Beinn a' Chaorainn
4 classifications here — Marilyn, HuMP, Simm and Murdo — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.
- Height
- 1049.1 m · 3,442 ft
- Prominence
- 227 m
- Grid reference
- NN 38608 85053
- Coordinates
- 56.92862, -4.65364
- County / area
- Highland
- OS Landranger
- 34 41
- OS Explorer
- OL55 400 401
- Summit feature
- cairn
- Key col
- NN396866 (822 m)
About Beinn a' Chaorainn
Beinn a' Chaorainn stands on the north side of Glen Spean in Lochaber, about 30 km east-north-east of Fort William. Several hills in the Highlands carry the name; this one is not to be confused with the better-known Beinn a' Chaorainn in the Cairngorms.
At 1,049 m it is a Munro, and it also appears on the Marilyn, HuMP, Simm and Murdo lists.
Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Beinn a' Chaorainn (Glen Spean) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.
Access rights here
Yes Right to roam: Statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water.
Yes Wild camping: Wild camping is broadly lawful under the 2003 Act.
General position for Scotland — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Scotland ·check another location.
Daylight at this summit today
- Sunrise
- —
- Sunset
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- Daylight
- —
- Civil twilight ends
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Computed astronomically for 56.929, -4.654. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.
Summit weather live
Loading forecast for the summit (1049 m)…
Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).
Finding the summit
The recorded summit point is cairn. On broad or flat summits the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.
- Survey method
- Leica RX1250
- Record revised
- 10-Aug-19
- Drop measured from
- NN396866 · 822 m
Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.
Reaching Beinn a' Chaorainn by train
One National Rail station sits within 8 km of the summit — close enough to make a car-free day of it. Distances are straight lines, not walking routes.
| Station | From summit | Summit lies |
|---|---|---|
| Tulloch | 5.7 km | NE of the station |
Each station page lists every hill in its reach, long-distance paths from the door and a live-times link — see all stations with hills in reach. Station positions from NaPTAN (OGL v3.0).
The Beinn a' Chaorainn group
2 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Beinn a' Chaorainn as the independent hill at its head.
| Summit | Height | Drop |
|---|---|---|
| Beinn a' Chaorainn South Top | 1,049 m | 26 m |
| Beinn a' Chaorainn North Top | 1,043 m | 37 m |
Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.
Nearest listed peaks
| Peak | Height | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Beinn a' Chaorainn South Top | 1048.5 m | 0.5 km |
| Beinn a' Chaorainn North Top | 1042.9 m | 0.7 km |
| Beinn Teallach | 914.6 m | 2.6 km |
| An Cearcallach | 993.1 m | 3.6 km |
| Creag Meagaidh | 1128.1 m | 4.1 km |
| Meall Coire Choille-rais | 1028 m | 4.8 km |