The Unpronounceable Mountain

Sgurr Dhomhnuill in Ardgour in the West Highlands of Scotland is a contender for "Britain's most difficult to pronounce mountain". It's 'Donald's Peak' in sasanach, which is easy enough, but I'll be damned if I can pronounce the gaelic (click on the sound button at linkif you want to hear how a native pronounces it. I've listened 17 times and still can't make head nor tail of it )

Anyways, I spent last week in a cottage with great views of this mountain, and I thought it might be interesting to take a series of photos through the week from different locations, it in different moods etc.


#1 Evening cloud



#2 Perched boulder I



#3 The Ardgour Hills



#4 Valley light



#5 Cloud bank over Dhomhnuill



#6 Perched boulder II



#7 Summit lochan



#8 Reflection




I also have three days worth of photos of driving rain and low cloud, in which Sgurr Dhomhnuill is invisible but in there somewhere. But I thought they'd be of less interest

Sgor ghawil (according to my list of Scottish Munroes) but that doen't seem much help with the pronunciation. Its part of the mountain called Beinn a' Bheithir (Bin Vair)which is more easy to get the tongue round. Lovely set of photos from a dramatic landscape.
David

PPG:http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Great set of shots, particularly like the inscrutable looking boulder in No.6, he looks very pleased with himself. Reminds me of one of those ninja turtle things with the oriental headband.

Listened to the pronunciation using headphones. The first word is fair enough but the second like you said is not one for beginners. The whole thing sounded like 'Skur Doyle'. Impressive looking mountain though.

This is definitely a place I'd like to visit but doubt I could do it justice photographically as you certainly have

Pictures are great. I like the idea of the set, many moods. You were lucky with the weather then, 4 out of 7 is good!

I can understand the problem with the Gaelic, I've been struggling for years and my computer spell checker is no better!

I think David is thinking of a different place though, Sgurr Dhomhnuill is north of Loch Linnhe in Ardgour, north west of the Corran Ferry and is a Corbett. Beinn a' Bheithir is due south of Ballachulish, on the south side of Loch Linnhe and has two Munro's. I still have trouble with the pronunciation though!

I stand corrected. The one I was thinking is Sgorr Dhonuill, a top on Beinn a' Beithir which is at the start of Glen Coe near Ballachulish. Its spelt slightly differently to the Corbet in Ardgour of very similar name and it still translates as Donald's Peak. My list of Munroes, and their pronunciations, of course doesn't include the Ardgour peak because its a Corbet (2,500-3,000 feet). I do wonder though whether the pronunciation of the two peaks is similar.
David
PPG:http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Thanks for the comments, very much appreciated

Yes - these snaps are of the corbett 'Donalds Peak' north of Loch Linnie - not the munroe above Ballachulish. Confusion possibly because I described it as a mountain, whereas any ful no that it has to be over 3000 ft to be a mountain....

Because it's a corbett we saw absolutely no one else on or around the mountain the two times we went up or close, and there was no real path to the top. 87 ft higher and it would be crawling with folk.

Sorry - posts crossed

That's my understanding from talking to a local

Northgrain said I decided years ago not to 'collect' Munroe's. I've been dragged up too many boring hills by my mates trying to get another tick. Conversely, some of the best days out are often on the hills not on Munroe's list.
I decided to mark by quality, rather than hight by calling them Bobs. If it is a good excursion then it gets Bobs status. When I get too old to get up'em I'm going to put all the best days in a book to be called, Doing the Bobs!

Wonderful set thats it iam going lol and all are very Nicely taken

Thanks Shaun - much appreciated. Whilst there I tried (with 'mixed' results :shock some Puma-esque log exposure seascapes well... I'll post when processed.


That's just a brilliant philosophy I'd happily subscribe to. And at last the secret of your moniker is revealed

Of course if you think it's a good day out it should be a Tim.

Looks like this mountain might have been a Tim, by the look of the photographs. But thats for you to decide.

At the risk of being a complete obsessive bore

I've just found out Sgurr Dhomhnuill is actually the 17th highest mountain in Britain link... relatively speaking .

So definitely a 'Tim'

there is some very good photos there very good well done


now that i would love to see cant wait

Without checking my list I must say that table of mountain heights for GB is completely misleading. Sgurr Dhomhnuill is not even in the top 50 of Scottish peaks, let alone the whole of the UK.
Carn Eige, which it lists as #2 to Ben Nevis is certainly the highest peak north of the Great Glen but only just makes the top 12 for the country as a whole. Ben MacDhui in the Cairngorms is Scotland's, and therefore also Britain's, second highest mountain.
David