Storr, The

The highest point on the Trotternish escarpment on the island of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, The Storr rises to 719m (2260 feet), forming a landscape of huge rock buttresses and pinnacles 7 miles (11 km) north of Portree. The name derives from the Old Norse for "great" or "big" and probably formed a landmark for Viking seafarers. The Storr landslide is among the most spectacular landslide features in Britain, the entire southeast face of the mountain having collapsed 6500 years ago to produce a great hollow, Coire Faoin, bounded to the southwest and northwest by sheer basalt cliffs 200m (650 feet) high. Amongst the shattered ridges and pinnacles the most impressive is the Old Man of Storr which rises to 49m (160 feet).

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