Buachaille Etive Mòr — summit
Image by 68Larryew from Pixabay

Buachaille Etive Mòr

  • Elevation1,021 m
  • 1 min read
  • 56.647° N 4.898° W

Interesting facts

  • The mountain is built largely of rhyolite and andesite from the Glencoe volcano, an ancient caldera that last erupted around 420 million years ago.
  • Its four main tops are Stob Dearg (1,021 m), Stob na Doire (1,011 m), Stob Coire Altruim (941 m) and Stob na Bròige (956 m).
  • Across the valley of the Lairig Gartain stands its smaller sister ridge, Buachaille Etive Beag, the little herdsman of Etive.
  • The Abraham brothers, pioneers of climbing photography, also photographed their 1900 ascent of Crowberry Ridge, a classic rock climb graded Severe.
  • The Lagangarbh hut, owned by the National Trust for Scotland and sleeping up to 30 climbers, is the only building in the mountain's immediate vicinity.
  • The best-known viewpoint is a set of small waterfalls on the River Coupall, east of the mountain, which makes it probably the most photographed peak in Scotland.
  • The Buachaille appears in a song sequence of the 1998 Bollywood film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
  • It served as the backdrop for music videos including The Cure's Pictures of You (1990) and Nick Heyward's Whistle Down the Wind (1983).

Why it is worth it

Buachaille Etive Mòr stands at the point where the road across Rannoch Moor drops into Glen Coe, and its front peak, Stob Dearg, rises from the flat bog in a single steep pyramid of rock. Few mountains in Scotland are as instantly recognisable: seen from the A82, with the River Coupall or the Etive in the foreground, it looks like a sentinel guarding the entrance to the glen. The Gaelic name means "great herdsman of Etive", and it suits a peak that seems to watch over the moor.

The pyramid is only the end of a long ridge. Behind Stob Dearg (1,021 metres) the Buachaille runs for about 8 kilometres to the southwest with four main tops, and the farthest, Stob na Bròige, was given the status of a separate Munro in 1997. The whole massif is almost encircled by the River Etive and its tributary the Coupall, which adds to its sense of standing apart from its neighbours. The mountain is a favourite subject for landscape photographers in every season.

The rock faces of Stob Dearg are part of the history of British climbing. Crowberry Ridge was first climbed directly in 1900 by the Abraham brothers, and Curved Ridge is one of the most celebrated scrambles in the country, threading up between the cliffs to the summit. At the foot of the mountain stands the Lagangarbh hut, used by the Scottish Mountaineering Club, which has become part of the classic view itself. The mountain also appears in films, among them Skyfall.

Getting there

The Buachaille rises beside the A82 between Glasgow and Fort William; the usual starting point is the small roadside parking area at Altnafeadh, close to the Lagangarbh hut. Fort William is about 23 km away and Glasgow Airport (GLA) about 91 km. Scottish Citylink coaches between Glasgow and Fort William stop at the Kings House Hotel nearby, from where a track leads along the old military road to Altnafeadh.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Argyll and Bute 6The Most Beautiful Places in Scotland 39The Most Beautiful Places in the United Kingdom 154The Most Beautiful Natural Wonders in Scotland 7The Most Beautiful Natural Wonders in the United Kingdom 14The Most Spectacular Summits 26The Most Beautiful Natural Wonders 580

From the encyclopaedia

Buachaille Etive Mòr, also known simply as "The Buachaille", is a mountain at the head of Glen Etive in the Highlands of Scotland. Its pyramidal shape, as seen from the northeast, makes it one of the most recognisable mountains in Scotland, and one of the most depicted on postcards and calendars.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

56.64730, -4.89780per Wikidata