. The Red Cuillins eroded much more evenly, hence their more even, rounded forms. The Black Cuillin is a much more dramatic erosion leaving a ten-mile serrated, knife-edge arête with frequent vertical clefts. It is raw, bare, jagged and breath-taking. Many climbers of the Himalayas, Alps, Dolomites, Andes and Rockies have loved this ridge as their training ground. Few places in the world have 360° views of sea-channels, ocean, islands, mainland, bays, beaches, headlands, peninsulas, valleys, forests and layered mountains into the distance. The views are astounding and totally captivating, simply unforgettable. In this telephoto image, we look across the huge chasm of Coir’ Uisg at the head of the valley in which lies Loch Coruisk, to the ridge called Druim nan Ramh. Beyond is the equally cavernous Harta Corrie, above which towers the iconic peak of Sgùrr nan Gillean, 964 metres (3,163 feet). Just left of centre is the highest of the Red Cuillins, Glamaig, 775 metres (2,543 feet). Across the Sound of Raasay is Applecross Bay and some of the Torridon Mountains. The highest peak, in shot, is Sgùrr Mor, part of Ben Alligin, 986 metres (3,235 feet) almost forty miles away! No wonder that the Isle of Skye is often rated one of the single most amazing islands on Earth. It undoubtedly is!
27-May-07 • Scotland by NJC. • flickr
54131567821
Videos
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Notes
- Data: Database of British and Irish Hills v18.2
- Maps: We use OS mapping for England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. Sadly, Channel Islands, Northern (OSNI) and Southern Ireland (OSI) mapping isn't available online, so we use Openstreetmap.