Liathach Torridon Panorama

Torridon is best known by mountaineers and walkers for the trinity of fine mountains on its northern flanks, namely Beinn Alligin, 986 metres (3,235 ft), Liathach, 1,055 metres (3,461 ft), and Beinn Eighe, 1,010 metres (3,310 ft), and one of the best viewpoints for some of these mountains is the lovely Loch Clair situated in the heart of Glen Torridon. However, as a region its influence extends much further to include the Coulin group of mountains to the south of Glen Torridon, to Slioch on the shores of Loch Maree and also the Flowerdale and Shieldaig forests, a stunning group of hills north of Kinlochewe and south of Gairloch.

The area is widely acknowledged as having some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the whole of the British Isles. The landscape has a grandeur that is unrivalled anywhere else in the country, and, in particular, the tall monolithic mountains of Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Eighe rise up evocatively out of a rich tapestry of moorland and loch forming secretive glens and magnificent corrie headwalls.

The character of the land has much to do with its geology. The mountains here are built of Torridonian sandstone set on a plinth of Lewisian gneiss and crowned with white Cambrian quartzite. Over time the sandstone has become eroded to produce the unique characteristics of the Torridon mountains. Each mountain sits very much apart from the next and has steep terraced sides and broken, pinnacled summit crests and riven with steep gullies.