To the south-east of Glas Maol is Monega Hill which I failed to visit when I was on Little Glas Maol in 1998 and on an overnight trip up Glen Isla in 2009 so as I was staying in Braemar for a week I decided to correct this. The choices were to climb it from Glen Isla or from the Cairnwell Ski Centre on the A93. I decided on the latter as it was the main stag stalking season as well as being a shorter drive.
I parked at the Ski Centre car park at a cost of £4. On leaving it the climbing began immediately as I headed south-east up the side of the ski tows. This led to a vehicle track which wound its way uphill, taking a short dip before heading onto Meall Odhar. The highest point of this Munro Top was marked by a cairn.
Thereafter there was a slight loss of height then the path zigzagged fairly steeply uphill before easing off considerably for the final stretch to the trig point marking the summit of the Munro, Glas Maol.
On the descent south-east I spotted a Land Rover heading south across Little Glas Maol so was a bit concerned that stalking was taking place and that I may be stopped from continuing to Monega Hill. Prior to reaching the col with Little Glas Maol there were some churned up vehicle tracks then and I followed a set onto Little Glas Maol. The highest point of this Munro Top was marked by a small cairn.
Thankfully there was no sign of the Land Rover so I headed off east then south-east climbing to the cairn on Monega Hill. The highest point of this Sub Simm was ground adjacent to the cairn. Nearby there were good views into Glen Isla and Canness Glen.
The return was by the outward route. There were no further sightings of the Land Rover.
- Time taken – 4hours 55 minutes.
- Distance – 12.25 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 755 metres.