Canisp

Canisp is a mountain in the far north-west of Scotland, standing in the parish of Assynt in Sutherland. It rises 847 metres above the Glencanisp Forest, an area of rock and water wilderness with little vegetation. The mountain’s name comes from the Old Norse for ‘point of the comb’, describing its narrow ridge. Its slopes show ancient gneiss and Torridonian sandstone capped by Cambrian quartzite, giving the summit a light grey crown. Canisp belongs to the Moine Thrust Belt and was shaped by glaciation, leaving it as a nunatak above the ice. Compared with nearby Suilven, it has a more symmetrical profile with two main ridges running north-west and south-east. The mountain is less visited than Suilven, which has its famous jagged summit ridge five kilometres to the west. Canisp stands on the 44,000-acre Glencanisp and Drumrunie Estates, once owned by the Vestey family. In 2005 the Assynt Foundation, a group of around 900 local residents, bought the estate for £2.9 million. The land includes loch-studded moorland and Glen Canisp, where the River Loanan flows from Loch Awe. The estate’s purchase returned the land to community ownership after decades of private control. A popular route to the summit starts at Loch Awe, crossing the River Loanan by footbridge before climbing the south-east ridge. This six-kilometre route has no path, crossing stones, heather and bog. Another start is at Stronchrubie, also using the south-east ridge. From Lochinver, walkers follow a path through Glen Canisp to reach the north-west ridge, a route praised by Hamish Brown as the most pleasing way up. The summit holds a stone wind shelter and offers wide views over Assynt’s lochs, moorland and the Minch beyond Lochinver.