📌 Glen Isla, Angus
★★★
Glas Maol is known to winter sports enthusiasts as the highest point of Glenshee‘s ski area. It’s also a Munro: unfortunately one of the ugliest due to the ski lifts scattered across the hillside when approaching from Cairnwell Pass. But the quieter, longer approach from Glen Isla in Angus misses all of this, instead passing above some of the most beautiful spots in the southern Cairngorms. Monega Hill is a magnificent corner on the ascent, perched high above the two great glens of Caenlochan and Canness, while the return traverses the surprisingly rough ridge to Creag Leacach, another Munro. Save a couple of chocolate bars for the final brutal obstacle of Monamenach. The path over the top looks nearly vertical on approach and it turns out to feel nearly that bad too. The fantastic wildlife deserves a mention: we’ve never seen so many deer, mountain hare or ptarmigan before even on separate walks – let alone all on the same one.
📷 Chronological photo guide
Creag an Torraidh (left) from the track through Glen Isla 
River Isla near Tulchan Lodge 
View back down the glen from the ascent of Monega Hill 
Creag Leacach from Monega Hill 
Canness Glen 
Druim Mòr across Caenlochan Glen 
Head of Caenlochan Glen 
Mountain hares on Glas Maol 
Creag Leacach from Glas Maol 
View west to Glas Tulaichean (right) 
Glenshee Ski Centre 
Carn nan Sac from Creag Leacach 
Ptarmigan 
View back to Creag Leacach 
Just a few of hundreds of deer bellowing away on Creag Leacach 
Approach to Monamenach 
Upper Glen Isla from Monamenach 
Looking west, evening light
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish just beyond Auchavan, minor road end in Glen Isla
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 193698
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.812706,-3.323929
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Small layby – or limited verge parking nearby
📝 Key info
▶ 21 km / 13 mi | ▲ 1140 m | ⌛ 7-8 hr
Features: △ Monega Hill (908 m); △ Little Glas Maol (973 m); △ Glas Maol (1068 m, Munro); △ Creag Leacach (987 m, Munro); △ Monamenach (807 m, Corbett)
⬤ Tough | Good tracks in Glen Isla but rougher on the ridge with some steep ascents. Rocky path over Creag Leacach; faint, grassy return track with some wet sections and more steep climbs.
Download file for GPS➡️ Anticlockwise circuit: start – Tulchan Lodge – Monega Hill – Little Glas Maol – Glas Maol – Creag Leacach – Mallrenheskein – Black Hill – Monamenach – Auchavan – start
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Scores of roaring stags (rutting season) at various points on the route, hundreds of mountain hares on approach to Glas Maol, lots of ptarmigan on descent from Creag Leacach, sheep.
Weather: Sunny to start with some cloud building through the day. Moderately windy at the top with temperatures in single figures; a few showers in the vicinity during the afternoon, but none overhead.
October 2012
