Gaor Bheinn, also known in English as Gulvain (), 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 Cana ...

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 in

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...

, south of

Loch Arkaig Loch Arkaig () is a body of freshwater in Lochaber, Scotland, to the west of the Great Glen. It is approximately in length and lies above sea level, and the maximum depth is around . The loch is among the last remaining fragments of the Caled ...

and north of the road west of Fort William (from which it is usually climbed). It is composed of banded

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and shaped like a letter Y, with two tops connected by a ridge running from northeast to southwest, with the northern top 6 m higher than the one to the south. Crags drop at either end, and steep slopes fall away to either side. The south ridge path is really a stream bed, so in wet conditions an easier if longer ascent from Na Socachan is to walk up Allt a Choire Reidh towards Gualann nan Osna and climb the south top's north-west ridge. 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 name comes from ''Gadhail Bheinn'', meaning "mountain of the

hunting dog A hunting dog is a Dog, canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different Dog type, types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, cur type dogs, and ...

s" (''gadhar''). It has also been suggested the name comes from ''Gaothail Bheinn'' or ''Gaothar Bheinn'', "windy mountain".

References

External links

Gulvain
from MunroMagic Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands Marilyns of Scotland Munros {{Highland-geo-stub