Càrn Eighe

The name "Carn Eighe", formerly spelled "Carn Eige" on Ordnance Survey maps, comes from Scottish Gaelic and has been interpreted as meaning "file peak" or "notch hill".{{sfn|Drummond|Stewart|1991|p=13}} However, according to Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba, the original Gaelic name is Càrn Èite.{{cite web|url=https://www.ainmean-aite.scot/placename/carn-eighe/ |title=Carn Eighe|work=Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba: Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland}}

The summit is pyramid-shaped, the culmination of three ridges meeting. The nearest Munro is its "twin summit", Mam Sodhail, about {{convert|1|km|mi|frac=8|spell=in}} to the southwest,{{Cite web|url=http://www.munromagic.com/MountainInfo.cfm?Mountain=12|title=Carn Eige|access-date=1 January 2014}} and there are three other Munros on the massif. Beinn Fhionnlaidh ends a spur to the north, and there is a much longer grassy ridge running out to the east, which after {{convert|4.5|km|mi|frac=4|abbr=on}} leads to Tom a' Choinnich ({{convert|1112|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}}) and then after a similar distance culminates in the rather bland summit of Toll Creagach, at {{convert|1054|m|ft}}. As well as the five Munros topping the massif, there are a further ten minor summits, known as "Munro Tops".{{sfn|Kew|2012|p=163}}

This ridge lies roughly midway between two lochs, Loch Affric/Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin to the south, and the larger Loch Mullardoch to the north. Opposing several lower summits across Loch Mullardoch, the highest being Sgurr na Lapaich at {{convert|1152|m|ft}}, it dominates the area, being the highest summit in the region. To the north of the summit, there is an impressive glacial corrie that falls half a kilometre to the shores of Corrie Lochan.{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=175}}

Càrn Eighe lies in the north-west highlands, north of the Great Glen Fault. Discontinuous sheets of West Highland granite gneiss stretch up from this fault through Glen Affric.{{sfn|Harris|Gibbons|1994|p=23}}

{{wide image|Carn Eige Scotland - Full Panorama from Summit - labeled.png|1600px|alt=The panorama from the summit}}

In 1848, the mountain was climbed by Colonel Winzer of the Ordnance Survey, who discovered a pile of stones and deduced that it had been climbed earlier, although a local gamekeeper suggested it was a shelter (bothy) for watchers.{{sfn|Townsend|2010|p=368}} In 1891 Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet listed Càrn Eighe in his Munro Tables, in which it has remained.{{Cite web|access-date=1 January 2014|url=http://www.mountainsofscotland.co.uk/Maps/map1891munros.htm|title=1891 Munro Map|publisher=Mountains of Scotland}} The full set of Munros has been "completed" at least 6,000 times since then.

Typical of the Scottish Highlands, the slopes of the mountain are largely treeless, especially at higher altitudes. The mountain is instead clad in a variety of grasses and mosses, which towards the summit are covered by snow during parts of the year. The lower slopes are described by Muir as "boggy, sodden moorland".{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=177}} The base of the southern side of the mountain, adjacent to Loch Affric, is wooded with Scots pine interspersed with other species such as oak, birch, and beech.{{sfn|Uney|2009|p=177}} These woods are inhabited by a number of endemic fauna, including the crested tit and the Scottish crossbill.{{sfn|Uney|2009|p=182}}

Situated in the north of Scotland, Càrn Eighe is on the border of two historic counties, Inverness and Ross and Cromarty, and is the highest point of the latter.{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=175}} The mountain is fairly remote, more than {{convert|10|km|mi|0|spell=in}} from the nearest road, in Glen Affric,{{Cite web|url=http://www.mountainhiking.org.uk/scotland-mountains/cannich/cannich1.shtml|title=Glen Affric|work=Scotland Mountain Guide|access-date=1 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101142728/http://www.mountainhiking.org.uk/scotland-mountains/cannich/cannich1.shtml|archive-date=1 January 2014}} although there is a youth hostel (Alltbeithe){{sfn|Bennet|Strang|1990|p=131}} in the same valley that is nearer. The summit is at UK grid reference NH123261,{{sfn|Kew|2012|p=164}} which falls on the OS Landranger 25 map, the OS Explorer series 414–5, and the much larger area map 9.{{sfn|Kew|2012|p=161}}

