Here Is Why You Should Climb Beinn a' Chrulaiste

After consuming far too much booze on New Years Eve and even ending up in a freezing loch at midnight, I decided to improve my life choices on the first day of the new year. What better than scaling a Scottish mountain to enjoy some cracking winter views. There are of course hundreds of options across Scotland and nowhere is this more true than in the area around Glencoe, where we were staying. You are spoilt for choice here with some walks like Aonach Eagach being very well known indeed. The one we ended up doing is far less popular, but this is part of its appeal. In an area visited by thousands of visitors each year, you can still escape people altogether and summit a mountain with unbelievable views. With that in mind, let’s now take a look at why you should climb Beinn a Chrulaiste.

**The view from the hostel we stayed at over to the loch we all thought we should take a dip in. Fresh it certainly was!**

**Thank goodness for the wood burner. it took a hot shower and a good sit in front of this to warm up properly.**

Where Is It?

Yes I know I already touched on this by mentioning that it is in Glencoe. I’m sure you would like me to be a little more precise than that, so I shall try my best. I reckon the maps below will be a great place to start.

**Marked by the blue circle, you can see the mountain is at the eastern end of Glencoe.**

**You can see the lower slopes of the mountain from the A82 almost opposite the famous Glen Etive road.**

The whole of Glencoe is stunning, but when you climb Beinn a’ Chrulaiste, you get front row seats to arguably some of the finest views in The Highlands. Directly opposite is Buachaille Etive Mor, which must be one of them most striking and most photographed mountains in all of Scotland.

**The striking Buachaille Etive Mor to the right of the A82 with our chosen mountain in this article off to the left-hand side. What a location!**

**Views from this nearby walk, which offers views like down towards Glen Etive.**

The mountain is so well located that its southern slopes shelve down to join the wide expansive Rannoch Moor. The scale of the place needs to be seen to be believed, with distant mountains in all directions framing it perfectly. When you drive across it and view it from above, it becomes obvious why they chose to feature it as the home of James Bond in Skyfall.

If this doesn’t make you want to visit, then nothing will. You’ll see Rannoch Moor and our chosen mountain to the right of the picture at 1.14.

How To Reach The Summit

The map below shows the general route we took to climb Beinn a’ Chrulaiste. As you may notice, there is no clear path to follow to make the ascent. Your will need to make your own route. We completed the climb in winter conditions with deep powdery snow. It was hard going in places, but a great experience and we found that snaking our way up the mountainside like an alpine road does with its many hairpins proved most effective.

We found a lengthy lay-by to park in just past the Glen Etive Road, which saved the £25.00 parking fee to leave the car at The King House Hotel. Slightly overpriced we thought!

From here we followed the A82 for a short while before picking up The West Highland Way. You have probably heard of this well known route and so for this reason don’t need to worry about navigation or terrain here. It is well surfaced and just a pleasure to walk, with amazing views in all directions.

**It was amazing seeing these stags in the hotel carpark, but it still didn’t justify the £25.00 fee.**

**Those views from The West Highland Way are amazing right from the off. Enjoy!**

**The climbing begins with fresh snowfall right from the off. We just kept heading skywards.**

climb Beinn a' Chrulaiste — **If you find the ascent tiring, it’s a perfect excuse to turn and admire the view from where you’ve come. I never tired of it.**

**By around 500 metres above sea level, the snow depth had increased massively and the small lochans were starting to freeze.**

Reaching The Summit

After reaching several false summits, the cairn to mark the top of Beinn a’ Chrulaiste finally came into view. At 857 metres ( 2811 feet ) we all felt like we had summitted a proper mountain and indeed my mate Jack informed us that this one was considered a Corbett. To qualify as a Munro, the summit must reach 914 metres or 3000 feet.

If you aren’t familiar with these different categories of mountains in Scotland, Munros are by the far the most popular. Many keen climbers actually try to scale all of them including this inspirational chap. Beinn a’ Chrulaiste isn’t far off of qualifying as a Munro and would no doubt be far more visited if it was 57 metres taller.

Thankfully, the fact that it doesn’t keeps it off the radar of most walkers, who target the slightly higher summits nearby. Perfect for those of us who would rather have a mountain all to ourselves for the day.

The Summit Experience

It was positively Baltic at the summit and we all discovered that we’d been protected from the biting easterly wind almost all of the way up the climb. Down jackets were soon deployed from our packs and we did the touristy thing by placing our hands on the trig point. Proof to everybody back home that you’ve conquered another mountain.

All of my gear appeared to protect me superbly against the freezing temperatures. My gloves, hat and socks were particularly effective, as we all know that these are often the first body parts to suffer. Click on the links to find out more about my choices, which certainly don’t break the bank. I am most certainly a budget adventurer.

**My hiking companions Jack, Pav and Mouse pose at the summit of Beinn a’ Chrulaiste.**

**Yours truly at the summit with amazing views of The Mamore Forest opening up behind. It was hard to drag myself away from the views.**

**As you start to head down from the summit, you are treated to fine views over Rannoch Moor.**

The Descent

There is a faint track heading south from the summit, which is your ticket off of the mountain. Even with deep snow cover, we found it fairly straight forward and never overly steep. Walking poles certainly came in handy though. Strain is taken off of the knees, they helped us defeat gravity more successfully and they had the bonus of checking the depths of several snow drifts and boggy sections too.

If you are on the lookout for walking poles, then look no further than the budget option I went with on Amazon. They got good reviews and didn’t break the bank. So far I am a very happy customer indeed and they even helped me conquer Ben Nevis the next day. Click here to find out more about them.

**We kept heading down and needed to use our headtorches in the fading light. The hotel near the start is like a beacon in helping you find your way.**

To finish, I have made a short video capturing some of the views we enjoyed as we battled through the snow to climb Beinn a’ Chrulaiste. Enjoy!