Mount Keen

Mount Keen is the most easterly of the Munros, and also one of the most solitary as it lies 17 kilometres from its nearest neighbour, Lochnagar. Its pointed summit is on the spine of the Mounth between the River Dee and Strathmore, and it is the highest hill east of Loch Muick, rising high enough above its surroundings to be easily recognisable in views from afar.

There are two commonly used approaches to Mount Keen, one from Glen Esk to the south, and the other from Glen Tanar to the north. The Glen Esk route is the shorter one. It starts from the carpark near the point where the glen divides into its two upper reaches - Glen Lee and Glen Mark. Walk along the private road in Glen Mark past the Queen's Well and on up the track in the narrow glen of the Ladder Burn to reach the open hillside at the Knowe of Crippley. The traditional Mounth Road, a one-time drovers' route which is now a right of way, continues north on the west side of Mount Keen, but the route to the summit of the hill follows a diverging path a little further east.

(Copyright The Scottish Mountaineering Council)