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Cairn Toul and the Angel's Peak under snow, rising above a sea of cloud across the Cairngorm plateau.
The Cairngorms

Cairn Toul

A Munro of 1,291 metres, number 4 of the 282.

On the hill todayI was up today
The hill

Cairn Toul is the fourth highest Munro of all, and the second highest point in the western massif of the Cairngorms.

Its neighbours are giants too: Braeriach is about three kilometres to the north and Ben Macdui about the same to the north-east.

The National Park Authority gives its proper Gaelic name as Càrn an t-Sabhail, the barn-shaped mountain.

Below it runs the Lairig Ghru, the old right of way between Deeside and Speyside, where Corrour Bothy stands a little over two kilometres from the summit in a straight line. The mountain guide James Orpwood picks Cairn Toul as the hill for remoteness and a real sense of accomplishment.

Starts from
Visit Cairngorms puts it at about 20 miles there and back from the Linn of Dee, and nearly as far from Glen Feshie, across some of the hardest plateau in Britain to find your way on.
Stalking
Mountaineering Scotland counts the first three weeks of October the busiest of the stag season. Hind stalking currently runs from 21 October to 15 February.
Summit
Grid reference NN 963 972
Car park
The Linn of Dee, near Braemar, is one of the ways into the Lairig Ghru. When it and the Quoich car park are full, drivers are sent to an overflow car park just before the Linn of Dee, and when that fills too, asked to go elsewhere.
No telephone
The emergency telephone at Derry Lodge has been removed, Braemar Mountain Rescue Team says. Do not count on a phone signal in the glens.
Food
We know of no café or shop at the Linn of Dee or in the glens beyond it. The nearest places of ours to eat are in Braemar.
On the hill today
−2° to 1°Drizzle on the summit, 1,291 m. Feels like −8° in the wind.

North-west wind to 22 mph, gusting 37
Rain, about 4 mm
Light from 7.49am to 6.11pm, ten hours

Sat 17Fog−3° to 1° on top · 17 mph, gusts 32
Sun 18Clear−3° to 2° on top · 11 mph, gusts 18
Mon 19Drizzle−4° to 4° on top · 12 mph, gusts 21

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, Cairn Toul, Southern 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.

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; it names 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 963 972
  • 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 Cairn Toul 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: Sgor an Lochain Uaine, The Devil's Point, Braeriach, Ben Macdui. Checked on 10 October 2026. The facts on this page are Visit Cairngorms', Mountaineering Scotland's, Braemar Mountain Rescue Team's, the Mountain Bothies Association's and the Cairngorms National Park Authority'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.