Foinaven [Foinne Bhein] - Ganu Mor

About Foinaven [Foinne Bhein] - Ganu Mor

Foinaven, in the far north-west of the Highlands, is capped conspicuously in white Cambrian quartzite lying over the ancient Lewisian gneiss basement. The quartzite sheet is thin but resists ordinary chemical weathering and erosion, which is why this chain of peaks — Arkle and Cranstackie among them — survives. It is, however, prone to frost shattering, producing the sharp crests around the corries and the extensive block fields and scree.

The mountain runs for 8 km with four main tops above 800 m; Ganu Mòr is the highest. The 1878 first-edition Ordnance Survey map recorded that top as Ceann Mòr, a more plausible origin given that ganu means nothing in Gaelic, and named the mountain Foinne Bheinn, a form since restored.

Surveyed at 2,980 ft, then revised to 914 m on early metric maps, Foinaven briefly looked like a Munro. A 2007 survey settled it at 911 m, 3.7 metres under the 3,000 ft mark.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Foinaven (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for Scotland — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Scotland · check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 58.412, -4.886. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is westerly of two cairns. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

Diff GPS

Record revised

19-Mar-13

Drop measured from

NC515260 · 223 m

Classification history: See Database Notes.

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Nearest listed peaks