The Devil's Point

The Devil’s Point is a sharp-topped mountain in the Cairngorms of Aberdeenshire. It stands west of the Lairig Ghru pass and is a subsidiary peak of Cairn Toul, three kilometres away. The Gaelic name Bod an Deamhain means ‘Penis of the Demon’, a phrase Queen Victoria’s ghillie John Brown softened when she asked for a translation. The English name was born from that moment of polite evasion. Seen from the south the summit looks strikingly separate from its parent ridge. The climb is easiest by following the path up Coire Odhar from Corrour Bothy on the eastern flank. Reaching the bothy itself needs a long walk-in, usually along the Lairig Ghru from Linn of Dee, a twelve-kilometre route. Many walkers combine The Devil’s Point with the nearby summit of Cairn Toul. To the north Sgòr an Lochain Uaine is sometimes called The Angel’s Peak, giving the pair a contrasting pair of names. On the hill the final ridge narrows to a knife-edge crest that drops steeply on either side. Views stretch across the vast plateau of the Cairngorms and down into the deep trench of the Lairig Ghru. The air is thin and the silence broad, broken only by the occasional ptarmigan call. The bothy at Corrour offers a dry refuge before or after the ascent. From the summit the eye follows the long lines of the surrounding Munros fading into the distance.