Ceann Garbh

About Ceann Garbh

Occupying the southern end of the rugged Foinaven ridge in Sutherland, this 902-metre peak is a wilderness of pale Cambrian quartzite. Its slopes are defined by the steep, shifting scree typical of the far north-west, rewarding climbers with stark views across the lochan-studded Laxford Forest toward the pyramid of Arkle.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is Gaelic in origin, where Ceann means head or end and Garbh means rough. It serves as a literal warning of the terrain; the summit is a high, desolate plateau of shattered quartzite blocks that makes for slow, ankle-straining progress.
• •It is the most southerly significant top on the Foinaven ridge. While many walkers focus on the higher points to the north, this summit offers the best perspective of the mountain’s complex, serpentine backbone as it winds toward the Atlantic.
• •The hill is a prime example of 'Sutherland geology', where white Cambrian quartzite sits atop the much darker, three-billion-year-old Lewisian Gneiss that forms the base of the surrounding moorland.
• •From the summit cairn, the view south-west across the deep trench of Loch Stack toward the sharp, isolated cone of Ben Stack is one of the most celebrated vistas in the Far North.
• •The shifting scree slopes are so synonymous with this massif that they have earned the nickname 'the Foinaven treadmill', a phenomenon where every two steps upward are traditionally compensated by one involuntary slide back down.