Scotland 2013

I experienced substantial exposure to British culture as a child, mostly through family friends. My ancestry is about two-thirds British. My name, Edward Earl, is pure-blooded Anglo-Saxon. A trip to the British Isles has lurked on my back burner for a long time.

In more recent years, my mountain climbing pursuit has been closely aligned with a concept that originated parly in Britain. Prominence, the height of a mountain above the lowest point on the highest ridge connecting it to a higher peak, has been the subject of my research and the target of my climbing pursuits since 1998. Today Britain is home to a major contingent of my prominence research colleagues and some of the most prolific prominence-oriented climbers. I met several of them on my trip.

Since Scotland has the lion's share of mountains in Britain, Scotland also got the lion's share of my time in Britain. England and Wales, however, were not to be neglected. The main objective of the trip was to climb seven of the eleven most prominent hills in Britain, which included the highest point in each of the contingent nations. On rest days in between climbs I explored the history and culture of the region: two castles, a mythical water monster, and a cave that inspired a famous overture.

The day I arrived in Glasgow, I headed for a visit with Jonathan de Ferranti, who researches a number of facts and figures about mountains, including prominence. He showed me the way to the top of two of Britain's Marilyns (hill in Britain with at least 150 meters prominence) including the high point of his home county, Fife.

West Lomond, the highest hill in the county of Fife

Firth of Forth from the summit of West Lomond. With better visibility, Edinburg would be visible on its far side.

The first major hill I climbed was Ben Macdui, the highest peak in the Cairngorm Mountains in eastern Scotland. It is the second highest peak in Scotland and in the UK (1309m, 4295'); by prominence (950m, 3117') it is seventh in Scotland and eighth in the UK.

Although Scotland's mountains are not particularly rugged by North American or core European standards, its highest summits are of alpine quality, rising above treeline and sporting a landscape of tundra, talus, and boulders.

Ben Macdui from the slopes of Cairngorm Mountain

Cairngorn Mountain from the summit of Ben Macdui

My next aim was to climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. Due to rainy weather, I decided to postpone that plan and instead use the bad weather day to travel south to climb the highest hills in England and Wales (which I had planned to do anyway, though later in the trip). The first of these would be Snowdon, in Wales. For the peakbagging junkies, Snowdon's elevation is 1085m (3560') and its prominence is 1038m (3406'), ranking first in Wales and third in the UK by that metric.

View of Y Llewedd, a subpeak of Snowdon, from the Miner's Path route. Llewedd is pronounced "HLEW-edth".

View of Llyn Llydaw from near the summit of Y Llewedd

The day after I climbed Snowdon, I climbed Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England, located in the Lake District. Unfortunately the weather was not good enough to get any meaningful photographs of the landscape. For the peakbagging junkies, Scafell Pike's elevation is 978m (3209') and its prominence is 912m (2992'), ranking first in England and eleventh in the UK by that metric.

The next day I returned to Scotland and successfully climbed Ben Nevis, elevation 1344m (4409'), prominence equals elevation since it is the highest point on an island in the ocean. Weather was still cloudy, though the very top of the mountain was near the top of the cloud layer and got a few spells of sunshine.

View from the slopes of Ben Nevis

After a rest day that included a small hill climb with Jonathan, I took a ferry to the Isle of Mull to climb its highest hill, Ben More (elevation and prominence both 966m=3169'). Once again the summit was engulfed in clouds, but I had good views during much of the climb.

Views from the ferry to the Isle of Mull

View of Loch na Keal from the slopes of Ben More

Not far beyond the Isle of Mull is a small island called Staffa Island. I took a boat tour to this island because it is home to Fingal's Cave. Yes, this is the same cave that inspired Mendelssohn's famous composition, Fingal's Cave Overture (which I have played on my violin in several orchestras).

First view of Staffa Island

Several closer views of Staffa Island

The structure of Staffa Island is fascinating. Its lower layer is columnar basalt, similar to the surroundings of Svartifoss in Iceland. Its upper layer is non-crystalline basalt. Fingal's Cave is a large alcove in the columnar layer.

Fingal's Cave

Some renditions of Fingal's Cave overture by Mendelssohn:
Rendition 1   Rendition 2

The tour I was on sometimes lands on Staffa Island and visitors can explore it of foot, but I wasn't that lucky because of rough seas. I had to be content to gaze at the island from a few hundred feet away.

