Càrn Eige
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Carn Eige ( gd, Càrn Èite) is a mountain in the
Northwest Highlands The Northwest Highlands are located in the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen (Glen More). The region comprises Wester Ross, Assynt, Sutherland and part of Caithness. The Caledonian Canal, ...
of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Rising to above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Scotland north of the
Great Glen The Great Glen ( gd, An Gleann Mòr ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic ), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of Moray Firth, in an approximately straight ...
, the twelfth-highest in the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, and, in terms of
relative height In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
(topographic prominence), it is the second-tallest mountain in the British Isles after
Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; gd, Beinn Nibheis ) is the highest mountain in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland ...
(its "parent peak" for determination of topographic prominence). Carn Eige lies between
Glen Affric Glen Affric ( gd, Gleann Afraig) is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. A minor ...
and
Loch Mullardoch Loch Mullardoch is a major reservoir in Glen Cannich in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It was created by the damming in 1951 of the River Cannich just upstream of Mullardoch House, as part of the Affric-Beauly hydro-electric power scheme. ...
, and is at the heart of a massif along with its
twin peak Twin Peak may refer to: *Twin Peaks, television series *The Twins, two mountains in Canada known as: **North Twin Peak **South Twin Peak See also * Twin peak * Double summit * Double Peak (disambiguation) A double summit, double peak, twin summ ...
, the
Mam Sodhail Mam Sodhail or Màm Sabhail (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic), sometimes anglicised "Mam Soul", is a mountain with a height of in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Classed as a Munro, it is beside Carn Eige in the secluded country on the nort ...
. Administratively, it is in the
Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...
, on the boundary between the historic counties of
Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
and
Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...
, on the former lands of the
Clan Chisholm Clan Chisholm (pronounced / ˈtʃɪzÉ™m/ ) ( gd, Siosal, IPA: ˆÊƒis̪əɫ̪ is a Highland Scottish clan. History Origins According to Alexander Mackenzie, the Clan Chisholm is of Norman and Saxon origin. Tradition stating that the Chisholms w ...
. The mountain is difficult to access, being from the nearest road, and its sub-peak to the north, Beinn Fhionnlaidh, is even more inaccessible.


Name

The name "Carn Eige", also spelt "Carn Eighe", comes from
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
and has been interpreted as meaning "file peak" or "notch hill". However, according to
Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba (; "Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland") is the national advisory partnership for Gaelic place names in Scotland. Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba are based at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Skye. History Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba began as the ...
, the original and correct Gaelic name is ''Càrn Èite''.


Landscape

The summit is pyramid-shaped, the culmination of three ridges meeting. The nearest
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 Nevis ...
is its "twin summit",
Mam Sodhail Mam Sodhail or Màm Sabhail (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic), sometimes anglicised "Mam Soul", is a mountain with a height of in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Classed as a Munro, it is beside Carn Eige in the secluded country on the nort ...
, about to the southwest, and there are three other Munros on the massif. Beinn Fhionnlaidh ends a spur to the north, and there is a much longer grassy ridge running out to the east, which after leads to Tom a' Choinich () and then after a similar distance culminates in the rather bland summit of Toll Creagach, at . As well as the five Munros topping the massif, there are a further ten minor summits, known as " Munro Tops". This ridge lies roughly midway between two lochs,
Loch Affric Loch Affric is a freshwater loch within Glen Affric, in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It lies about southwest of Beauly.Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map sheet 414 and 415 The loch sits in a national ...
/ Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin to the south, and the larger
Loch Mullardoch Loch Mullardoch is a major reservoir in Glen Cannich in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It was created by the damming in 1951 of the River Cannich just upstream of Mullardoch House, as part of the Affric-Beauly hydro-electric power scheme. ...
to the north. Opposing several lower summits across Loch Mullardoch, the highest being Sgurr na Lapaich at , it dominates the area, being the highest summit in the region. To the north of the summit, there is an impressive glacial corrie that falls half a kilometre to the shores of Corrie Lochan. Càrn Eige lies in the north-west highlands, north of the
Great Glen Fault The Great Glen Fault is a strike-slip fault that runs through the Great Glen in Scotland. The fault is mostly inactive today, but occasional moderate tremors have been recorded over the past 150 years. Location Aligned northeast to southwest, t ...
. Discontinuous sheets of West Highland granite
gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
stretch up from this fault through Glen Affric.


