Suilven

Suilven
	The Suilven from the southwest
height	731 m ASL
location	Highlands , Scotland
Notch height	496 m
Coordinates	58 ° 6 '56 " N , 5 ° 8' 12" W Coordinates: 58 ° 6 '56 " N , 5 ° 8' 12" W.
rock	Torridonic sandstone

The Suilven ( Sula Bheinn in Gaelic ) is a 731 meter high mountain in Scotland . Its name means about pillar-shaped mountain or mountain of the pillar and can be traced back to the Norman immigrants of the early Middle Ages, who saw the mountain from the lake from the north-west with its narrow, steeply rising face. It is located in the Inverpolly National Nature Reserve , an almost deserted wide moorland in Assynt in the Northwest Highlands . Geologically, the Suilven consists of Torridonian sandstone , deposited on gneiss from the Lewisian and represents a remnant of the sandstone layer that originally covered the entire region. During the last glacial period, the mountain remained above the ice cover as a nunatak , recognizable by the steep, partly smoothly ground summit structures.

View from the northwest of Caisteal Liath, the highest peak of Suilven

View from Caisteal Liath to the southeast over the ridge of the Suilven to Meall Meadhonach

Although the Suilven is not classified as Munro , but only as Graham due to its comparatively low altitude , and some neighboring mountains such as the 847 m high Canisp are significantly higher, it is one of the most famous mountains in the region due to its distinctive shape that dominates the surrounding area northwest highlands . As an island mountain, the Suilven rises steeply on all sides from the otherwise flat moorland, its two kilometer long narrow ridge runs roughly from northwest to southeast and has three distinctive peaks distributed over the ridge. The highest point of Suilven is at the northwest end of the ridge and is called Caisteal Liath (Gaelic for gray castle ), in the middle follows the Meall Meadhonach ( middle round mountain ) and at the southeast end of the Meall Beag ( small round mountain ). Between the Caisteal Liath and the Meall Meadhonach, the ridge is cut by the lower lying Bealach Mor . From the northwest, the cone of Caisteal Liath looks very even and is sometimes referred to as Scotland's Sugar Loaf . The sight of the Suilven from the southwest, on the other hand, is more like the elongated back of a whale or a dinosaur .

In the largely deserted landscape of Assynt , characterized by moors and lochs , the Suilven lies far from human settlements. It can only be reached via hikes of around 10 to 13 kilometers, so that an ascent requires a total of 20 to 25 kilometers on foot. Starting points are Glencanisp Lodge, east of Lochinver , or the small settlement Elphin on the A835 , north of Knockan Crag , both starting points are connected by a public footpath . The approach branches off the Public Footpath north of Bealach Mor and leads over a steep ascent to Bealach, from there with easy climbing to the highest point of Suilven. There is also a slightly longer approach from the south. The starting point is the small settlement of Inverkirkaig south of Lochinver, from there a path leads over the Falls of Kirkaig and around Fionn Loch to the south side of the mountain.

Suilven plays a central role in the film Edie - It's never too late for dreams, which was released in 2017 . The shooting for the film, in which the 83-year-old Edie, played by Sheila Hancock , wants to fulfill her dream of a tour on the Suilven after the death of her husband, took place in the summer of 2016 on the Suilven.