Sgùrr na Càrnach 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 ...

, one of the 'Five Sisters of

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 ...

'. It is 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 ...

, 24 kilometres southeast of

Kyle of Lochalsh Kyle of Lochalsh ( , "strait of the foaming loch") is a village in the historic county of Ross & Cromarty on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entranc ...

. It reaches a height of and 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 ...

. The summit is rough and boulder-ridden, living up to its

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

name which means "peak of the stony place". From 1891 to 1997 Sgùrr na Càrnach was ranked as just a "Top" of the nearby Munro of Sgùrr Fhuraran and was not given separate Munro status, however in the 1997 revision of the tables by the

Scottish Mountaineering Club Established in 1889, the Scottish Mountaineering Club is a club for climbing and mountaineering in Scotland. History The Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in March 1889, as one of Scotland's first mountaineering ...

, the mountain was elevated to the Munro category as it was decided that with 134 metres of

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 ...

it had the required characteristics of a separate mountain. Sgùrr na Càrnach has extremely steep slopes to the east and west, the western slopes descend sharply to Glen Shiel while to the east the mountain falls precipitously into Coire Domhain. The mountain has a main north to south ridge which connects to Sgùrr Fhuraran (north) and Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe (south). There is a minor north western ridge which descends sharply to Glen Shiel, however this is rarely used as a means of ascent because of difficulties crossing the

River Shiel The River Shiel (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Seile'') is a four-kilometre-long river between Moidart and Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands. It begins at Acharacle, at the western end of Loch Shiel, and flows northwest towards Dorlin, where it ...

in the valley and of the unremitting steepness of the ridge itself. Because of Sgùrr na Càrnach’s central position of the three Munros which make up the Five Sisters of Kintail it is invariably approached along the ridge from either Sgùrr Fhuraran or Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe as walkers complete the full Five Sisters ridge walk. A direct ascent is possible, as mentioned, up the north west ridge. The best starting place for this direct ascent is Achnangart Farm (grid reference ) where there is parking space in an old quarry, a direct ascent up the hillside should not be attempted as there are steep crags higher up. The walker should walk 1.5 km north to the base of the NW ridge and ascend steeply but safely from there. The most common ascent starts further up the Glen () and climbs to the Bealach na Lapain before crossing Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe to reach Sgùrr na Càrnach. The view from the top of the mountain gives a fine end on view of

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 ...

to the north and an aerial prospect down into Coire Domhain to the east. Sgurr na Carnach - geograph

References

* The Munros: Donald Bennet et al.: Scottish Mountaineering Trust: * 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains, Ralph Storer,

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sgurr Na Carnach Munros Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands One-thousanders of Scotland