Height : 3,069 feet
Walk distance : 16.25 miles
OS Map : Atholl
Walk time : 9 hours
Difficulty rating : 4 out of 5
I first spied Carn a' Chlamain while climbing it's rather more famous and massive neighbour Beinn a' Ghlo back in August last year. I remember seeing the land rover track meander gently all the way up to the rocky summit and thinking that it looked like a doddle to climb . . . .
With the West Highland Way part II only 6 weeks away I managed to persuade the wife into giving me an all day pass as, going by all I'd read, this was a full days walking. Just the type of walk I need more of to get me into shape.
I'll only detail the walk once you get to the turning point in Glen Tilt at Gaw's Bridge which you don't cross. Instead continue along the road until you come to the bridge at Allt Craoinidh.
Directly from here a faint path heads steeply up hill and is eventually joined by the Land Rover track mentioned earlier. From here Glen Tilt tightens up to more of a steep sided almost V shaped Glen and the views of Beinn a' Ghlo are incredible, giving a true indication of how massive the mountain is.
Follow the track all the way to the top, on the way you'll get fleeting views of the scree covered summit. As you can imagine the path is pretty decent, steep in some areas and rocky in others it's still a good track to walk. The higher you climb the more you see and one of the first landmarks that comes into view is Scheihallion with the Ben Lawers range in the distance.
Once you reach the summit, take a rest and enjoy the surroundings ! You have a fantastic view all around including views all the way to Ben Macdui.
When you're ready follow the path back down the mountain and back to Gaws bridge. Avoiding the cloudburst's along the way !
At Gaw's Bridge you can either head back the route you took earlier or take the Eastern route back to the car park (which I took). I loved this walk even though I was pretty tired by the end of it. Glen Tilt is fantastic and Carn a' Chlamain is a simple enough mountain to climb which gives a great viewing platform to a vast area of the country. Definitely recommended but another walk where the length shouldn't be underestimated.
Here's the profile of the route :
And the route itself :
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