Help to plan hike in Cairngorms (maybe Sgor Gaoith route)?

[nmaaria]

Hi all!

We are two Finnish ladies arriving in Highlands next week and planning to see a lot of your beautiful country. We've been browsing this the site and picking some pretty easy looking day trips around Loch Ness and Inverness area. We're also staying in Kingussie for a while and would very much like to take e.g. the Sgor Gaoith (from Glen Feshie) walk. We're pretty fit and experienced wandering here in the Finnish flatlands (and some mountains in the north, in Lapland), but have no experience wandering in Scotland and the type of terrains you have in Cairngorms. In the Finnish national parks the routes are usually well marked and have signs to help choosing the correct path. Naturally navigating skills are needed, but usually the going is quite easy here in Finland. We are no climbers, so that is also a factor.

Therefore, to help us in the planning, some questions to you all here. Is the Sgor Gaoith route something you'd say we could take based on the short intro above? Should we try to find a local to accompany us or could you recommend a similar (easier?) walk in the area?

Thanks in advance for your help and comments!
Niina & Heidi

[DopeyLoser]

Sgorr Gaoith from Glen Feshie would be a good walk, in my opinion. Presumably you will have:

- a map. E.g. a Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 scale map, which you can buy locally in a newsagents shop or outdoors shop; trouble with OS maps however is the map sheet limits are sometimes not convenient. Another map company is Harvey, e.g. https://www.harveymaps.co.uk/acatalog/Cairngorms-YHBMCG.html, also should be available in local outdoor shops

- a compass (maybe a good Finnish one like Suunto?)

and you know how to use the map and compass

That is a good walk because there is a nice path about half of the way, then if you can walk eastwards alongside a stream you'll get to the top. You'll know if you've walked past the top, because you will be falling off a cliff into the loch way down below.

Then if you turn right and go south you can reach another path which takes you back down to Glen Feshie. Not much to it really. Enjoy.

[davekeiller]

The route itself is probably straightforward enough for you. You'll need to be able to navigate using a British Ordnance Survey map as paths generally aren't waymarked in the UK.

[jmarkb]

Welcome to WH!

Sgor Gaoith should be fine if you attempt it in good weather. There is no trail marking, and although the path is good to start with it becomes faint or non-existent in some places higher up. If you want to complete the circuit over Geal Charn (as described at https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/sgor-gaoith.shtml ), there are a couple of places where you could easily go wrong if the visibility is poor. If in doubt, head back down the way you came (or indeed anywhere in westerly direction from the summit).

Other good hill routes in the area that have better paths and easier route finding (but still no waymarking - we don't do that on our mountains here!) would include:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/meallabhuachaille.shtml
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/geal-charn-mor.shtml
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/bynackmore.shtml
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/carn-an-fhreiceadain.shtml (very convenient for Kingussie)

Hope you have a great trip!

[nmaaria]

Huge thanks to all three of you for help and especially to jmarkb for he alternative route recommendations! The current plan is to go for the Sgor Gaioth if the weather loks good. And if not, the Carn an Fhreiceadain from Kingussie looks very promising. Or some other. ...We wouldn't mind at all some bad weather, would be a welcome change this summer. The Finnish summer has been extremely hot this year, several weeks of daily max temps of 25-33 Celcius with record breaking average temps.

[davekeiller]

When the rain's lashing down and the wind's so strong you can barely stand up, you'll yearn for the sunshine!

[nmaaria]

Had that too, early this summer. (And weirdly, I like it! ) My pale Finnish skin's had just about enough of the burning sun and the inhuman temps for a Nordic dweller. Can't wait until Saturday when we land in Scotland and that's for several reasons, weather being one nice bonus.
But ok, not really complaining (too much) of the sun this summer, it's nice too! Though one of the not so nice consequences here is the extreme dryness everywhere - there is an absolute ban for using any model of stoves, not to mention open fire. Makes cooking and getting clean water challenging on the the longer hikes. And when some dummies ignore the ban, we've had some quite severe forest fires around Finland.

[al78]

I've climbed Sgor Gaioth last year in beautiful sunny weather. The route mentioned here started further north along Glen Feshie than where I started. I went up Glen Feshie as far as you can go in a motor vehicle, there is a car park near the end of the road about a km before a farm building (Auchlean). After parking, if you walk along the road you soon come to a path heading left up the hill on the east side of the glen, signposted Carn Ban Mor. Head up that path, it is good quality and brings you up onto a high broad ridge, where you will summit Carn Ban Mor if you just keep going uphill. Once you get to Carn Ban Mor summit, turn left and head for a rock feature that (to my eyes anyway), looks like a nipple, that is Sgor Gaioth. Once you get there you are away from broad grassy ridges and into a sharper rockier summit with a big (600m) drop down to a loch. It is a superb view on a clear day, in fact the views across glen Feshie are excellent all the way up.

Beginning of path from upper glen Feshie.

View over glen Feshie.

Sgor Gaoith from Carn Ban Mor.

Gleann and Loch Eanaich from Sgor Gaoith summit.

[nmaaria]

Thanks al78 for the really good suggestion! We had an amazing hill walk in a perfect weather (with quite strong winds) last Thursday from Auchlean to Carn Ban Mor to Sgor Gaoith and then back via the first half of the original WH route. Just stunning scenery, loved every bit of it! Now being already back in Finland, I'm starting to plan the next trip to Scotland...

[Old Bill]

Glad you had a good time! Did you see the Mosach falls on your way...?



Where are you thinking of next? Funny how people start planning their next trip as soon as they get home (I know I do!)

Cheers,
OB

[nmaaria]

Ha, a reason to return to the area! We missed the Mosach falls as we took the track going up from the road before Auchlean. We did however see two other falls along our other day trips in Inverness area: Dinach falls near Drumnadrohit and the falls in Foyers - though Foyers was a bit crowded for my taste. Would not mind coming back to stay in Kingussie: I've never ever had such a warm welcome and felt immediately so at home in a B&B, eventhough all the places have been really welcoming and very hospitable. This one in Kingussie (Dunmhor house) was a special one and we even got a ride to Auchlean on top everything!

...I haven't yet decided the area for the next trip, but I'm already hooked on hill/mountain walking - so somewhere in Highlands anyways. It depend's also if I'm travelling alone or get friend(s) to come with me, but I'm pretty sure it will be easy to talk them into the hill walking / bagging some more munros.

[Gleneagle5]

Where do you come off the A9 driving north? Is there a turn off for Kincraig?

[ScotFinn65]

Huge thanks to all three of you for help and especially to jmarkb for he alternative route recommendations! The current plan is to go for the Sgor Gaioth if the weather loks good. And if not, the Carn an Fhreiceadain from Kingussie looks very promising. Or some other. ...We wouldn't mind at all some bad weather, would be a welcome change this summer. The Finnish summer has been extremely hot this year, several weeks of daily max temps of 25-33 Celcius with record breaking average temps.

The biggest difference (in my opinion) from walking in Finland is the sudden change in weather including the loss of visibility (fog/clag). This can be very disorienting. As mentioned already, the need to be able to navigate with map and compass and/or navigator with GPX route is essential in those conditions.

Your choice of hill is ok and won't cause additional problems. Be wise in your choice of turning back if weather deteriorates.

Hyvää matkaa

PM sent

[Sunset tripper]

Where do you come off the A9 driving north? Is there a turn off for Kincraig?

Yes just after Kingussie turn left off the A9, it's signposted for Kingussie and Kincraig. It's not advised to use the route Google maps suggests.