Note that a relief map of Scotland shows a prominent trench running diagonally from northeast to southwest (Inverness to Fort William), cutting the country in half:

This feature is called the Great Glen (Glen Albyn in native Gaelic). Geologists know it as a strike-slip fault, very similar to the San Andreas Fault along the California coast in that in both cases, the motion is mainly sideways. Several large lakes and rivers occupy the bottom of the Great Glen. The largest and best known of these is Loch Ness, home of the mythical Loch Ness Monster.

Because the bottom of the Great Glen is flat and involves little elevation change, it was inevitable that it would become a major commercial transportation corridor. In 1822, the Caledonian Canal, which provides sea-to-sea passage along the entire length of the Great Glen, was completed. The canal connects all of the lakes and bypasses the mostly unnavigable rivers. Transportation infrastructure includes locks, swing bridges (a type of bridge that rotates 90°, and carriageways (sometimes to service the canal, and sometimes to provide an alternative mode of transportation in its own right). Some of that infrastructure still stands to this day.

Swing bridge near Laggan locks

Old carriage bridge near Invermoriston

This bridge over the Caledonian Canal looks like a suspension bridge, but it is actually a cable-stayed bridge. Note the angle of the cables that hold up the deck.

Views of Loch Lochy

Views of Loch Ness

The Loch Ness Monster?

No, it's Scotland's flag at Urquhart Castle.

One of the major landmarks on the shore of Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle. The castle had its origins in the 6th century and was remodeled over the centuries. Stuctures that survive today date back to the 13th century.

The castle was attacked many times in the 16th century by the MacDonalds; the most devastating of these was in 1545 when it was heavily looted in an event known as the Great Raid. But the only completely successful attack was by the Jacobites in 1692. The occupants destroyed the castle as they fled to prevent its use by the attacking Jacobites. The abandoned castle fell into disrepair and was stripped of most of its building materials by looters and vandals. Little by little, its structures collapsed, usually in storms. In 1912 it was taken over by the state and preserved as a historic site.

Urquhart Castle	Grant Tower
The Sentinel	The Doocot, or Pigeon House. A close view of the inside wall shows an array of "pigeon holes" between the stones.
Interior of the remains of Grant Tower	View of the castle from the top of Grant Tower

The trebuchet, shown here, is a medieval weapon that is believed to have been used to attack Urquhart Castle. It works as a giant counterweight catapult. A projectile (usually a stone sphere) weighing up to 160 kg (350 lbs) can be hurled distances of up to 300 meters (1000 feet).
There is no historical record of a trebuchet ever having been used to attack Urquhart Castle, though trebuchet projectiles have been found in the castle.

The highest peak on the northwest side of the Great Glen is Carn Eige (elevation 1183m=3881'). This gives it the second greatest prominence in the UK (1147m=3763'). I climbed Carn Eige with Jonathan and two other British prominence acquaintances I met for the first time: Mark Trengrove and Andrew Tompkins.

Mark Trengrove, Andrew Tompkins, and myself on the summit of Carn Eige. Photo by Jonathan de Ferranti.

Ben Nevis from Carn Eige. Photo by Jonathan de Ferranti.

The final venue of my trip was the Isle of Skye, which is located off of Scotland's west coast.

Storr, a mountain on the northeast coast of the Isle of Skye which harbors a striking pinnacle

Views of sea cliffs near Storr

The final climb of my trip was of Sgurr Alasdair (Sgurr is pronounced "Score"), the highest peak on the Isle of Skye. Its elevation (and prominence, since it is the highest point on a marine island) is 992 meters (3255 feet). It ranks third in Scotland and fourth in the UK by prominence. It is in the Cuillin Range, which is quite rugged by Scotland standards. The backbone of the range consists of jagged, rocky peaks and pinnacles which require some rock scrambling to climb. A seasoned peakbagger with significant experience in the western USA (e.g. myself), however, would have little difficulty climbing most of the peaks in the Cuillin Range, including Sgurr Alasdair.

Waterfall on the trail to Sgurr Alasdair
Loch Coir'a'Ghrunnda from the summit of Sgurr Alasdair

On the drive from Skye back to Glasgow to meet my return flight, I stopped to visit Eilan Donan Castle.

Views of Eilan Donan Castle

My tour of Scotland was now concluded. Prior to Scotland, I also visited Iceland.