Ben Lawers

About Ben Lawers

Ben Lawers is the highest hill in Breadalbane and in Perthshire, standing north of Loch Tay as the top of a seven-Munro ridge that also takes in Beinn Ghlas, Meall Garbh, Meall Corranaich, An Stùc, Meall Greigh and Meall a' Choire Leith. It ranks tenth among the Munros. For a long time it was thought to exceed 4,000 feet; careful measurement in the 1870s brought it down to 3,983 ft (1,214 m).

The hill rises 100–200 m above its neighbouring massifs, an isolated landmark some 30 km east of the main Highland watershed where comparably high peaks are otherwise concentrated. That standing is associated with the Loch Tay Fault, a major Caledonide structure along which displacements of kilometres have occurred, and which also flanks Ben Vorlich and Beinn a'Ghlo.

Two conspicuous rock slope failures affect the summit area, leaving sheltered landslipped recesses that harbour wildlife and dumping large debris masses into the south corrie — enough material that, restored, the hill would once again top 4,000 ft. The summit lies on the local watershed between the Tay and the Lyon.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Ben Lawers (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

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

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 56.545, -4.221. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is trig point. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

Abney level/Leica RX1250

Record revised

15-Dec-24

Drop measured from

NN292538 · 300 m

Classification history: Added to Trail 100 list Jan 2020.

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

The Ben Lawers group

2 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Ben Lawers as the independent hill at its head.

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