Beinn Iutharn Bheag

Nestled amongst the hills the loch is quite remote though hill access paths skirt around it.

A Munro defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement.

A quiet spot for reflection

Looking north-east from the ridge of Glas Tulaichean to boggy ground on the col, with Being Iutharn Bheag and Loch nan Eun in the distance.

Peninsula jutting out onto the south-western edge of Loch nan Eun.

View from An Socach. I have skied across the loch which is over 780m above sea level. When not iced up, an island provides safe nesting for gulls, either common or black headed, don't know which, I have only been there in Winter.

A boggy col at the head of the Baddoch Glen. Fortunately the only time that I have crossed it was on skis.

Draining into Glen Ey. Not sure which way Loch an Eun normally drains. Into Glen Ey, or Glen Taitnaich. Anyone walking the area in the wet will appreciate the name.

View from An Socach of one of Sir Hugh's originals, downgraded to a top in the 1920s. I've been up there, but it was full on snow, so did not return with a photo.

A very flat moss and quartzite summit, but the view is very fine. There are a few An Socachs in the Highlands, three of them in Munro's Tables. (One is also called Meall a' Chraisg which could reduce confusion). This one is in the rolling hill country at the head of Glen Ey, south of Braemar and like its neighbours has a quartzite cap. The rock is frost shattered giving angular boulder fields, but the walking is easy, this is no Schiehallion or Sgùrr Bàn. The highest point is at the western end, switching the original Munro's tables which had the eastern top as the highest. The hill is often done from the Baddoch Glen, but can also be visited from Glen Ey. Apart from it not being exactly a roadside hill, this is one of the easier munros.

A pair of cairns on the west top of the Mar An Socach. The distant cairn is the summit.

One of two cairns on the summit area of the Munro. The app on my phone was happier with the cairn in the background to the left as being the actual summit.

Loch at the head of Gleann Taitneach, very much a landmark amongst these rolling hills.

The loch and its gullery islands seen from near the summit of Glas Tulaichean.

A perfect winter day with the ice crystals singing across the frozen surface as you strode along the summit ridge.

To a frozen Loch nan Eun. Beinn Iutharn Bheag on the right.

Into Glen Ey with Loch nan Eun in the centre.