January in the Cairngorms is associated with snow and ice! Lots of snow (there’s a ski centre near the munros I was bagging on this route). And had I taken this hike earlier in the month, I’d have encountered full winter conditions.
A few unseasonably warm days quickly put paid to the snow cover ion the Cairngorms though, save the odd patch here and there. So when I set out to bag Creag Leacach and Glas Maol on a January Wednesday, it was quiet and there was little by way of snow to be seen on the whole hiking route.
With limited daylight and no real desire to hike in the dark and cold that day, I opted for the 2 munros. An extended route in this area, however, could see you bag many more!
Here’s how the day went:
Creag Leacach and Glas Maol Hike
Hike date | January 2025 |
Weather conditions | Clear for the most part with just a bit of low cloud later in the day. Chilly but by no means freezing. Delightful conditions honestly! |
Distance hiked | 11.2km |
Walking time | 4 hours 10 minutes |
Elevation gain total | 728m |
Terrain | A muddy start by the stream, grassy ascent and then a rocky first summit. Largely grassy to the second and with easy to follow tracks back down. |
Creag Leacach and Glas Maol Hiking Route
I took this route!
My Apple Watch (as ever) recorded slightly more distance and elevation than Alltrails estimates but it was pretty close.
Here’s a quick Tiktok summary of the hike:
@staceyhikes 2 munros in 4 hours. Creag Leacach and Glas Maol circular hike. You start hiking just a short distance south of the Glenshee Ski Centre in a teeny car park on the a93. Now if you’ve got a long day available to you, there’s a hiking route taking in a number of munros here (albeit with a road walk at the beginning or end). But with the short daylight hours available it was a 2 Munro hiking day for me today. I took this route anti clockwise, taking in Creag Leacach first and then Glas Maol. Epic views of the Cairngorms all day apart from a 20 or 30 minute period which just coincided with the second summit for me! But the views from the first and the views across the rest of the route more than made up for it. This was a January hike for me but there was little by way of ground snow. However the parts of the route that I would expect could be very boggy were frozen over. So the terrain was ok. It’s a grassy hike up Creag Leachach to start, then rocky towards the summit. And again a largely grassy approach to Glas Maol. There’s a really easy to follow path (courtesy of the ski slopes there) from Glas Maol back to where I started the hike. And I even got chance to have a little nosey in the bothy on the way down. Lovely hiking route. Take care with navigation. Amazing views of the Cairngorms and with the high elevation of the car park, you get a bit of a headstart too. #hiketok #scotlandhiking #scotlandtravel #munrobagging #solohiker ♬ Nature / Mountains / Earth / Magnificent Ambient(1265028) – Cheng Lee
Parking for Creag Leachach
I parked in a small car park just on the A93 ever so slightly south of the Glenshee Ski Centre.
The What 3 Words location for that little car park is //digress.employer.informer.
There’s space for just a handful of cars here and the same again in a little car park across the road. So if it’s a weekend or school holiday day, you may want to arrive early.
If you don’t manage to get a spot there you can always head up the road to the ski centre, park there and adapt your route accordingly.
The Start of the Route
I went the same way as the AllTrails route suggests – anti clockwise and starting with a steep ascent towards Creag Leacach.
I was glad I did it this way as it meant by descent was gradual and on easy to follow tracks. But I did see others doing it the reverse way.
From the little car park, you descent a little before crossing a stream (straightforward crossing) and beginning to follow the land rover tracks a little way up the hill. You’ll cross the stream another couple of times before beginning a steep ascent on a grassy path.
This is pretty steep and the path isn’t always very obvious (despite the lack of ground snow when I hiked it) so keep you eyes out and make sure you’ve got your eyes on the map and don’t lose your route.
It Gets Rockier
It gets a little rockier the closer you get to the summit and once you reach around the 800m mark, the clearest path isn’t in line with the AllTrails route. However, as long as you know the direction of the summit you’re heading towards, you can navigate your way over without too much difficulty if you do lose the path and can pick it back up again.
It’s from here the views really started to open up. I was so lucky with the weather here. On the left hand side of the photo above, you can see the summit of Creag Leacach and much of the approach can be taken on the gradually ascending ridge line from here making for a lovely final ascent.
From the summit, the views remained spectacular in all directions – just mountains as far as the eye could see. Hiking in the UK means we can’t always bank on views and I’m sure the. mountain hikers amongst you have “enjoyed” many a summit with no more than 10m visibility. So it always feels like such an absolute bonus when you bag one with a view, doesn’t it?
I can’t decide what I am most delighted about here – the fact I actually got views, the fact I made it up the mountain despite hanging out of my a**e again or the fact I’d just had jelly beans as a snack. Epic mountain hiking snack, by the way. Either way, I hung about pretty pleased with my life choices on the summit for a bit so I could fly the drone out and just enjoy the views (and the jelly beans and sandwich I’d made of course). What’s a hike without a summit snack?!
From Creag Leacach to Glas Maol
The route off the other side of the Creag Leacach summit was a little bouldery initially:
Even with a coating of frost though, this was relatively easily navigable and didn’t last long before the path towards Glas Maol became grassy and pretty easy going once again.
The views en route to Glas Maol back over Creag Leacach were gorgeous!
This is where I had the only bad luck with the weather all day. For much of the morning, clag and mist has been passing on and off the summit of Glas Maol and when I summited, I could see very little. However, it was only minutes after I came off that summit that I was greeted once again with epic views of the Cairngorms.
Descending from Glas Maol
I followed the tracks from the ski slopes back to my car and this was really easy going.
I stopped in for a little nosey at this bothy as I got closer to the car park:
The bothy is so well maintained, with a gas heater and barbecue (both with gas canisters in) supplied. The guest book suggested the bothy is in fairly regular use even over winter.
From the bothy the path begins to narrow and becomes quote fine as it weaves its way down the remainder of the hill through heather.
Before you know it, you’ll be back at your car!
Would I do this one again?
I enjoyed this hike. And I think if you were getting a friend who was quite new to munro bagging out into the hills, then this one would be a good hike – especially when you get lucky with the weather. So yes, I’d do it again!