Walking from Glas Maol towards Creag Leacach
Significance: Historic County Top for Angus
Member of: UK County Tops, Scotland County/Unitary Authority High Points, Munros, Marilyns
Parent Peak: Lochnagar
Nearest Higher Neighbour: Carn a' Coire Boidheach
Elevation: 1,068m
Date climbed: September 28th 2024
Coordinates: 56° 52' 23'' N, 3° 22' 6'' W
Route Start & Finish: Small parking area on A93 Old Military Road, ~3km north of Glenshee Ski Centre
Route Distance: 19.3 km (12 miles)
Route Elevation change: +/- 808m
Subsidiary tops on route: Carn an Tuirc, Cairn of Claise, Creag Leacach
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other routes touched (walk): The Monega Pass
OS Trig Pillar: TP3372 - Glas Maol
Pubs / Cafes on route: Cafe at Glenshee Ski Centre
Map: Glen Shee & Braemar Map | The Cairnwell & Glas Maol | Ordnance Survey | OS Explorer Map OL52
Links: Wikipedia: (Angus / Glas Maol), Peakbagger, Hillbagging, Glenshee Ski Centre
Glas Maol is the Historic County Top for Angus and the 7th highest of all of the UK County Tops. We bagged it in 2024 on our annual County Top weekend trip, along with the Historic County Top of Kincardineshire and the Council Area High Points of Dundee and Aberdeen.
The quickest way to conquer Glas Maol is an out-and-back from the large car park at Glenshee Ski Centre. I always prefer an interesting circular over an out-and-back so we opted for the 4-Munro circuit that I found on the Walk Highlands site. For this we started at a small parking spot around 3 km north of the Ski Centre. If that parking spot is full then park at the Ski Centre and walk to the northern parking at the start of the walk rather than at the end.
From the northern parking spot take the footpath that ascends to Carn an Tuirc in an east/north-easterly direction on the northern side of a small stream. After 1.2km you’ll cross over the stream, continuing to ascend. You’ll reach the summit of the first of the day’s Munros after 2.9km.
Continue along the path, now curving to the south-east, for another 2.6 km to reach the summit of Cairn of Claise. This is the second Munro of the day and, at 1.064m, just 4 metres lower than Glas Maol. Continue along the path, now heading south-west. The route descends slightly then ascends, crossing over the Monega Pass, to the summit of Glas Maol. The high point is marked by a Trig Pillar and a stone shelter large enough for 4 people.
After the Glas Maol summit, continue heading south-west, descending for 1km to the 10 km point in the walk. Here you’ll reach a path junction marked by a large cairn. This is a good point to make a decision to either take a short out-and-back to the 4th Munro, or return straight down to the road. We expected bad weather but, as it turned out, we had a bright, albeit cold, day with good visibility so we decided to bag the 4th Munro.
To reach Creag Leacach continue south for 1.5 km following the ridge line towards the steep ascent to the summit. The path gets very close to a steep drop on the left hand side just ahead of the climb so be extra careful in low visibility. After the summit, retrace your steps back to the large cairn, then continue descending in a north-westerly direction towards the ski-slopes. As you get closer to the slopes, continue along the path as it curves to the west and descend back to A93 Old Military Road at the large Glenshee Ski Centre car park. Take a right onto the road and follow the grass verge back to the starting point.
There’s a cafe at the Ski Centre that’s a great place to stop at the end to celebrate completing the route. Don’t rely on it if you’re out late in the day though. Our excitement to stop there quickly vanished when we arrived there 5 minutes after closing time.
While some of the County Top walks are starting to blur together in our memories, Glas Maol will likely be one that will stand out as a real classic route. The great visibility that we had that day certainly helped but the chance to bag 4 Munros in 1 walk was a big factor too.