Summit panorama


History

In 1848, the mountain was climbed by Colonel Winzer of the
Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...
, who discovered a pile of stones and deduced that it had been climbed earlier, although a local
gamekeeper A gamekeeper (often abbreviated to keeper), or in case of those dealing with deer (deer-)stalker, is a person who manages an area of countryside (e.g. areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland) to make sure there is enough game for shoo ...
suggested it was a shelter (
bothy A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...
) for watchers. In 1891
Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet Sir Hugh Thomas Munro, 4th Baronet (16 October 1856 – 19 March 1919), was a British mountaineer best known for his list of mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), known as Munros. Born in London, Munro was the fifth child of ...
listed Càrn Eige in his ''Munro Tables'', in which it has remained. The full set of Munros has been "completed" at least 5,000 times since then.


Flora and fauna

Typical of the
Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
, the slopes of the mountain are largely treeless, especially at higher altitudes. The mountain is instead clad in a variety of
grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
es and
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es, which towards the summit are covered by snow during parts of the year. The lower slopes are described by Muir as "boggy, sodden moorland". The base of the southern side of the mountain, adjacent to Loch Affric, is wooded with
Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
interspersed with other species such as
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
,
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
, and
beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
. These woods are inhabited by a number of endemic fauna, including the
crested tit The crested tit or European crested tit (''Lophophanes cristatus'') (formerly ''Parus cristatus''), is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder in coniferous forests throughout central and north ...
and the
Scottish crossbill The Scottish crossbill (''Loxia scotica'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is endemic to the Caledonian Forests of Scotland, and is the only terrestrial vertebrate species endemic to the United Kingdom. The Scottish ...
.


Location

Situated in the north of Scotland, Càrn Eige is on the border of two historic counties,
Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
and
Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latt ...
, and is the highest point of the latter. The mountain is very remote, more than from the nearest road, in
Glen Affric Glen Affric ( gd, Gleann Afraig) is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. A minor ...
, although there is a
youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...
( Alltbeithe) in the same valley that is nearer. The summit is at UK grid reference NH123261, which falls on the OS '' Landranger'' 25 map, the OS ''Explorer'' series 414–5, and the much larger area map 9.


Climbing

The mountain can be climbed from the south, beginning at Loch Affric, up the north side of Gleann nam Fiadh (fording a stream) and reaching the summit of both Càrn Eige itself and then Mam Sodhail in either clockwise or anticlockwise fashion (route described anticlockwise), potentially including Beinn Fhionnlaidh as an extra, since this is relatively difficult to access in any other way. The summit is marked by an Ordnance Survey
triangulation pillar A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...
(trig point) and a cairn. Including only the three principal Munros (i.e. excluding the two summits to the east), a successful ascent of this mountain might take between 9 and 10 hours. There is also a route to the summit from the north, via Beinn Fhionnlaidh, starting from a boat-accessible spot on Loch Mullardoch.


See also

*
List of Munro mountains This is a list of Munro mountains and Munro Tops in Scotland by height. Munros are defined as Scottish mountains over in height, and which are on the Scottish Mountaineering Club ("SMC") official list of Munros. In addition, the SMC define Mu ...
*
Mountains and hills of Scotland Scotland is the most mountainous country in the United Kingdom. Scotland's mountain ranges can be divided in a roughly north to south direction into: the Scottish Highlands, the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands, the latter two primarily belo ...


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *


External links

* Càrn Eige is at coordinates * Computer-generated virtual panorama
Càrn Eige
http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas.html Index] * Càrn Eighe o
Scottish Sport
* Càrn Eighe o
Munro Magic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carn Eige Ross and Cromarty Marilyns of Scotland Munros Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands Highest points of historic Scottish counties One-thousanders of the British Isles