Beinn Ghlas – Up the Reserve's Zigzag Path

The walk

The usual way up Beinn Ghlas starts at the National Trust for Scotland's car park on the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve and climbs the Trust's zigzag path on the hill's south-west ridge. By our map it is about 8 km (5 miles) there and back, with about 700 metres of climb. Allow about 3 to 4 hours, more with stops, in poor weather or under snow, and leave plenty of daylight for the way down. The summit is 1,103 metres up. The path is steep and eroded in places, and rocky below the top.

The car park is on the minor road that leaves the A827 about five miles east of Killin and climbs over to Glen Lyon. By our map the road is one lane wide, with few places to pass. One guide warns that it is steep in places and can be impassable in winter. The car park is pay and display, and free for the Trust's members: ask the Trust about the charge before you set out, on 01567 820988. On fine weekends it is often full by 9am. There are no toilets at the start, so plan for Killin or Kenmore.

Before you set off, check the mountain forecast, and under snow the snow and avalanche conditions too, as Mountaineering Scotland advises for every trip. Conditions on the hills are often much colder and windier than down by the loch, Forestry and Land Scotland warns. Wear good walking boots and carry warm, waterproof clothing, plenty of food and drink, and a torch in case the day runs long. 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, be ready to turn back early by a safe route, Killin Mountain Rescue Team advises.

From the car park the path crosses the road, by our map, and runs north over a boardwalk. It climbs beside the Edramucky Burn and through a gate into a fenced enclosure, which keeps sheep and deer off the ground so the native woodland can grow back. Near the bottom the nature trail goes off over the burn on a bridge, by our map: keep on up the main path beside the burn. By our map it fords the burn about a kilometre up. Burns can rise fast in a day, so after heavy rain the crossing can run high: turn back if it looks unsafe. The mountain plants here are fragile, the Trust says, so keep to the path as far as possible and leave the plants where they grow. Keep dogs under control: local farmers graze the Trust's hill ground.

Leave the enclosure by the gate at its top and keep right at the path junction just beyond it. The other path, north-west towards Coire Odhar, is the way many walkers come down from Ben Lawers, and not this walk. Here the climb begins in earnest, on the zigzag path the Trust built up the south-west ridge to control erosion on a popular route. The path is broad and worn, its built steps are big, and it grows steeper and rockier as you climb. There are false tops before the summit, and the last stretch below it is rocky.

The summit is 1,103 metres, and from it you first see Ben Lawers, the higher hill along the ridge to the north-east. Crags fall away on the north side of the top: in cloud keep to the path, away from the edge. The name is Gaelic for the grey-green mountain, after the mica-schist rock the hill is made of, and the path passes outcrops of it with garnets in them.

Out on the hill there are no waymarks, and paths can be hard to follow in cloud. If the cloud is coming down, the wind is rising or anyone is tiring, turn back: Forestry and Land Scotland asks walkers to turn back if they get tired. The wind can be far stronger on the top than at the car park. Under snow it is a winter mountain: frozen snow and icy steps can last into May, and one guide calls crampons and an ice axe essential in winter. In winter conditions the path becomes difficult and hazardous, another warns, with icy ground and snow drifting in gales, and the walk can take twice as long. Most incidents in Killin Mountain Rescue Team's area involve people slipping on hard snow without crampons or losing their way in mist, the team says. No avalanche forecast covers the Ben Lawers range. 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.

The way down is the way you came: back down the ridge, with more care on the rocky stretch and the big steps below the top, through the enclosure and back to the car park. From the summit most walkers go on to Ben Lawers, the usual way on: down to the bealach and up a steep, loose last climb. That is a longer day, and not this walk. Other paths climb the range from Lawers village, where parking is very limited. If someone is hurt, dial 999 and ask for the police, Killin Mountain Rescue Team says, and give a grid reference if you can: the Ordnance Survey's OS Locate app gives one from your phone.