Cairn Gorm (return via Coire an t-Sneachda)

[HighlandSC]

Date - Sun 06/09/2009
Hills - Cairn Gorm
Route - Approach from Cairngorm Ski Centre car park - ascend path alongside Funicular Railway, past Ptarmigan Restaurant, and on to Cairn Gorm summit. Return via Stob Coire an t-Sneachda and down the goats track into Coire an t-Sneachda and down path back to car park. This route differs slighty from the WalkHighlands "Cairn Gorm and the northern corries" route, in that we made a direct descent down Coire an-t-Sneachda (see map).
Weather - Good, clear, patchy sun. Mostly light wind. No rain.
Attendees - Me & Colin
Time - 5 hrs
Distance - 10.8 km
Ascent - 785 m
Max Altitude -1245 m

2009-09-06 Cairn Gorm via Coire an t-Sneachda.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Last minute decision to do a walk, and also try and chase the best of the weekends weather (it worked!). So we headed off to aviemore, parted with some cash in the outdoor shops (grrrr...), and then went up Cairn Gorm. Intention was to then head down into Hells Lum/Shelter Stone Crag but we couldn't be bothered so sat beside Coire an t-Sneachda for a while watching some climbers then went up to Stob Coire an t-Sneachda and descended the goat track into the corrie and back to the car park.

German camo van


We begin:


Looking back near the start of walk. As we went up the path we met the couple who we met at the summit of Ben Macdui the week before (those I mentioned doing all the tops, deleted tops, etc!). Strange random meeting 2 weeks in a row!!






Looking back toward car park:






Looking back to Ptarmigan Restaurant as we go up the path to Cairn Gorm summit


Found these at the side of the path


Final push to Cairn Gorm summit:




Leaving Cairn Gorm summit and heading towards Coire an t-Sneachda


He's in there somewhere


There he goes:


Looking towards Hells Lum:


NOT the way down the corrie:


Top of Coire an t-Sneachda (looking West):


Top of Coire an t-Sneachda (looking East with Cairn Gorm on right):


Climbers again:


Coire an t-Sneachda:


We make our way to the start of the goat track into the corrie:


Looking up as we come down the goat track:










One of the Lochans in Coire an t-Sneachda:


Plenty water in the streams after our recent rain!:




The Sea King helicopter charges into Coire an t-Sneachda. It done 2 circles round the corrie before landing somewhere deep into the corrie (out of our sight by that time). There was a walking party coming down the goat track a fair bit behind us and we wondered if anything was going on. We could hear the choppers engines ticking over for 10-15 mins before it finally flew out of the corrie, but instead of going direct somewhere (eg hospital!) it just had a fly around above forest at Loch Morlich before going out of site. We figured it was just out for a Sunday drive/training!






We continue to car park..........


THE END!

[HighlandSC]

Route map added to main post.

[Stretch]

Ah yes, you continue to bring back memories of my first two munros which I climbed last September. I just wonder what the mental difference is on someone who starts this walk by going up Cairn Gorm past the ugly fences and the restaurant? You got the ugly bits out of the way first, then came down into the lochan with more pleasant views and such before returning to the car park. I on the other hand, came down from Cairn Gorm via the restaurant path. After a long day out which included Macdui (with no views) I found this to be a bit of a downer and an unspectacular way to end my day. Plus, it seemed like it took forever to get back to the car this way

[HighlandSC]

There's obviously several routes to ascend Cairn Gorm, with our one possibly the easiest/quickest (and definitely the ugliest!!). We started later than planned, and originally hoped to come down from Cairn Gorm and into Hells Lum/Shelter Stone crag before coming back out from there and down either the coats track into Coire an t-Sneachda or the west ridge of it (Fiacaill Choire Cais). But we ended up sitting watching climbers and skipped the descent into the crag and back.

If we hadn't already done Macdui the week before then this trip probably would have combined them both. You can surely be forgiven for taking any quick/ugly route down at the end of a Macdui then Cairn Gorm day. I doubt there's much pyschology to extract from our different routes

[Riptorn]

Good pics - even with train and tourists i still like it up there. There is quite a nice route i did once starting behind the bottom station along the ridge called sron an aonich i think, its quite nice view and a nice alternative to the road to come down or go up if you are doing a circuit taking in the northern corries.