On the first Sunday of March last year, I set out to bag my first munro with three friends I’d met in Aberdeen shortly after moving there.
We chose Mount Keen (939 m.) since it’s the closest munro to the city and also one of the easiest munros to conquer. Thankfully, we had a car available so we were able to drive to the Invermark parking lot, the closest starting point for the climb up Mount Keen. The hike up and down ended up being around 18 kilometres in total.
It was pretty straightforward from the parking lot; we followed a well-trodden trail that is also marked on maps.me, taking us gradually up the mountain. We came past Lochlee Parish Church from around 1600 and the Queen’s Well, which is a monument erected to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria.
We also passed by several isolated cottages, and had to cross a river but with plenty of stones for easy passing. We took a quick detour to Invermark Castle, which is an oblong tower house built in the 16th century to control Highland raiders until it was abandoned in 1803.
There were a few steep parts towards the end but overall it was a very easy hike. The biggest challenge came when we reached the snowline around a kilometre from the summit. It was icy and slippery, and especially on the last section which is known as ‘the ladder’ – a natural stone ladder leading up to the summit. The stones were very slippery so I was close to slipping several times. It also started snowing quite heavily creating the most beautiful winter landscape but unfortunately not much of a view as it got increasingly foggy the closer we got to the summit.
It took us three hours to reach the summit, and we were back down in just two hours. I found myself wishing we’d taken the longer route from Glen Tanar as I was enjoying the hike and still had lots of energy!
Keen to climb Mount Keen yourself? You can find the routes up the mountain here! If coming by bus, you can start the hike from the town of Ballater although this is quite a long route. As with anywhere in the Highlands, it’s much easier to get around with a car!
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