The Cuillin is a world famous mountain range on the Isle of Skye and forms part of the MacLeod Estate. Mainly composed of basalt and gabbro, the Black Cuillin derives its name from the dark colour of the gabbro. The summits of the Cuillin are bare rock, jagged in outline and with steep cliffs and deep cut corries and gullies. Eleven munros on Skye are Black Cuillin peaks , with the highest point of the Black Cuillin Sgùrr Alasdair at 992m (3,255ft). At the heart of The Cuillin lies one of Britain’s most famous corrie’s, Loch Coruisk, a deep and forbidding body of water. The mountains can be approached from three sites: from the south by foot or by boat from Elgol; from the Sligachan Hotel to the north; or from the estate’s award-winning Glenbrittle Campsite & Cafe to the west of the mountains. Glen Sligachan is one of the most popular routes, dividing as it does the granite of the round-topped Red Hills (sometimes known as the Red Cuillin) to the east from the dark, coarse-grained jagged-edged of the Black Cuillin to the west. With some 20 Munros between them, these mountains are the Alps of the UK.
