Number 54 of 282 by height · West Highlands
Stob Ghabhar
3,576 ft (1,090 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NN 230 455
- Latitude, longitude
- 56.56812, -4.88212
- Area
- West Highlands
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 5.0 mi (8.0 km)
- Climb
- 2,992 ft (912 m)
- Estimated time up
- 3 h 5 min
- Start
- Victoria Bridge Car Park
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 20:25. Not live.
- Weather
- Clear sky
- Temperature
- 31°F (0°C)
- Wind
- 2 mph (4 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 2%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 3,323 ft (1,013 m), below the summit
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:27, 16:38
The way up
From Victoria Bridge Car Park, follow the path north for 0.3 mi, almost level. On the way you cross the Abhainn Shira by a bridge. Then follow the track west for 1.0 mi, almost level. Then follow the path north for 1.5 mi, climbing steadily from 610 ft to 1,400 ft. Then follow the track north-west for 1.0 mi, climbing steeply from 1,400 ft to 2,200 ft. On the way you cross the Allt Caolain Duibh. Then follow the path west for the last 1.1 mi to the summit, climbing steeply from 2,200 ft to 3,600 ft. On the way you go over Aonach Eagach (3,250 ft). The steepest part is between 2,300 ft and 3,200 ft, about 3.8 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,576 ft (1,090 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
Victoria Bridge Car Park. Free to park. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Stob Ghabhar car park56.53701,-4.81403
By train
Nearest station: Bridge of Orchy, 2.4 mi (3.8 km) from the car park.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: Hotel, 2.2 mi (3.5 km) from the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Near the start
- Toilets 0.4 mi (0.6 km)
- Shop: Buth Bheag - The Wee Shop 0.4 mi (0.6 km)
From OpenStreetMap. Places close or change hours, especially in winter, so check before you rely on one.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Stob Ghabhar
- Means
- Goats' peak
Stob Ghabhar stands in the Black Mount about 5.5 miles north-west of Bridge of Orchy, on the border of Argyll and Highland, and is regarded as the finest of the Black Mount's four Munros. It is a big hill with a pointed summit, long ridges and deep scalloped corries. Its ridges carry lesser tops, among them Sròn a' Ghearrain and Stob a' Bhruaich Leith, which are listed with it.
The summit sits at the edge of the cliffs ringing Coire Dhearbhadh, which holds the little Coirein Lochain. The corrie headwall is split by the upper couloir, a deep gully first climbed as a winter ice route in 1897. Near the summit, gneiss meets Cruachan granite. The Gaelic poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre (1724 to 1812) was born in its southern foothills.
A cairn marks the summit. It rises 1,286 ft (392 m) above the col linking it to higher ground, and the nearest higher Munro, Creise, is 3.2 miles away.
Tops on Stob Ghabhar
2 lower summits in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Sron a' GhearrainNN 221 456 | 3,248 ft (990 m) | 0.6 mi (0.9 km) |
| Stob a' Bhruaich LeithNN 208 459 | 3,087 ft (941 m) | 1.4 mi (2.2 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Stob Ghabhar 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 a' Choire Odhair | 3,100 ft (945 m) | 1.7 mi (2.7 km) |
| Meall nan Eun | 3,045 ft (928 m) | 2.4 mi (3.8 km) |
| Creise | 3,608 ft (1,100 m) | 3.2 mi (5.2 km) |
Common questions about Stob Ghabhar
- How high is Stob Ghabhar?
- Stob Ghabhar is 3,576 ft (1,090 m), number 54 of the 282 Munros by height, in the West Highlands.
- How long does it take to climb Stob Ghabhar?
- About 3 h 5 min up and 1 h 35 min back down by our route from Victoria Bridge Car Park, before stops: 5.0 mi (8.0 km) each way with 2,992 ft (912 m) of climbing. That is about average for a Munro. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Stob Ghabhar?
- Our route starts at Victoria Bridge Car Park. It is free to park.
- Can you climb Stob Ghabhar without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Bridge of Orchy, 2.4 mi (3.8 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is Hotel, 2.2 mi (3.5 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Stob Ghabhar a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is about average for a Munro, with 2,992 ft (912 m) of ascent over 5.0 mi (8.0 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 Stob Ghabhar mean?
- It is usually translated as "goats' peak".
- When is the best time to climb Stob Ghabhar?
- 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 2026-10-24T19:57:37.957Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Victoria Bridge, found by grid reference NN269419) 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 3 h 5 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. Stob Ghabhar is hill 237 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.