The Black Cuillin
Richards Mountain Pages
The Black Cuillins are jagged. They are formed from Gabbro, a rock with a
reputation for grip, and shredding anything
that rubs against it (including fingers). There's a lot of iron in it as well, so its no good relying on your compass - I got mine to spin
through 90 degrees on Blaven. For a view of Blaven, take a peek at the bottom of this page.
If you haven't worked out
what the cloudy image below is, I can inform you from the safety of this desk, that it is the Innacessible Pinnacle, as viewed from Marsco, with
a nice cushion of clouds around it to protect those sharp edges. The 'Pin' itself is the middle lump (it looks a lot sharper on my photo!). On
the day the photo was taken it remained clear whilst just about everything else stayed shrouded in cloud.
Geology
The Black Cuillin are most definitely volcanic. They are comprised of two main rock types.
Basalt can be found everywhere on Skye, but the bulk of
the Cuillin is made of this fine grained rock. I have not found any 'organ-pipe' columns of it on the Cuillin.
Gabbro is the grippy stuff that climbers
dream of. Its essentially the same rock as basalt, but it has had a little longer to cool, and form crystals.
There are one or two other rocks to be found, but in smaller quantities, often as seams.
Settlements
Needless to say the Black Cuillin are not vary populated. Loch Coruisk (which is completely enclosed by them) is perhaps the remotest place in
Britain (with the exception of Rockall and St Kilda). Nevertheless there are a few civilised spots from which you can gain access to them:
- Glen Brittle - A youth hostel, a campsite, a phone box, plus two buses a day - its quiet!
- Elgol - served by a daily post bus, I haven't been here
- Sligachan - The Sligachan Hotel is said to have a lot of character from its days as a climber haunt.
Unfortunately it is now dominated by more formal tourists, leaving the rest of us with the blander restuarant annex. The annex does boast a rather
confusing round pool table; and an excellent selection of local brews (if the weather is too bad to climb the Black cuillin, you can always drink a pint of it).
Transport
Buses from Fort William and Inverness stop at Broadford (for the post bus to Elgol), and at Sligachan (for local bus to Glen Brittle), but the first bus from
Fort William reaches Sligachan shortly after the last bus to Glen Brittle
Maps
You can buy the maps that cover this region, in association with Ordnance Survey, by using the links below:
back to map