Canisp (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: ''Canasp'') is a mountain in the far north west of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is situated in the parish of

Assynt Assynt ( or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with neighbour ...

, in the county of

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

, north of the town of

Ullapool Ullapool (; ) is a village and port located in the civil parish of Lochbroom in the county of Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. It is located around northwest of Inverness. According to the Scottish Government in 2016, the village had a ...

. Canisp reaches a height of and qualifies as a Corbett and Marilyn hill. The mountain's name translates from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''kambsnípa'' or point of the comb/ridge.

Geography and geology

Canisp is an isolated mountain that stands in the Glencanisp Forest, a large rock and water wilderness. It has a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of . Canisp has little vegetation, even on its lower slopes large areas of

Gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) 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. This rock is formed under p ...

(one of the oldest rocks in the world) are visible on the surface. Canisp stands in a geologically important area. It is part of the

Moine Thrust Belt The Moine Thrust Belt or Moine Thrust Zone is a linear tectonic feature in the Scottish Highlands which runs from Loch Eriboll on the north coast southwest to the Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye. The thrust belt consists of a series of thr ...

and is typical of many of the Assynt hills in that it rises from a base of

Lewisian Gneiss The Lewisian complex or Lewisian gneiss is a suite of Precambrian metamorphic rocks that outcrop in the northwestern part of Scotland, forming part of the Hebridean terrane and the North Atlantic Craton. These rocks are of Archaean and Paleopr ...

and is composed of

Torridonian The Torridonian is the informal name given to a sequence of Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that outcrop in a strip along the northwestern coast of Scotland and some parts of the Inner Hebrides from the Isle of Mull in the sou ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

capped by

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 ...

giving the hill a distinctive light grey crown. Canisp was formed when surrounding rocks were eroded during an episode of glaciation, while the ridge was left poking above the level of the ice sheet, as a

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also cal ...

. Compared to the other Assynt hills, Canisp does not show any distinct topographic qualities. It has a symmetrical profile with two main ridges running northwest and southeast. Its southwestern flank has crags and

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 falls steeply into Glen Canisp, while its northeastern slopes also fall precipitously to the

lochan ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or " sea inlet" in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes called a lochan. Lochs which ...

studded

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

. Canisp is less visited than the nearby smaller mountain of Suilven, with its famous jagged summit ridge, which stands to the west and is lower in elevation. Canisp stands on the lands of the Glencanisp and Drumrunie Estates, a tract of land original owned by the Vestey family. In 2005, the Assynt Foundation, a group of around 900 local residents, purchased the estate for £2,900,000.

Ascents

The most popular ascent of Canisp starts at the north end of

Loch Awe Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha''; also sometimes anglicised as Lochawe, Lochaw, or Lochow) is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Lo ...

() where there is car parking and a footbridge to cross the River Loanan as it leaves the loch. The route gains the summit by the south east ridge. This is the shortest and quickest route, but it is still long, almost completely devoid of paths, and defended by stones, heather and bog. Another ascent from the east which also uses the southeast ridge starts at Stronchrubie where there is also a footbridge over the Loanan. Longer ascents are also possible from

Lochinver Lochinver (''Loch an Inbhir'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is a village at the head of the sea loch Loch Inver, on the coast in the Assynt district of Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Highland, Scotland. A few miles north-east is Loch Assynt which ...

and Ledmore Junction, both these routes utilise the path between the two places that traverses the length of Glen Canisp before leaving the glen to climb the mountain by either its northwest ridge (from Lochinver) or southeast ridge (from Ledmore). The route from

gains the northwest ridge by a path from Loch na Gainimh and is regarded by

Hamish Brown Hamish Brown Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. Royal Scottish Geographical Society, FRSGS is a professional writer, lecturer and photographer specialising in mountain and outdoor topics. He is best known for his walking exploits in the Scottish ...

as the most pleasing way up the mountain. The summit of Canisp is marked by a large stone built wind shelter. The view from the top of the mountain is regarded as one of the finest in Scotland giving all round views taking in the surrounding loch studded moorland,

The Minch The Minch () is a strait in north-west Scotland that separates the mainland from Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It was known as ("Scotland's firth") in Old Norse. The Minch's southern extension, which separates Skye from the midd ...

beyond Lochinver and most of the well known mountains of Assynt.

References

* The Corbetts and Other Scottish Hill, (SMC Guide) * Climbing the Corbetts, Hamish Brown,

External links

BBC News on purchase of Glen Canisp Estate

Geology of NW Scotland
{{Coord, 58.120906, -5.052849, display=title Corbetts Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands

Geography and geology

Ascents

See also

References

External links