is a mountain in

Kintail Kintail () is a mountainous area sitting at the head of Loch Duich in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, located in the Highland Council area. Name The area is called ''Cinn t-Sàile'' in Scottish Gaelic – which, since the "s" is sile ...

on the northern side of

Glen Shiel Glen Shiel (; also known as Glenshiel) is a glen in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The glen runs approximately from southeast to northwest, from the Cluanie Inn () at the western end of Loch Cluanie and the start of Glenmoriston to se ...

in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. With a height of , it is classed as a

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 ...

. It is the highest of three Munros (the others being

Aonach Meadhoin Aonach Meadhoin is a Munro mountain situated in the Kintail region of Scotland. It stands on the northern side of Glen Shiel some 31 kilometres south east of Kyle of Lochalsh. Overview Aonach Meadhoin reaches a height of 1001 metres (328 ...

and Sàileag) known as the "Brothers of Kintail" in contrast to the Five Sisters of Kintail which lie just to the west.

Landscape

Sgùrr a' Bhealaich Dheirg is similar to the other Munros on the northern side of Glen Shiel in that it has extremely steep grassy slopes which descend into Glen Shiel, while to the north there are craggy coires and ridges. The southern flank of the mountain descends 850 metres in two kilometres to the valley floor: this steepness deters direct ascents of the mountain from the

A87 road The A87 is a major road in the Highland region of Scotland. It runs west from its junction with the A82 road at Invergarry (), along the north shores of Loch Garry and Loch Cluanie, then down through Glen Shiel and along Loch Duich to Kyle ...

in the glen. There are also steepy grassy slopes to the east which descend to Coire nan Eun. The mountain is made up of four ridges. The main east–west ridge links with the adjoining Munros of Sàileag (west) and Aonach Meadhoin (east). There are two ridges which go northerly (north and north east) from the summit plateau and descend into the isolated country of the Kintail Forest. Sgùrr a' Bhealaich Dheirg stands on the main east–west

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

of Scotland with drainage going to both coasts of the country. It has the distinction of having two sizable rivers rising from its northern corries. The River Croe which emerges from a small lochan called Loch a Glas Choire within the Glas Choire flows north west for 12 kilometres to join the sea at

Loch Duich Loch Duich (Scottish Gaelic: "Loch Dubhthaich") is a sea loch situated on the western coast of Scotland, in the Scottish highlands, Highlands. History In 1719, British forces burned many homesteads along the loch's shores in the month preceding ...

on the west coast. The River Affric rises in Coire nan Eun on the eastern flank of the mountain and flows some 80 kilometres to reach the east coast at the Beauly Firth. The steep southern slopes of the mountain are clothed in the trees of the Glenshiel Forest below the 450 metre contour.

Climbing

As mentioned, the steepness of the southern slopes deter direct ascents of the mountain. It is possible to tackle the mountain from a starting point two kilometres west of the Cluanie Inn, going through the forest and ascending by a subsidiary ridge called Meall a’ Charra which joins the eastern ridge at the

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

with Aonach Meadhoin. The majority of visitors to the summit arrive along either the east or west ridges from the adjoining “Brothers” Munros. This traverse of all three mountains starts either at the Cluanie Inn to the east of the group, or from a parking place in Glen Shiel at grid reference to the west. The starting and finishing point of this walk is several kilometres apart. The Summit of Sgùrr a' Bhealaich Dheirg can come as a surprise to the walker with the highest point situated off the main summit plateau, 80 metres along the narrow north east ridge with a strange

dry stone wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

leading to it. It is an easy scramble to reach the well built summit

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 ...

which commands good views of the mountainous country to the north.

References

* The Munros (SMC Guide) Donald Bennett et al., * Hamish's Mountain Walk, Hamish Brown, * The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland, Irvine Butterfield, * 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains, Ralph Storer,

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sgurr A Bhealaich Dheirg Munros Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands One-thousanders of Scotland