Sàileag is Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 mountain located on the northern side of Glen Shiel

Glen Shiel

Glen Shiel is a glen in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland.The glen runs approximately 9 miles from north-west to south-east, from sea level at the village of Shiel Bridge and Loch Duich to the Cluanie Inn at the western end of Loch Cluanie and the start of Glenmoriston.W. H...

, 27 kilometres south east of Kyle of Lochalsh

Kyle of Lochalsh

Kyle of Lochalsh is a village on the northwest coast of Scotland, 63 miles west of Inverness. It is located at the entrance to Loch Alsh, opposite the village of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye...

.

Overview

It lies just to the east of the famous Five Sisters of Kintail group of hills to which it is connected by the Bealach

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 an Lapain (725 metres). It is part of a mountain group called the North Glen Shiel Ridge which also includes two other Munro

Munro

A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over . They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet , who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munros Tables, in 1891. A Munro top is a summit over 3,000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain...

s (Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg

Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg

Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg is a Scottish mountain situated in Kintail on the northern side of Glen Shiel, 30 kilometres south east of Kyle of Lochalsh.-Overview:...

 and Aonach Meadhoin

Aonach Meadhoin

Aonach Meadhoin is a Munro mountain situated in the Kintail region of Scotland. It stands on the northern side of Glen Shiel some 31 kilometres south east of Kyle of Lochalsh.- Overview :...

) and with a height of 956 metres (3136 feet) it is the lowest of all the six Munros on the northern side of Glen Shiel, making the mountain's translated name of “The Little Heel” quite appropriate. Sàileag seems to have lost three metres of height in recent years, many older guide books have its height as 959 metres in comparison to 956 on the newer Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 maps.

Topography

Sàileag is mostly grassy although its north west face is steep and craggy as it drops to the Allt an Lapain. The mountain is formed by the junction of three ridges, the eastern ridge connects to the neighbouring Munro of Sgurr a’ Bhealaich Dheirg while the western ridge connects to Sgurr na Ciste Dhuibhe

Sgurr na Ciste Dhuibhe

Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe is a Scottish mountain situated on the northern side of Glen Shiel, 27 kilometres south east of Kyle of Lochalsh in the Highland council area.- Overview :...

, the most easterly Munro of the Five Sisters of Kintail. The northern ridge is rocky and descends to the head of Gleann Lichd where it connects with the lower slopes of Beinn Fhada. Sàileag’s southern slopes which drop to the A87 road

A87 road

The A87 is a major road in the Highland region of Scotland.It runs west from its junction with the A82 road at Invergarry , along the north shores of Loch Garry and Loch Cluanie, then down through Glen Shiel and along Loch Duich to Kyle of Lochalsh before crossing the Skye Bridge to Kyleakin,...

in Glen Shiel are clothed in the trees of the Glenshiel Forest below the 500 metre contour, these southern slopes have a reputation of being some the most uniformly steep in Scotland. A traveller going down Glen Shiel in 1803 commented of the slope, "an inclined wall, of such inaccessible height that no living creature would venture to scale it".

Ascents

The most common starting place for the ascent of Sàileag is the car park on the A87 road at grid reference where there is a considerable gap in the trees which allows easy access to the mountainside. The climb to the top of the Bealach an Lapain is steep and unrelenting on grassy slopes. From the Bealach it is a further 230 metres of ascent east to reach the summit. The highlight of the view is a fine vista of the Five Sisters of Kintail and a good aerial view down Gleann Lichd. An ascent of Sàileag is invariably combined with some or all of the other six Munros on the northern side of Glen Shiel.