Mountains and hills of Scotland

As of 2019, hundreds of thousands of people visit mountains in Scotland every winter[2] and about 130,000 climb to the summit of Ben Nevis every year.

As the name implies, the NW Highlands begin at the suture north and west of the Great Glen and include exactly 100 of the 282 Munros.

The Torridon Hills are exceptionally well-regarded by hillwalking, scrambling and climbing communities; some of them, such as Beinn Eighe, are crowned by white quartzite, which gives a highly-distinctive appearance.

The southern portion of this area south of Glenfinnan consists of lower mountains of Corbetts and Grahams, but maintain the rough character of those found further north.

These regions include the Kintyre peninsula, Knapdale and Mid Argyll on the west coast, as well as eastern Aberdeenshire and Moray on the east.

Skye's Black Cuillin, composed of basalt and rough gabbro, is generally regarded as the most serious mountain terrain in Britain with bare rock, jagged in outline and steep cliffs and deep cut corries.

The neighbouring Red Cuillin is composed primarily of granite and has more isolated, cone-shaped mountains of a slightly lesser height.

The isle of Rùm has its own Cuillin, also composed of gabbro but shorter, grassier; necessitating good scrambling ability, and a head for heights.

The St. Kilda archipelago, 40-miles west-northwest of North Uist, is also worth mentioning, consisting of four exceptionally steep-sided islands and multiple sea stacks, all but one requiring special planning and authorisation to visit and almost all necessitating safety ropes.

Scotland also has smaller islands with conspicuous summits not part of a range, such as Dùn Caan on Raasay.

The southern and eastern parts of Scotland are usually referred to as the Scottish Lowlands, but these areas also have significant ranges of hills, although these are lower than the Highland mountains.

Because they are much closer to towns and cities, they are more popular for hill walking and rambling than the more distant mountains of the Highlands.

The heartland of the Galloway Hills lies to the north of Loch Trool, and excellent walks start from the extensive car park by Bruce's Stane.

Ben Lawers (Beinn Labhair), 3,983 ft (1,214 m)[12] Scottish peaks are categorised in the following hill lists.