Cairngorm Style

[gordon l]

Why is hillwalking gear so uniformly bland? Why don't Montane or Mountain Equipment, Haglofs or Rab produce Goretex gear in zebra stripes, polka dots, faux denim, or eyeball-popping purple? How about leopard print?Walking past the multi coloured motley crew gathered at the car park of Cairngorm ski centre, the thought did occur that the options available to us who opt to explore the slopes sans skis or snowboards are seriously limited.
It was interesting to start my first sojourn into the Northern Cairngorms at a place that was so busy with folk who were there for a completely different reason. Never quite felt the attraction of skiing or snowboarding although the novelty of a pint at the bottom of the hill/ slope is nothing to be frowned at.


This pair of munros are, in the benign conditions we mainly had, totally enjoyable and straightforward. The cloud behaved and stayed above munro height all day allowing us to enjoy views over towards Braeriach and co as we walked towards Ben Macdui. Up on the plateau, harsh gusts of wind from the west momentarily created glimpses of a different environment.

spring-like start

looking back towards loch morvich

waiting for the sun

to the west

From Macdui to Cairngorm, passing mini ice sculptures

The highlights of the day were probably the emerging views of Coire an Lochan and the close-up sight of the top of Fingers Ridge as we headed along towards Cairngorm.

big space!

over to bynack more

all downhill for him

The Ptarmigan restaurant/ café would no doubt be a most welcome sight to most folk but neither of us had any cash with us so we dodged past a group of snowboarders making the most of a final run down the slope and made our own way back down to the path and within a half hour or so, back down to the start point.

on the piste

We finished off the day with a wee drink in the café which shut at 5pm. So much for the après ski, I thought as we headed out to the benches to join the remnants of the bright bunch from earlier.
It had been an unusually simple day out: the majority of our walks this year seem to have been around ten hours long and have usually involved some sort of mishap or other. So homeward we went, stopping off to take a pic of the hills from the banks of Loch Morvich, whilst a purposeful mallard crossed the road...to get to the other side...

[pollyh33]

Hi Gordon,

I really enjoyed this report.

It's great to hear that there are walks out there that don't require too much grey matter or nerves of steel

Loved your photos too, especially the one with the pinnacles

[coachmacca]

Great shots Gordon - relaly looking forward to getting into the 'Gorms in Summer then again in winter after having only a couple of days up there at Glenmore where we had limited mileage.

Your pics show how "big" the area is and these look great walks, can't disgaree about gear lol I got suck in an all black clothing rut at one point before deciding I needed to help MRT if i never needed them so move to Red !

Looks like snows are clearing on that area?

Love the shot of the duck!!

[gordon l]

Thanks for the comments guys. I haven't spent enough time in this area to have a proper feel for it but I really look forward to more wanderings up here. Snow is clearing to some extent but I think another dump might be due so I wouldn't pack away the ice axe just yet. The khaki/ olive green summer gear can wait a while

[Caberfeidh]

There's good eating on a duck. See my traditional medieval recipe in Ye Olde Boke of Cookerie ~
http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec73.html