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The whole hill, a pale stony dome with slabbed crags on its left side, seen across a grassy col with a faint path.
The Cairngorms

Beinn Bhrotain

A Munro of 1,157 metres, number 19 of the 282.

On the hill todayI was up today
The hill

Beinn Bhrotain is one of the twenty highest Munros, the nineteenth of the 282.

It stands in the Aberdeenshire Cairngorms above Glen Geusachan, whose Gaelic name, Gleann Giùthsachain, means the glen of the little pine wood.

Monadh Mor is its closest neighbour, about two and a half kilometres to the north-west. The Devil's Point is about three and a half kilometres to the north-east, and Cairn Toul is five to the north.

Corrour Bothy, which the Mountain Bothies Association calls one of the most famous of all bothies, is about four kilometres away in the Lairig Ghru, the old right of way between Deeside and Speyside.

Starts from
The car park the tourism bodies name on this side is the Linn of Dee, six miles west of Braemar.
The ground
Mountaineering Scotland calls the first three weeks of October the busiest of the stag season, and says hind stalking currently runs from 21 October to 15 February.
Burns and bridges
Mountaineering Scotland warns that a bridge marked on the map may not actually exist.
Summit
Grid reference NN 954 922
Car park
The Linn of Dee, near Braemar, one of the ways into the Lairig Ghru. When the Linn of Dee and Quoich car parks are full, the National Park Authority has said, drivers are sent to an overflow car park just before the Linn of Dee, and asked to go elsewhere if that fills too.
No telephone
Braemar Mountain Rescue Team says the emergency telephone at Derry Lodge has been removed. Do not count on a phone signal in the glens.
Food
Our nearest places to eat are in Braemar.
On the hill today
−1° to 2°Drizzle on the summit, 1,157 m. Feels like −7° in the wind.

West wind to 21 mph, gusting 37
Rain, about 5 mm
Light from 7.49am to 6.11pm, ten hours

Sat 17Cloudy−2° to 2° on top · 9 mph, gusts 21
Sun 18Clear−4° to 3° on top · 8 mph, gusts 14
Mon 19Drizzle−5° to 5° on top · 11 mph, gusts 19

A weather model's forecast for the height of the summit, not a report from the hill. Read the mountain forecast the evening before: Cairngorms National Park and Monadhliath forecast, Beinn Bhrotain, North Grampian mountain forecast, South Grampian and Southeast Highlands mountain forecast, Southern Cairngorms avalanche forecast, Northern Cairngorms avalanche forecast.

October2026

MTWTFSS

Going another day?

Choose the day you mean to climb.Near or far: the light you will have, and what the summit is likely to be doing.

Photographs by steve whitmarsh and Robin Wallace, via Google

This can make for extreme winter temperatures, unpredictable weather, and terrain that is as dangerous as it is spectacular.The Cairngorms National Park Authority, of the Cairngorm plateau, naming no single hill
Before you go

Carry

  • A paper map and a compass, and the skill to use them
  • Waterproofs, warm layers, hat and gloves
  • Food and drink
  • A head torch, a whistle and a first aid kit
  • A survival bag
  • Boots with a good grip

Under snow and ice this is a different day, with short light and the risk of avalanche. It needs an ice axe, crampons, winter boots and the skill to use them.

If something goes wrong

  • Dial 999, ask for the police, then mountain rescue
  • Give a six-figure grid reference: the summit is NN 954 922
  • Say how many are hurt, how many are with you, and your number
  • Register to text 999 before the day: text the word register to 999

The summit is optional. Turning back is the right decision whenever the cloud, the wind or the light say so.

How to call for help in the hills · Safety and skills for the hills · ThinkWINTER

From our readers

Nobody has written from Beinn Bhrotain yet. If you were up, yours would be the first.

Tell the next person

Were you up? Three words is enough.A free account, a word for the weather and a line if you like.

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From the magazine
Read more elsewhere

For the route itself, take the map and read these.

Sleep and eat at its foot

Next along: Monadh Mor, The Devil's Point, Carn a' Mhaim, Cairn Toul. Checked on 10 October 2026. The facts on this page are the Cairngorms National Park Authority's, Braemar Mountain Rescue Team's, Mountaineering Scotland's, the Mountain Bothies Association's, Visit Cairngorms' and Visit Aberdeenshire's; the forecasts are the Mountain Weather Information Service's, the Met Office's and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service's. Height and position from The Database of British and Irish Hills, v18.3, adapted, CC BY 4.0. This page is not a route description and does not replace a map.