Number 85 of 282 by height · West Highlands
Chno Dearg
An Crò Dearg
3,432 ft (1,046 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NN 377 741
- Latitude, longitude
- 56.83010, -4.66084
- Area
- West Highlands
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 3.4 mi (5.5 km)
- Climb
- 2,635 ft (803 m)
- Estimated time up
- 2 h 25 min
- Start
- Car park near Fersit
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 17:07. Not live.
- Weather
- Fair
- Temperature
- 37°F (3°C)
- Wind chill
- 32°F (0°C)
- Wind
- 5 mph (9 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 14%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 4,744 ft (1,446 m)
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:27, 16:36
The way up
From Car park near Fersit, follow the road east for 0.6 mi, almost level. On the way you cross the River Trèig by a bridge. Then follow the path south-east for the last 2.8 mi to the summit, climbing steeply from 860 ft to 3,450 ft. On the way you cross the Allt Chaorach Beag. The steepest part is between 2,800 ft and 3,400 ft, about 3.0 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,432 ft (1,046 m).
Written from the map, not from walking it. Paths on the ground can differ, so carry a map and compass.See it in 3D.
Getting there
By car
Car park near Fersit. Parking charge not known. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Chno Dearg car park56.86553,-4.70840
By train
Nearest station: Tulloch, 1.3 mi (2.1 km) from the car park.
By bus
No bus stop on the map within 5 miles of the car park. The nearest is Roy Bridge, 5.3 mi (8.6 km) away. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Chno Dearg
- In Gaelic
- An Crò Dearg
- Means
- Red hill
- Say it
- KRAW JERR-uk
Chno Dearg stands in Lochaber in the high ground between Loch Treig and Strath Ossian, looking north over Glen Spean. The SMC guide calls it 'a rounded and featureless hill', but deep glens on every side give it real stature: it rises 2,113 ft (644 m) above the col linking it to higher ground.
Its broad northern flank slopes gently down to Glen Spean and Loch Laggan, boggy in places, with forestry on its lower reaches. To the west lies the shallow Coire an Lochain with its lochan. The main ridge runs south-west to a col, then splits: one arm curves round the head of Coire an Lochain to Stob Coire Sgriodain, 1.3 miles away, and the other runs south to Meall Garbh, 3,202 ft (976 m), a top with steep crags on its east side. On the south side, Coire nan Cnamh falls steeply towards the River Ossian, yet all the hill's water ends up in the Spean and flows to the west coast.
A large cairn marks the summit.
Tops on Chno Dearg
One lower summit in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Meall GarbhNN 371 727 | 3,202 ft (976 m) | 0.9 mi (1.5 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Chno Dearg in the middle of each month. The shorter the day, the earlier you need to start.
Stag stalking season, 1 July to 20 October. On many estates, walkers are asked to keep to set routes on stalking days: check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code site's Heading for the Scottish Hills service before you go.
Nearest Munros
| Munro | Height | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|---|
| Stob Coire Sgriodain | 3,212 ft (979 m) | 1.3 mi (2.1 km) |
| Beinn na Lap | 3,068 ft (935 m) | 2.8 mi (4.5 km) |
| Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin | 3,625 ft (1,105 m) | 3.8 mi (6.1 km) |
Common questions about Chno Dearg
- How high is Chno Dearg?
- Chno Dearg is 3,432 ft (1,046 m), number 85 of the 282 Munros by height, in the West Highlands.
- How long does it take to climb Chno Dearg?
- About 2 h 25 min up and 1 h 5 min back down by our route from Car park near Fersit, before stops: 3.4 mi (5.5 km) each way with 2,635 ft (803 m) of climbing. That is about average for a Munro. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Chno Dearg?
- Our route starts at Car park near Fersit.
- Can you climb Chno Dearg without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Tulloch, 1.3 mi (2.1 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Chno Dearg a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is about average for a Munro, with 2,635 ft (803 m) of ascent over 3.4 mi (5.5 km). Like every Munro it reaches over 3,000 ft, where the weather can be far worse than at the car park, so take a map and compass and check the mountain forecast.
- What does Chno Dearg mean?
- In Gaelic it is An Crò Dearg. It is usually translated as "red hill".
- When is the best time to climb Chno Dearg?
- Daylight runs from about 18 hours in mid June to 7 hours in mid December, so summer gives the most time. From 1 July to 20 October it is the stag stalking season, when some estates ask walkers to keep to set routes. In winter, snow and ice turn most Munros into mountaineering terrain.
A guide only. Mountain conditions change fast: carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and read the mountain forecast for the West Highlands before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the West Highlands, written by forecasters for walkers and climbers. In winter, also read the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for the area.
Where does the summit weather come from?
From MET Norway's forecast model, fetched for every Munro once an hour at the summit's own height. It is computer output for one point, not a forecast written for mountains, so treat it as a guide. The past hours are what the forecast said at the time. Wind chill, the freezing level and sunrise and sunset are worked out by this site from those figures; the freezing level assumes temperature drops steadily with height, so it can be well out when cold air sits in the glens.
How was this route drawn?
It follows footpaths and tracks mapped on OpenStreetMap, from a public car park to the summit, with heights from Copernicus elevation data. A computer picked the start as the car park with the quickest mapped way up, counting the climbing as well as the distance. Nobody has checked it on the hill yet, so it may not be the usual way up, and the path may be faint or missing on the ground. A line on a map is not a description of the ground.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T19:57:04.412Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Fersit, found by grid reference NN350784) with the shortest mapped-path route to the summit.
- Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA), sampled every 50 m, 3-sample median, 5 m hysteresis on ascent.
- Summit position: Database of British and Irish Hills v18 (CC BY 4.0).
Built 2026-10-25.
How is the time up worked out?
With Naismith's rule, the standard hill-walking estimate: an hour for every 3.1 miles (5 km), plus an hour for every 1,969 ft (600 m) of climbing, with no stops. For this route that gives about 2 h 25 min, one way. It ignores rough ground, weather, stops and the walk back down, so most people take longer.
Where do the car parks and bus stops come from?
From OpenStreetMap. Distances are straight lines, not the way you would walk or drive. A bus stop on the map says nothing about how often a bus calls: many Highland buses run a few times a day, some only on school days or by booking, so check Traveline Scotland first. The map cannot tell whether a car park is on a public road, so a remote one may only be reachable on foot or by train.
Where do the Gaelic names and stories come from?
From the hill's article on English Wikipedia and its Wikidata entry, put into a few words of our own. Meanings and pronunciations are only given where the article states them; many Gaelic hill names are old and their meaning is uncertain. Read the full article.
Where do the height and grid reference come from?
From the Database of British and Irish Hills, the surveyed list most baggers use. Chno Dearg is hill 351 there.
Sources: Database of British and Irish Hills (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, Copernicus elevation data, Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery by EOX. All credits and licences.