Beinn a' Chaorainn is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 mountain situated in the heart of the Cairngorms

Cairngorms

The Cairngorms are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain of the same name - Cairn Gorm.-Name:...

 range. It is quite a remote hill, being located roughly 19 kilometres south east of Aviemore

Aviemore

Aviemore is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm...

 and 14 kilometres north west of Braemar

Braemar

Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an altitude of ....

. The mountain stands on the border of the Moray

Moray

Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...

 and Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

 council areas. The hill's name used to be spelt as Beinn a' Chaoruinn, but the spelling of the word caorunn (in genitive case

Genitive case

In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...

 here) was altered to caorann by the Gaelic Orthographic Convention's attempts to standardise spelling.

Overview

The mountain is a pointed hill, however it is not particularly conspicuous in views being overshadowed by the more imposing and impressive peaks of the Cairngorms which stand nearby. The hill is located at the head of Glen Derry and faces its higher and better-known neighbour Beinn Mheadhoin

Beinn Mheadhoin

Beinn Mheadhoin is a mountain in Scotland. By some counts it is the tenth highest mountain of Great Britain. It lies in the very heart of the Cairngorm mountains, and is one of the most remote hills in the region....

 across the Lairig an Laoigh (The Pass of the Calves). Beinn a' Chaorainn reaches a height of 1083 metres (3553 feet) and qualifies as both a Munro

Munro

A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over . They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet , who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munros Tables, in 1891. A Munro top is a summit over 3,000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain...

 and a Marilyn

Marilyn (hill)

A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland or Isle of Man with a relative height of at least 150 metres , regardless of absolute height or other merit...

. The hill's name translates from the Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

 as “Mountain of the Rowan

Rowan

The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or small trees in genus Sorbus of family Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies...

 tree” although today the hill seems bare of any trees. The mountain should not be confused with another Munro also known as Beinn a' Chaorainn

Beinn a' Chaorainn (Glen Spean)

Beinn a’ Chaorainn is a Scottish mountain situated on the northern side of Glen Spean in the Lochaber region of the Highland Council area. The mountain which is located 30 km east-northeast of Fort William is one of several of the same name in the Scottish Highlands and should not be confused...

 which is situated in Glen Spean above Loch Laggan

Loch Laggan

Loch Laggan is a freshwater loch situated east of Fort William, in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. The A86 road from Spean Bridge to Kingussie follows along its north bank...

.

Geography

Beinn a' Chaorainn lies on the northern part of the Moine Bhealaidh (Yellow Moss) plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

, a large area of featureless land which hardly drops below 850 metres, to the east of upper Glen Derry. The southern part of the plateau is occupied by another Munro, Beinn Bhreac, which lies 4.5 kilometres south of Beinn a' Chaorainn across boggy ground. On its western flanks Beinn a' Chaorainn falls away steeply to the Lairig an Laoigh pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 on slopes that are mostly grassy but are craggy in places. To the east stands Beinn a' Chaorainn Bheag (1017 metres), a subsidiary top, which is listed in Munro's Tables. They are linked by a col

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 with a height of 945 metres; there are several small lochans at the lowest point of the broad ridge, the largest of which is called Lochan Beinn a' Chaorainn. Further to the east (five kilometres from the summit) stands the massive mountain of Beinn a' Bhùird ‎ to which Beinn a' Chaorainn is linked by the high ground across the Moine Bhealaidh. Drainage from the mountain either goes south to the Derry Burn to eventually reach the sea at Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 via the River Dee

River Dee, Aberdeenshire

The River Dee is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It rises in the Cairngorms and flows through Strathdee to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen...

 or north via Glen Avon and the River Spey

River Spey

The River Spey is a river in the northeast of Scotland, the second longest and the fastest-flowing river in Scotland...

 to reach the Moray Firth

Moray Firth

The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...

.

Ascents

The ascent of Beinn a' Chaorainn along with the neighbouring Munro of Beinn Bhreac is a long round trip of over 28 kilometres, starting at the Linn of Dee car park , eight kilometres west of Braemar. The route follows the estate road along Glen Lui for five kilometres to Derry Lodge: bicycles can be used on this stretch of the route and secured in the woodland around Derry Lodge for collection on the return journey. The route then goes north up Glen Derry for two kilometres before ascending the western flanks of Beinn Bhreac and then continuing northwards for almost five kilometres across the Moine Bhealaidh to reach the summit of Beinn a' Chaorainn. An approach from the Aviemore side of the Cairngorms is feasible, starting at the Cairn Gorm ski centre, but this involves crossing or bypassing Cairn Gorm

Cairn Gorm

Cairn Gorm is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands overlooking Strathspey and the town of Aviemore. At 1245 metres it is the sixth highest mountain in the United Kingdom...

, Loch Avon and Beinn Mheadhoin before reaching the mountain and is a long, hard walk. The view from the summit gives a fine panorama and takes in all the Cairngorm giants.