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Derry Cairngorm lit copper under towering storm cloud, boulders in the foreground.
The Cairngorms

Derry Cairngorm

A Munro of 1,156 metres, number 20 of the 282.

On the hill todayI was up today
The hill

Derry Cairngorm is the twentieth highest of the 282 Munros, and it keeps high company.

Ben Macdui is about three kilometres to the west and Beinn Mheadhoin a little further to the north.

Its corries rise behind the regenerating pinewoods of Glen Derry, on ground the National Trust for Scotland's Mar Lodge Estate looks after. The Trust's own annual review pictures ptarmigan on the hill.

Loch Etchachan is a highlight, and in Coire Etchachan, about two kilometres from the summit, stands the Hutchison Memorial Hut, a small bothy built in 1954 as a mountain refuge.

Starts from
Visit Cairngorms describes the walk in from the Linn of Dee along Glen Lui to Derry Lodge, an unused Victorian shooting lodge.
The ground
The National Trust for Scotland's Mar Lodge Estate works in Glen Lui and Glen Derry, and stalks deer.
Summit
Grid reference NO 017 980
Car park
The Linn of Dee, on the National Trust for Scotland's Mar Lodge Estate. Check the charge with the Trust before you go.
When it is busy
In 2024 the Trust's rangers were at the car park every weekend from April to October and every day in the school holidays. They asked drivers to leave only a small gap between cars, and opened an overflow car park on nine days.
Food
The nearest cafés and pubs are in Braemar.
On the hill today
−1° to 2°Drizzle on the summit, 1,156 m. Feels like −6° in the wind.

North-west wind to 17 mph, gusting 36
Rain, about 4 mm
Light from 7.49am to 6.10pm, ten hours

Sat 17Cloudy−2° to 2° on top · 13 mph, gusts 30
Sun 18Clear−3° to 3° on top · 10 mph, gusts 20
Mon 19Drizzle−3° to 5° 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, Derry Cairngorm, South Grampian and Southeast Highlands mountain forecast, 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.

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 NO 017 980
  • 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 Derry Cairngorm 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: Ben Macdui, Carn a' Mhaim, Beinn Mheadhoin, Beinn Bhreac. Checked on 10 October 2026. The facts on this page are the National Trust for Scotland's, Visit Cairngorms' and the Mountain Bothies Association'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.