free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Saturday I took two friends up to Aviemore for their first trip into the Cairngorms. I had planned out several routes that we could do depending on the weather, time, and how we were feeling as the day wore on. We left St Andrews around 6am and headed up the A9. It had been 2 years since I had last been to Aviemore and for some reason I thought it was along the main motorway. Oops, missed the turn and took my first visit to Inverness
After a bit of a detour we arrived at the Glenmore Lodge, geared up, and headed out around 9:30 in the bright sunshine. The walk up to the Ryvoan Pass was easy going and quite scenic. Lochan Uaine was equally impressive with its turquoise-green color. We made good progress up the shoulder of Bynack More despite the path repair that was taking place. We arrived at the summit by noon and had lunch, took pics, and had a few laughs.
When a large group of jean-clad walkers arrived we packed up and set off down toward the little barns beyond the summit. From Bynack More we decided to head over A'Choinneach and down to Loch Avon for a better view of the surrounding peaks. The sun was blazing and sadly many of my pics were overexposed, really need a filter of some sort. After a good rest on a giant flat rock overlooking Loch Avon we set off for Cairn Gorm. There is an easy to spot path heading up the southeastern slope of Cairn Gorm near the Saddle which eventually fades away. Cairn Gorm was my 2nd hill ever and I remember it nearly killing me 2 years ago. Once the path faded away we simply made a b-line for the summit, the ground was solid but it was still another slog to me. Adam blazed a trail in rapid time while Cynthia and I slowly followed. At the top we were rewarded with a better view of the ever growing cloud inversion that was creeping into the western Cairngorms. Two trips up Cairn Gorm, two inversions for me, nice.
At the top we plotted our descent and after agreeing that the ski center section would be the least attractive route we headed off over Cnap Coire na Spreidhe to follow the ridge that parallels Strath Nethy. This gave us great views back to the side of Bynack More and north to Inverness. Once we reached Stac na h-lolaire we headed down a stalkers path to the left toward Lochan na Beinne. From there we picked up a path shown on the map that leads back to the main path from Glenmore Lodge just before Lochan Uaine. Sadly, the path, according to my GPS, vanished. We followed the GPS as best we could to try and stay on course, but the ground was really wet and unpleasant. We ended up trekking through the forest for the last hour or so of the day. In the end we had to descend steeply down through a much thicker bit of forest alongside a small stream to reach the main path. Cynthia made the statement that this was where we get stories of pixies and fairies, but despite the beauty of the forest we only found ticks and marshy ground underfoot. I certainly owe my friends a pint for leading them off in this direction. In retrospect, the best way back would have been to carry on along the ridge and walk down Mam Suim to reach the main path as it heads into Strath Nethy. It's a shame the path shown on the map was overgrown, or nonexistent altogether. Nevertheless, it was a splendid day out with good company and equally good views all around the Cairngorms. Total time for this route was 8 1/2 hours.
Stretch
