Meall a' Choire Leith – Over the Burn and Up Coire Gorm

The walk

The usual way up Meall a' Choire Leith on its own starts from the hill road between Loch Tay and Glen Lyon, at the north end of Lochan na Lairige. A path crosses Gleann Da-Eig and its burn, then climbs by Coire Gorm to the summit. By our map it is about 6.5 km (4 miles) there and back, with about 500 metres of climb, counting the climb back out of the glen. Allow about 2.5 to 3.5 hours, more with stops, in poor weather or under snow. The summit is 926 metres up, and the walk starts about 550 metres up. Much of the lower ground is boggy, the burn is forded with no bridge, and the path is faint near the top. No public body publishes this way up, a distance or a time for it. Most walkers climb the hill together with Meall Corranaich, a Munro of its own about 3 km to the south: this walk keeps to Meall a' Choire Leith. Others come up from Glen Lyon by the Allt a' Chobhair, Munro Magic says.

The start is a small parking place at the side of the hill road, by a big cairn, at the north end of Lochan na Lairige. By our map it is at grid reference NN 593 415, about 7 km up the road from Bridge of Balgie in Glen Lyon. It has room for only a few cars: one walker found space for just two. By our map there is a second small parking place about 400 metres back along the road towards the lochan. Never park in a passing place. The road is one lane wide with few places to pass, and Steven Fallon calls it unsuitable for caravans and other large vehicles. It is ungritted in winter, he says, and Undiscovered Scotland says it is not kept open in winter conditions. Our map shows no toilets at the start.

Before you set off, check the mountain forecast: the Mountain Weather Information Service's Southeastern Highlands and West Highlands forecasts both reach this far. Conditions on the hills are often much colder and windier than down by the loch, Forestry and Land Scotland warns. Wear good walking boots, waterproof ones for the bog, and carry warm, waterproof clothing, plenty of food and drink, and a torch. Carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and do not rely only on a phone or GPS. If you have not been trained to use them in poor visibility, plan to turn back early by a safe route, Killin Mountain Rescue Team advises. Leave word with someone of where you are going and when you will be back. Deer stalking can take place at any time of year, Mountaineering Scotland says, busiest in the first three weeks of October, with hinds from 21 October to 15 February. Find out before you go.

From the parking place walk a few metres back along the road towards the lochan, where a gravel path leaves it on the left. It climbs north through the heather, and by our map bog lies close beside it. By our map this first stretch runs through a corner of the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve: Scottish Adventures says the National Trust for Scotland asks that dogs be kept on a lead there. About 500 metres out, about 600 metres up, the path forks. The path bearing right climbs towards Meall Corranaich: one walker took it by mistake and had to come back. Keep on north-east, and the path drops gently into Gleann Da-Eig.

About 1.4 km out, about 545 metres up by our map, the path fords the Allt Gleann Da-Eig. There is no bridge. By our map a small dam, the intake of a hydro scheme, sits about 100 metres downstream, and one walker found the burn easy to cross just above it. After heavy rain it can run high and fast: Munro Magic warns that stream levels can rise markedly in one day, and another walker found it in spate. If the crossing looks unsafe, do not try it: turn back.

Beyond the burn the path climbs north-east over boggy ground towards Coire Gorm. Munro Magic calls the ground boggy, and its readers tell of saturated bog and pools: keep to the path where it shows. By our map small crags lie about 65 metres off the path about 1.9 km out. About 2.4 km out, about 630 metres up, the path fords a smaller burn coming down from Coire Gorm, again with no bridge. From there the climb steepens: by our map the last 800 metres to the top rise more than 40 metres in every 100 for much of the way, on grass. About 3.1 km out the path fades, and the last 200 metres to the summit are faint on the ground.

The summit, 926 metres up and about 3.3 km out by our map, is a broad, grassy dome with a small cairn. The highest point can be hard to find in poor visibility, one guide says. Munro Magic warns of crags near the summit. The east side is steep, and in spring it can carry a big cornice: one walker found one there on the first of May. Keep well back from that edge. On a clear day the views run north over Glen Lyon and back to the higher hills of the Ben Lawers range.

There is no path off the summit to speak of, Steven Fallon says, and in winter or thick mist navigation on these hills can be quite testing. The broad, rounded tops are disorienting in cloud, one guide warns, and Munro Magic's readers tell of walkers taking the wrong ridge in mist. Before you leave the summit, take a bearing south-west for the path. If the cloud comes down, the wind rises or anyone is tiring, turn back by the way you came: Forestry and Land Scotland asks walkers to turn back if they get tired.

Under snow it is a winter mountain. Most incidents in its area, Killin Mountain Rescue Team says, come from people slipping on hard snow without crampons or losing their way in mist. Crampons may be needed on icy slopes, one guide says, and snow can lie on the path into May. No avalanche forecast covers the hill. The Scottish Avalanche Information Service forecasts six other areas, from Lochaber and Glencoe to the Cairngorms and Torridon, which is no sign there is no risk here. In snow the hill road itself may be impassable, as it is not gritted or kept open.

The way down is the way you came: south-west off the summit on the faint path, down towards Coire Gorm and across the smaller burn, then over the Allt Gleann Da-Eig at the ford. Beyond it the path climbs about 60 metres out of the glen to the fork, where the path from Meall Corranaich joins from the left. Then it runs down through the heather to the road, and a few metres along it to the parking place. Munro Magic's readers call the walk out to the road very boggy, so take the same care with your feet on the way down as on the way up. If someone is hurt, call 999 or 112 and ask for Police and Mountain Rescue, Mountaineering Scotland says. Give a six-figure grid reference and a named feature if you can: Killin Mountain Rescue Team names the Ordnance Survey's OS Locate app for one. To be able to text 999 where a call will not connect, register first by texting the word register to 999.