Mountain landscape - Scotland

Beinn Eighe 4.57am

Dawn light on the rocky ridge between Spidean Coire nan Clach on Beinn Eighe towards Coinneach Mhor and Ruadh-stac Mòr in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. In the background is Liathach (the Grey One), Beinn Alligin (Jewelled Hill) and Beinn Dearg (Red Mountain).

Scottish National Heritage shares in their story of Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve that the geology of Beinn Eighe is ‘ancient grey Lewisian Gneiss, with younger pink Torridian sandstone forming the bulk of the mountains’ and that ‘some of the summits are topped by striking white Cambrian quartzite’ (which was originally sandstone until the rock was heated and pressured deep underground by tectonic activity). Both during the last Ice Age, and since then, grinding from the glaciation and the weathering of this quartzite rock has caused it to shatter and it contributes to the distinct profile of the Beinn Eighe ridge from Glen Torridon that lends the massif its name (Beinn Eighe it’s said has an English translation of ‘File Mountain’).

The rocky terrain descending from Spidean Coire Nan Clach on Beinn Eighe towards Coinneach Mor I’ve illustrated in this photograph I’d propose is a good example of the quartzite rock elements of the mountain, being an angled, shattered boulder-field that provides great interest as you begin the traverse towards Coinneach Mhor. (It also requires great care as it would be easy to turn an ankle, especially if running). The complex rocky ground continues as you head west, alternating between quartzite and sandstone as the ridge winds its way northward towards Ruadh-stac Mòr.

View more images from this trip on my blog - Wild camping and photography - Beinn Eighe

For further images of the Beinn Eighe ridge, see my Celtman gallery