M6 | 1245 m. | 4085 ft.
Translation: Blue hill
Pronuncation: cairngorom

2011 He we were again. The “Mechernich Group” and Cord on an extended weekend to enjoy and see the marvellous hills of scotland. We wanted to start with a moderate hill to get the old bones used to it. Bugger, we didn’t see anythin – but we had coffee!

From our lovely Treehouse in Boat of Garten it only took a short drive to the high level parking space an the base station of the Cairngorms ski area. I’ll never get used to those walks with these kind of infrastructure. It was very dizzy and we couldn’t see very much and this shouldn’t improve very much over the day … well we continued over skislopes and saw occasionally the skiing infrastructure.

Soon the infamous Ptarmigan came in sight but we headed directly to the marked path to the summit. Quite strangely this path is marked by post signs and one ought not leave it. After a short walk we arrived at the summit where we saw nothing, absolutely nothing. So we returned at once down to the Ptarmigan where we wanted to take our snack in a sheltered corner. One of the drivers of the funicular waved us inside. So we went inside, signed the entrybook and thought about eating in the waiting room. But we entered the next level of convenience and walked downstairs to the self service restaurant where we had – quite a novelty for Cord and me – cakes and coffee in a big and warm restaurant. Strange feeling i can tell you. Not sure if i want to repeat that. It was as it was, it was indeed welcome since we were wet and cold. We stayed about a hour before we emerged to the waiting room put our raingear on and entered the wild Cairngorms again. Of course we signed off again in the entry book.

It took us about 40 minutes for returning to our cars where we changed gear again and drove back to Boat of Garten where we enjoyed a nice afternoon with tea and beer. What more can you ask for?

 

2004 Another sunny day in Scotland. In the middle of the morning we started our walk at the Corrie Cas car park, walked up the Sron an Aonaich ridge, passed the Ptarmigan Restaurant with the funicular station and climbed the final 100m to Carin Gorm’s summit on a hilarious stone path with a railing of rope with wooden supports. On the summit of Cairn Gorm the beauty of the great mountain range was overwhelming. On we marched to the cliffs of the northern corries. Coire an t-Sneachda, Coire an Lochan and finally Cairn Lochan. On that section of the walk we stopped a lot to take in views of the corries below. A year and half ago I had climbed out of Coire an t-Sneachda onto the ridge between this corrie and Coire an Lochan through snow. The place looked very steep from above and made me think about avalanche risk now even more than then. From Cairn Lochan we crossed the plateau to get a view of the Lairig Ghru but the hill drops too gradually to give a good impression of the pass and the Garbh Coire. We had intended to return to the car park from here along the crest of the western spur of Coire an Lochan before we took a break. After the pause we realized that we would probably not get another chance to climb Ben Macdui on a day as marvellous as today with no cloud in the sky and the sun beaming down on us. And so we continued south on the plateau climbing the last 200m and reaching Ben Macdui’s flat summit in due time. Great views of Cairn Toul, Sgurr an Lochan Uaine and Braeriach with its hanging corries and the Falls of Dee. The other direction offered impressions of the eastern part of the plateau with the torrs on Beinn Mheadhoin and even Ben Avon in the distance. From the summit we returned through the stony desert and past Lochan Buidhe to Coire an Lochain and walked back to Corrie Cas along the crest of the western spur of Coire an Lochan and the lower end of Coire an t-Sneachda. An unforgettable long day out in the Cairngorms and sunburn on my legs which still peel a bit as I write these lines two weeks after the walk.


Description Standing at the highest point of the northern edge of the central Cairngorms massif, Cairn Gorm itself is very prominent in views of these mountains from Speyside. Its rounded dome rises above the bowl of Coire Cas, with the narrow Coire na Ciste to the north-east and the very fine Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire an Lochain - the Northern Corries - to the south-west.The easy access provided by the public road to Coire Cas makes Cairn Gorm one of the easiest of the Munros to climb. It is possible to go by car and chairlift to only 160 metres below the summit, but most hillwalkers use the access road and start their climb from the carpark at a height of 625 metres. From there the shortest route is up the ridge on the east side of Coire Cas, but an equally good way goes up the Fiacaill a' Choire Chais, the ridge on the west side of the corrie.A good extension to this very short climb is to go south-west along the edge of Coire an t-Sneachda to Cairn Lochan. From there continue round the west side of Coire an Lochain to return below these corries to the carpark.