- West Lomond
Infobox Mountain
right
Name = West Lomond
Photo = Mt Keen and Fife 206.jpg
Photo2 = Fife1.jpg
Caption = West Lomond from theHowe of Fife at sunset.
Elevation = 522 m
Location =Fife , SCO
Range =Lomond Hills
Prominence = 405 m
Coordinates =
Topographic
OS "Landranger" 58
Grid_ref_UK = NO197066
Listing =MarilynWest Lomond is the highest point in the county of
Fife ,Scotland and the highest peak in theLomond Hills . Its volcanicdolerite cone rises above anescarpment of carboniferoussandstone andlimestone layers. The conspicuous peaks of West Lomond, and its neighbourEast Lomond , are visible for many miles around, which explains their name, the 'Lomond' or 'Beacon' hills.West Lomond is usually climbed from Craigmead car park on the Falkland-Leslie road, as this sits at a height of almost 300 metres. From the car park, leave the trees by a wishing gate, and follow a broad grassy path roughly north-west which joins a track after about 320 metres. Follow this track and subsequent path, which has recently been re-laid to limit erosion, all the way to the summit cone of West Lomond. On reaching the base of this cone, one has the choice of two possible routes of ascent. One path zigzags steeply up the eastern (near) face of the hill, whilst the other, the easier route, skirts round to the north of the peak, before climbing up the far side to the summit. As the hill's prominence would suggest, one obtains a fantastic panorama from its summit, not only of the surrounding countryside, but of the greater part of the
Central Belt , as well as the Southern Highlands and theGrampian Mountains . On the summit are the remains of anIron Age Hill fort .Another route of ascent leaves from the
Bunnet Stane and climbs diagonally up the steep north slopes of the escarpment to a gap in the cliffs, above which one gains theplateau a short distance from the summit cone. On this route there are more interesting features to the landscape, however the climb is steeper and begins at a much lesser altitude than the Craigmead car park.References
* [http://www.snh.org.uk Scottish National Heritage]
* [http://www.walkscotland.com Walk Scotland]
* [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh]
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