Cuillins
Cuillins,
Isle of Skye, Scotland. This grand range of mountains, the
most precipitous and striking in Great Britain, is known also
as the Cuchullins, the last-named referring to its possible
association with an Ossianic hero. The main Cuillin ridges,
sometimes known as the Black Cuillins in order to distinguish
them from the much less impressive Red Cuillins, extend in
an irregular semi-circle, some 6 miles in length, overlooking
the spectacular Loch Coruisk in the south-western sector of
the island, and are composed of black gabbro, a rock particularly
suitable for climbing.
The
highest peak is Sgurr Alasdair, 3,309 ft., but the finest
is perhaps Sgurr nan Gillean, 3,167 ft., which rises dramatically
above the village of Sligachan. The Cuillins are of much interest
to geologists, and are noted for the misty conditions with
which they are often affected, a danger to inexperienced climbers.
The
views from the summit ridges are superb, and quite unequalled
elsewhere in Scotland. The Red Cuillins, or Red
Hills, face the main ridge from the opposite side of Glen
Sligachan, and their chief peaks, Glamaig, 2,537 ft., and
Marsco, 2,414 ft., are rounded and smooth, being composed
of a crumbly pink granite.
Beyond
them, to the south, rises Blaven, 3,042 ft., a magnificent
outlier of the Black Cuillins, noted for the rock traverse
of Clach Glas, and overlooking Loch na Creitheach and Loch
Slapin, both in the Strathaird
peninsula.
The
main Cuillin ridge is essentially for expert climbers, but
it is possible to reach the peak of Bruach na Frithe, 3,143
ft., from the famous climbing centre of Sligachan, without
serious difficulty, and the view of the fantastic-
ally curved summit ridge and wild corries from this belvedere
is most impressive. From the mainland, the serrated Cuillin
ridge can be seen from the summits of some of the loftiest
of the Ross-shire and Inverness-shire peaks, and from points
on the coast between the Kyle of Lochalsh and Gairloch districts.
Nearer views of their splendour can be obtained from a boat
on Loch Scavaig, above which rises Gars Bheinn, 2,934 ft.,
the most southerly of the Cuillins.
