An unmistakable rocky summit that offers real drama
Smaller than its neighbours, Cruach Ardrain offers big views
Its distinctive, rugged outline ensures rocky Cruach Ardrain is a hill familiar in outline, far and wide. There’s a wee hill I climb often, for training, just north of my home in the Trossachs.
The view from the summit is a wonderful panorama, a great ring of peaks from Ben Lomond in the west, then Ben Venue, on to Beinn Tulaichean, Cruach Ardrain, Stob Binnein, Ben More, all the way round to Ben Vane and Ben Ledi in the east. For me, it’s craggy Cruach Ardrain that steals the show.
It’s far smaller than its immediate neighbours – towering Ben More and Stob Binnein, both aesthetically pleasing hills – but Cruach Ardrain’s steep, broken north- eastern aspect gives it real drama.
It lies at the heart of the seven Munros just south of Crianlarich – and of the five western Munros in that group, it’s easily the finest summit. The hill is often climbed along with the smaller Munro, Beinn Tulaichean, which lies about 2km ( 1.2 miles) away at the southern tip of Cruach Ardrain’s south ridge.
They don’t really feel like separate hills. A common way of climbing them is from Inverlochlarig, at the end of a long section of single-track road from Balquhidder off the A84.
It’s a bit of a slog up steep grass and not the best way up the hills. I reckon the approach from the Crianlarich side is much nicer – it gives you the chance to better appreciate the rough character of the hill.
And you can always add on Beinn Tulaichean as a there- and- back if you have time. Ascent from the Crianlarich side is a particularly fine winter outing for experienced mountaineers.
In fact there are even some graded routes for climbers, probably the best- known being Y Gully, a winter Grade 1. You can turn the route into a bit of a horseshoe by carrying on from the summit to the Munro top Stob Garbh – the initial part of this is very rocky and steep and requires great care, particularly when it’s icy.