The mountain can be climbed from the south, beginning at Loch Affric, up the north side of Gleann nam Fiadh (fording a stream) and reaching the summit of both Càrn Eighe itself{{sfn|Bennet|Strang|1990|p=138}} and then Mam Sodhail in either clockwise or anticlockwise fashion (route described anticlockwise), potentially including Beinn Fhionnlaidh as an extra, since this is relatively difficult to access in any other way.{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=176–7}} The summit is marked by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar (trig point) and a cairn. Including only the three principal Munros (i.e. excluding the two summits to the east), a successful ascent of this mountain might take between 9 and 10 hours.{{sfn|Kew|2012|p=161}} There is also a route to the summit from the north, via Beinn Fhionnlaidh, starting from a boat-accessible spot on Loch Mullardoch.{{sfn|Bailey|2012|p=102}}

• List of Munro mountains
• Mountains and hills of Scotland

{{portal|mountains}}

{{Reflist|20em}}

• {{Cite book|last=Bailey|first=Dan|title=Great Mountain Days in Scotland: 50 Classic Hillwalking Challenges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WRPo3GSyRYC|year=2012|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-85284-612-1}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Bennet|first1=Donald John|last2=Strang|first2=Tom|title=The Northwest Highlands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFLcAAAACAAJ|date=1 July 1990|publisher=Scottish Mountaineering Trust|isbn=978-0-907521-28-0}}
• {{Cite book|last=Dawson|first=Alan|title=The Relative Hills of Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZZCW040bSAC|date=1 January 1992|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-84965-206-3}}
• {{Cite book|last=Butterfield|first=Irvine|author-link=Irvine Butterfield|title=The high mountains of Britain and Ireland: a guide for mountain walkers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kB0NPwAACAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Diadem Books|isbn=978-0-906371-30-5}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Drummond|first1=Peter|last2=Stewart|first2=Donald William|title=Scottish Hill and Mountain Names: The Origin and Meaning of the Names of Scotland's Hills and Mountains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5hnAAAAMAAJ|date=31 May 1991|publisher=Scottish Mountaineering Trust|isbn=978-0-907521-30-3}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Anthony Leonard|last2=Gibbons|first2=Wes|title=A Revised Correlation of Precambrian Rocks in the British Isles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e07_AvEChXMC|year=1994|publisher=Geological Society of London|isbn=978-1-897799-11-6}}
• {{Cite book|first=Steve|last=Kew|title=Walking the Munros Vol 2 - Northern Highlands and the Cairngorms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3zIebNiBqkC&pg=PT163|date=2 March 2012|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-84965-483-8}}
• {{Cite book|first=Jonny|last=Muir|title=The UK's County Tops: Reaching the top of 91 historic counties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mk6k8LtfV2kC|date=5 October 2011|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-84965-553-8}}
• {{Cite book|last=Townsend|first=Chris|title=Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoVZWInM98cC|year=2010|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-85284-442-4}}
• {{Cite book|first=Graham|last=Uney|title=Backpacker's Britain: Northern Scotland: Thirty Two- and Three-day Treks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=art_A1jU2BMC|date=May 2009|publisher=Cicerone Press Limited|isbn=978-1-85284-458-5}}

{{commons|Carn Eighe}}

• Càrn Eighe is at coordinates {{coord|57.288438|-5.114053|type:mountain_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
• Computer-generated virtual panoramas [http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/HLD/eige.gif Càrn Eige][http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas.html Index]
• Càrn Eighe on [http://www.scottishsport.co.uk/walking/affric.htm Scottish Sport] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118134322/http://www.scottishsport.co.uk/walking/affric.htm |date=18 January 2016 }}
• Càrn Eighe on [http://www.munromagic.com/MountainInfo.cfm?Mountain=12 Munro Magic]

{{Scottish Munros section 11}}

{{British hills}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carn Eighe}}

Category:Ross and Cromarty

Category:Marilyns of Scotland

Category:Munros

Category:Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands

Category:Highest points of historic Scottish counties

Category:One-thousanders of Scotland