Number 198 of 282 by height · Southeastern Highlands
Meall Glas
3,146 ft (959 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NN 431 321
- Latitude, longitude
- 56.45572, -4.54683
- Area
- Southeastern Highlands
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 3.9 mi (6.3 km)
- Climb
- 2,625 ft (800 m)
- Estimated time up
- 2 h 35 min
- Start
- Car park near Auchessan
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 20:25. Not live.
- Weather
- Clear sky
- Temperature
- 32°F (0°C)
- Wind chill
- 29°F (−2°C)
- Wind
- 4 mph (6 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 1%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 3,146 ft (959 m)
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:25, 16:37
The way up
From Car park near Auchessan, follow the road north-west for 0.6 mi, almost level. On the way you cross the River Dochart. Then follow the track north for 0.3 mi, climbing gently from 540 ft to 640 ft. Then follow the path north-west for the last 2.9 mi to the summit, climbing steeply from 640 ft to 3,150 ft. On the way you cross the Allt Glas and the Allt Glas. The steepest part is between 2,300 ft and 3,100 ft, about 3.2 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,146 ft (959 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 Auchessan. Parking charge not known. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Meall Glas car park56.41532,-4.50987
By train
Nearest station: Crianlarich, 4.5 mi (7.2 km) from the car park.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: Crianlarich opposite Police Station, 4.4 mi (7.0 km) from the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Meall Glas
- Means
- Greenish-grey hill
Meall Glas stands on the northern edge of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, about 5 miles north-east of Crianlarich. It is the high point of the rolling uplands between Glen Lochay and Glen Dochart. Sgiath Chuil lies 2 miles east, across the Lairig a' Churain pass, and the Corbett Beinn nan Imirean about a mile to the south-west. From Glen Dochart it looks like just the top of rising moorland, but from Glen Lochay its curved summit ridge shows its best side.
Its slopes are mostly grassy. One ridge drops north-west to Glen Lochay, and the other curls around Coire Cheathaich to its top, Beinn Cheathaich, 3,074 ft (937 m). The rock is Dalradian schist with pink granite outcrops higher up. A broad shelf on the south side at about 1,475 ft (450 m) was cut by glaciers.
Meall Glas rises 1,818 ft (554 m) above the col linking it to higher ground. A small cairn on a rocky outcrop marks the summit, with good views of the Mamlorn peaks and the Crianlarich hills.
Tops on Meall Glas
One lower summit in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Beinn CheathaichNN 444 326 | 3,074 ft (937 m) | 0.8 mi (1.3 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Meall Glas 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sgiath Chuil | 3,019 ft (920 m) | 2.0 mi (3.2 km) |
| Beinn Challuim | 3,363 ft (1,025 m) | 2.8 mi (4.4 km) |
| Creag Mhor | 3,434 ft (1,047 m) | 3.5 mi (5.6 km) |
Common questions about Meall Glas
- How high is Meall Glas?
- Meall Glas is 3,146 ft (959 m), number 198 of the 282 Munros by height, in the Southeastern Highlands.
- How long does it take to climb Meall Glas?
- About 2 h 35 min up and 1 h 15 min back down by our route from Car park near Auchessan, before stops: 3.9 mi (6.3 km) each way with 2,625 ft (800 m) of climbing. That is about average for a Munro. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Meall Glas?
- Our route starts at Car park near Auchessan.
- Can you climb Meall Glas without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Crianlarich, 4.5 mi (7.2 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is Crianlarich opposite Police Station, 4.4 mi (7.0 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Meall Glas a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is about average for a Munro, with 2,625 ft (800 m) of ascent over 3.9 mi (6.3 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 Meall Glas mean?
- It is usually translated as "greenish-grey hill".
- When is the best time to climb Meall Glas?
- 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 Southeastern Highlands before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the Southeastern 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.
- Walks 0.3 mi along a main road before the path starts.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T19:54:56.481Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Auchessan, found by grid reference NN446276) 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 35 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. Meall Glas is hill 158 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.