Isle of Eigg

An Sgùrr

The mile-long pitchstone ridge over the south of Eigg, the largest of its kind in Europe, climbed from the north to 393 metres.

Welcome

An Sgùrr is the great prow of rock that rises over the south end of Eigg and gives the island its outline from far across the sea.

It is a mile-long ridge of pitchstone, the largest of its kind in Europe, and from the south-east its sheer cliffs look like ground for climbers only. The way up is from the north, and it is a hill walk, not a climb.

The walk starts from the pier at Galmisdale and is about 7km there and back. The path is boggy in places, and the last stretch to the trig point at 393 metres is over rock. Allow three hours or more, and choose a calm day: the summit is exposed, with steep drops.

Before you go

The path starts from the pier at Galmisdale.

It is about 7km and three hours there and back, boggy in places, and the last part to the summit is over rock with steep drops close by; go on a clear, calm day. A longer loop of 11.5km and about four and a half hours comes back over rough moor by the ruins of Grulin.

Getting there: CalMac ferry from Mallaig; the Sheerwater from Arisaig, April to September. No visitor cars.
Start: The pier at Galmisdale.
Walk: About 7km, three hours there and back.
Summit: 393 metres.
Loop: 11.5km by Grulin, about 4.5 hours.

Did you know

A jagged rocky peak rising above a heather-covered hillside

Did you know

The largest of its kind.

The Sgùrr is a ridge of pitchstone, a volcanic glass, and the island's own site calls it the largest ridge of its kind in Europe.

A gravel track winding through moorland towards a jagged rocky peak

Did you know

A valley turned upside down.

Some 58 million years ago an eruption on Skye sent a flow of hot rock and gas into a river valley here. It cooled into pitchstone, harder than the basalt round it, and when the land wore away the old valley was left standing as a ridge.

A jagged rocky ridge rising above moorland, its cliffs streaked with scree

Did you know

Fans in the rock.

As the pitchstone cooled it cracked into columns at right angles to the old valley sides, and on the summit ridge the joints spread in fan-like patterns.

A gravel path leading towards a jagged rocky peak across moorland

Did you know

The island of the notch.

Eigg's own name may come from the Sgùrr: Eag, a notch, for the shape on the skyline. In Gaelic An Sgùrr is simply the sharp peak.

A stony track leading towards a jagged rocky peak across moorland

Did you know

A fort on an islet.

From the saddle you look over Loch nam Ban Mora, the loch of the great women; the round islet by its northern shore was the base of a prehistoric dun, a small fort.

A wet track leading towards a jagged rocky peak rising from moorland

Did you know

The whole of the west.

On a clear day the summit shows Rum, Coll, Muck, the Western Isles, Skye, Ardnamurchan and the mountains of Lochaber round the cliffs and coast of Eigg.