is a mountain in the

Cuillin The Cuillin () is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Sligachan.R. Anderson & ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, Scotland. It is topped by the Inaccessible Pinnacle (or An Stac in Gaelic), a fin of rock measuring along its longest edge. The top of the Pinnacle stands at above sea level, making Sgùrr Dearg the only

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 ...

with a peak that can only be reached by

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

. This makes it the biggest hurdle for many Munro baggers. First climbed by

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Lawrence Pilkington in 1880, the Pinnacle was never climbed by Sir

Hugh Munro 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 ...

himself. Because of its status as the most difficult of the Munros it has now spawned a cottage industry for the local guides, who are often seen escorting parties of novice climbers. Unlike much of the Cuillin, the pinnacle is

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, not

gabbro Gabbro ( ) is a phaneritic (coarse-grained and magnesium- and iron-rich), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ch ...

, and thus is somewhat slippery when wet.

Geography

Sgùrr Dearg lies on the main Cuillin ridge at the junction of Coire Lagan, Coire na Banachdich and Coir'-uisg. It is the second highest peak in the Cuillin, and faces the highest,

Sgùrr Alasdair Sgùrr Alasdair is the highest peak of the Cuillin, Black Cuillin, and the highest peak on the Isle of Skye and in the Inner Hebrides, and indeed in all the List of islands of Scotland, Scottish islands, at . Like the rest of the range it is com ...

, across Coire Lagan. Although the name ''Sgùrr Dearg'' refers to the mountain as a whole, references to the "summit" of Sgùrr Dearg are, unless otherwise qualified, generally taken to indicate the top immediately below the Inaccessible Pinnacle on the north-western side. For reasons that remain unclear, this summit was listed as a

in the first (1891) edition of ''Munro's Tables'', while the higher Pinnacle was listed as a subsidiary top; this situation was reversed in the first revision of the tables in 1921.

Ascents

The Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgurr Dearg - geograph

Approach

While the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the hardest of the Cuillin's summits to reach, the approach to its base is relatively simple by Cuillin standards. Most walkers and climbers start from

Glen Brittle Glen Brittle (''Gleann Breadail'' in Scottish Gaelic) is a large glen in the south of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. It runs roughly south to north, along the River Brittle, which has its mouth at Loch Brittle (a sea loch). The glen is bounded ...

, from where the easiest route involves following the faint path to the Bealach Coire na Banachdich via the corrie of the same name; from here the top of Sgùrr Dearg may be gained via a tedious scree slope interspersed with some easy

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...

. A more interesting ascent may be achieved by ascending the screes of Sròn Dearg, which leads to Sgùrr Dearg's narrow and rocky south-west ridge, a grade 1/2 scramble. Many climbers tackle the mountain as part of a circuit of the Coire Lagan skyline, or a traverse of the main Cuillin ridge, approaching it along the ridge from

Sgùrr MhicChoinnich Sgùrr MhicChoinnich is a mountain on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is in the Black Cuillin range of mountains and is classified as a Munro. Like all the other Black Cuillin mountains it is made predominantly of gabbro rock and has little ve ...

to the south-east (Grade 2). In this case the top of Sgùrr Dearg can be reached direct by scrambling up the broad flank to the left of An Stac and the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

The Inaccessible Pinnacle

The Inaccessible Pinnacle (''An Stac'' in Gaelic), colloquially called the 'In Pin' or 'In Pinn' by mountaineers, was first climbed on 18 August 1880 by a pair of Lancashire brothers,

and Lawrence Pilkington. They were guided to the foot of the climb from Sligachan via Coruisk and Bealach Coire na Banachdich by a local shepherd called John Mackenzie. They climbed it by the east ridge, and had to throw down a lot of loose rock as they climbed. The usual ascent of the Inaccessible Pinnacle itself is by its long east ridge, a climb of vertically involving two roped pitches. Although graded Moderate (the lowest grade now in use in the British grading system), with good holds, the ridge is narrow and exceptionally exposed. This route was described by an early climber as "a knife-edged ridge, with an overhanging and infinite drop on one side, and a drop on the other side even steeper and longer". Some climbers prefer to tackle the much shorter west ridge (), graded Very Difficult. It is usual to descend from the summit of the Pinnacle by

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

off the west end, and a permanent anchor is sited on the summit for this purpose. In 2014 cyclist

Danny MacAskill Daniel MacAskill (born 23 December 1985) is a Scottish trials cyclist, from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. He works professionally as a street trials and mountain bike rider for Santa Cruz Bicycles. His YouTube channel has more than half a m ...

climbed Sgùrr Dearg without safety ropes, while carrying a mountain bike on his back. The video was viewed over 14 million times in the week following its launch on 2 October 2014 and has been watched over 79.5 million times (as of July 2023).

Notes

References

External links

Sgùrr Dearg & In Pinn
- details of route of ascent including free downloadable OS map.
"Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle"
- official site of the film, featuring the mountain {{DEFAULTSORT:Sgurr Dearg Munros Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Isle of Skye Volcanoes of Scotland Paleogene volcanism Extinct volcanoes of Europe