Ben Macdhui (Gael. beinn-muc-dubh, ` mountain of the black sow '), a mountain of SW Aberdeenshire on the verge of the county, contiguous to Banff and Inverness shires, 11 geographical miles WNW of Castleton of Braemar- One of the Cairngorms, it culminates 3 miles S by W of Cairngorm proper (4084 feet), and is near other summits not much lower, forming strictly not one mountain, but only one amid a group of summits on a common base. Thus, though the highest point in Scotland except Ben Nevis, and only 110 feet lower than that mountain, it makes a far less conspicuous figure than many mountains of only one-half or one-third its height. Its altitude above sea-level is 4296 feet. The ascent (18 miles) from Castleton is made, after passing Derry Lodge (1386 feet), either up Glen Derry or up Glen Lui. The glorious view from the broad flat summit extends to Ben Wyvis, Ben Nevis, and Ben Glo; but Benabourd, on the E, shuts out the prospect of the German Ocean. Red granite is the prevailing rock, and numbers of rare minerals, particularly the fine rock crystals called Cairngorm stones, are found. The Queen and the Prince Consort twice made the ascent of Ben Macdhui on 7 Oct. 1859 and 24 Aug. 1860, as described on pp. 136-139 of the Queen's Journal (ed. 1877).—Ord. Sur., sh. 64, 1874.
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