Carn Eige () is a mountain in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Rising to above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Scotland north of the Great Glen, the twelfth-highest in the British Isles, and, in terms of relative height (topographic prominence), it is the second-tallest mountain in the British Isles after Ben Nevis (its "parent peak" for determination of topographic prominence). Carn Eige lies between Glen Affric and Loch Mullardoch, and is at the heart of a massif along with its twin peak, the Mam Sodhail. Administratively, it is in the Highland council area, on the boundary between the historic counties of Inverness and Ross and Cromarty, on the former lands of the Clan Chisholm. The mountain is difficult to access, being from the nearest road, and its sub-peak to the north, Beinn Fhionnlaidh, is even more inaccessible. Name The name "Carn Eige", also spelt "Carn Eighe", comes from Scottish Gaelic and has been interpreted as meaning "file peak" or "notch hill". However, according to Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba, the original and correct Gaelic name is Càrn Èite. Landscape The summit is pyramid-shaped, the culmination of three ridges meeting. The nearest Munro is its "twin summit", Mam Sodhail, about to the southwest, and there are three other Munros on the massif. Beinn Fhionnlaidh ends a spur to the north, and there is a much longer grassy ridge running out to the east, which after leads to Tom a' Choinich () and then after a similar distance culminates in the rather bland summit of Toll Creagach, at . As well as the five Munros topping the massif, there are a further ten minor summits, known as "Munro Tops". This ridge lies roughly midway between two lochs, Loch Affric/Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin to the south, and the larger Loch Mullardoch to the north. Opposing several lower summits across Loch Mullardoch, the highest being Sgurr na Lapaich at , it dominates the area, being the highest summit in the region. To the north of the summit, there is an impressive glacial corrie that falls half a kilometre to the shores of Corrie Lochan. Càrn Eige lies in the north-west highlands, north of the Great Glen Fault. Discontinuous sheets of West Highland granite gneiss stretch up from this fault through Glen Affric. Summit panorama History In 1848, the mountain was climbed by Colonel Winzer of the Ordnance Survey, who discovered a pile of