Beinn Liath Mhòr is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

mountain situated in the mountainous area between Strath Carron and

Glen Torridon The Torridon Hills surround Torridon village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is usually applied to the mountains to the north of Glen Torridon. They are among the most dramatic and spectacular peaks in the British Isles and made ...

Wester Ross Wester Ross () is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to th ...

in the

Highland region Highland (, ; ) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It has land borders with t ...

. Geologically Beinn Liath Mhòr is made up of

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

and

Torridonian sandstone The Torridon Group is a series of Tonian (lower Neoproterozoic) arenaceous and argillaceous sedimentary rocks, which occur extensively in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. These strata are particularly well exposed in the district of upper ...

s giving the mountain a distinctive colour contrast of light and dark. The mountain's other main characteristic is its two-kilometre-long undulating summit ridge which does not drop below 800 metres for its entire length. This culminates at the summit at its far western end at a height of 926 metres (3038 feet) making Beinn Liath Mhòr the 258th highest

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

Ascent

The most common approach to Beinn Liath Mhòr starts at Achnashellach on the A890 road and goes by the

right of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

to Glen Torridon. This follows the impressive Coire Lair, a rugged corrie surrounded by three imposing mountains, the other two being Sgorr Ruadh (which is also a Munro) and Fuar Tholl which is ranked as one of the finest

Corbetts This is a list of Corbett mountains in Scotland by height. Corbetts are defined as Scottish mountains between in height with a prominence of at least ; solely imperial measurement thresholds. The first list was compiled in the 1920s by John ...

by mountain writers. The Coire Lair path is followed for two kilometres until the path forks, here the right hand fork is taken across moorland for 0.5 kilometre until reaching the steep climb of Beinn Liath Mhòr’s south east ridge, which leads directly to the summit plateau. The summit ridge consists of light coloured

stones, whilst the highest point at the far end is crowned by a quartzite

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

. It is also possible to climb Beinn Liath Mhòr from Glen Torridon starting at the car park at grid reference and following the Ling path to its termination and then ascending the mountain by its western ridge. The prospect from the summit gives splendid views of the Torridon mountains to the west including a unique side on view of

Liathach ; pronounced ) is a mountain in the Torridon Hills, in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It stands between Loch Torridon and the neighbouring mountain Beinn Eighe. The mountain is a ridge running east–west, with several peaks, and its upper ...

and its pinnacles, there are many small lochans well seen below the mountain, as is Upper

Loch Torridon Loch Torridon () is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland in the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Ru ...

. Many walkers will continue from Beinn Liath Mhòr to take in the accompanying Munro of Sgorr Ruadh and strong walkers will also take in Fuar Tholl giving a top class high level walk around Coire Lair.

Footnotes

References

* Torridon, A Walker's Guide: Peter Barton: Cicerone Press: * The Munros, SMC Guide: Donald Bennett et al.: Scottish Mountaineering Trust: Liathach from Beinn Liath Mhor

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beinn Liath Mhor Munros Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands Mountains and hills of Highland (council area) Torridon