Lochnagar & Callater Munros

Getting there

• Get to Ballater, which is on the A93, 60km west of Aberdeen and 75km north of Perth. From there, follow the road down Glen Muick for 13km to it's end, where there are a couple of large car-parks. You'll need to pay (£3 at time of last visit), but the money collected goes towards pathwork via the Cairngorms Outdoor Access Trust. In summer the car-parks can be full.

Lochnagar

• From the car-park, head over the bridge, past the ranger's hut to a junction in the tracks - turn right.
• Continue to the houses, then on a marked path, head around them and into a forest.
• Meet up with the track again and follow it uphill, around the base of the Corbett Conachcraig to the highest point on the bealach between Glen Muick and Glen Gelder.
• A cairn marks the start of the path heading west towards Lochnagar. This path has seen lots of work over recent years and is easy to follow up to the bealach between Lochnagar and Meikle Pap. If you're top-bagging, then a brief detour will take in this little top with its fine views of Lochnagar's northern coire.
• The path continues from the bealach to Lochnagar's eastern crest. Once on the crest, the ground eases and the route ahead on the path is obvious. Further on, the path veers off left - stick to the fainter path on the edge of the coire - it heads up more directly and has fine views into the coire below.
• Up steep bouldery ground for a bit, then continue over fairly flat artic ground to a large cairn on Cac Carn Mor. In mist, this might be mistaken for the summit, however Lochnagar's summit is Cac Carn Beag, which is 500m to the north. A well-worn path connects the two cairns and a short scramble is needed to attain the viewfinder with its excellent expansive views.

Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach

• Return towards the large cairn on Cac Carn Mor, but before reaching it, look for a path heading off right (south-west).
• There's another path nearby marked with cairns and heading south-east, don't take this as it will take you directly down to Loch Muick (see Alternative routes).
• Keep to the path heading south-west dropping to a wide (and sometimes wet) bealach.
• The path starts to climb up and there's steep ground dropping off to the right (north). As the path starts to pull away from this edge, veer off the path and start to bear slightly more left (south-west) onto more level wet ground.
• A faint path can be traced to follow to the small cairn on Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach. After Lochnagar, this is a fairly dull Munro summit and the views are not that great either, due to the hill's bulk.

Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

• West next ! After initially dropping down a brief patch of fairly steep ground with occasional boulders, the gradient easies and a path following a burn heading south-west is met.
• Follow this path and cross the burn a bit further on.
• Now on the other side, the path contours to meet a line of old iron fence-posts aiming up to the bealach between Carn an t-Sagairt Beag and Carn an t-Sagairt Mor.
• In mist, these posts can be used as a guide to get up Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, otherwise just head uphill over wet and heathery ground towards Carn an t-Sagairt Mor's crest.
• On the way, you should encounter some scattered plane wreckage, including a large section of wing. These pieces are the remains of a Canberra jet that crashed into the hill in 1956.
• The summit has two cairns and excellent views.

Cairn Bannoch

• There's very little ascent left ! From Carn an t-Sagairt Mor's southern cairn and on a faint path, head south-east downhill. The path becomes more obvious further down as the boulders are left behind and more gentle, grass covered ground is reached.
• Cross the wide bealach, meeting up with folk coming in on the path from Auchallater.
• The last few metres of climb up to Cairn Bannoch's summit require a bit of clambering over some large boulders.

Broad Cairn

• From Cairn Bannoch, head south-east and up the bump marked 991m on the OS map. Downhill, south-east on a faint path over grassy ground to reach the unusual bealach with three summits radiating out from it.
• A quick jog over more flat ground and one more last clamber up bouldery ground to Broad Cairn's summit. Good views, particularly down Loch Muick to Mount Keen.

Down to Loch Muick and return

• Aim east next, down some bouldery ground, which can be tricky particularly for tired legs ! You'll see a track coming in from the right, join this and follow it down to the pony shed 1km below.
• You've a choice next - if the weather's poor, take the fine path heading directly down to Loch Muick and get out of the wind.
• If the weather is fine, keep on the high track for 3km and take in the views for longer.
• Both of these options meet around half along Loch Muick, from where 4km of a quick jog will get you back to the car-park.

• Lochnagar Raid, 22 September 2018
• Lochnagar Raid, Jun'17
• Lochnagar and Callater Munros, Feb'16
• Glen Callater Munros, Mar'15
• Lochnagar, Dec'14
• Lochnagar Raid, March'14

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