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The Fast, The Slow and The Mountains - Cairn Gorm

Munros: Cairn Gorm

Date walked: 01/03/2024

Time taken: 7.5 hours

Distance: 6.5km

A last-minute decision to book on a two-day winter skills course at Glenmore Lodge led to an unexpected, but welcome, Munro bagged. :clap:

Meg (the fast) was not impressed when she learned that she was not allowed to go on the expedition – that it was only for humans. Sometimes, being a dog sucks, even when you are an intelligent Border Collie! So, just the one slow human, joined by a group of five other, significantly faster humans, and one excellent instructor (also human 🤣).

The first day of the course was spent learning about avalanche awareness, followed by battling the elements, getting used to wearing crampons, self-arrest techniques, and trying to stand up against the wind on Fiacaill Coire an t-Sneachda!

The second day was spent practising crampon and ice axe work, navigation and digging snow holes, before summiting Cairn Gorm.

We set off from the Coire na Ciste parking area at 09:30, enjoying the glorious winter sun, and headed up the path that runs along the east side of the Allt na Ciste.

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The starting point

The path is well defined but very boggy, although fortunately, largely frozen on this occasion.

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Heading up the frozen path

There is a higher path marked on the OS map that could be used instead, but we were headed for a small burn that joins the Allt na Ciste at 690m. Once reached, we got into our crampons and with ice axes in hand, started to climb the frozen burn, practicing different methods of ascent along the way.

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Climbing the frozen burn (with me bringing up the rear as usual! 😂)

From looking at the OS map afterwards, I believe the incline was around 15%.

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Looking back down the burn and our route so far

It was a short section that took us to a height of around 820m, where we stopped to re-fuel and admire the views!

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Looking north from the top of the frozen burn

Next, our route took us south-east then south across pathless terrain, mainly heather and rock, to reach the Munro Top of Cnap Coire na Spreidhe at 1150m. The snow was light, with patches of frozen boggy ground along the way. This section provided a good opportunity to practice some basic navigation.

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Looking towards Cnap Coire na Spreidhe

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Looking south-east with Cnap Coire na Spreidhe on the right

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Looking tpwards Cairn Gorm from Cnap Coire na Spreidhe

Heading away from the Top, our instructor was keen to show us the site of a recent human-triggered avalanche at Ciste Mhearad – a great opportunity to consolidate our newly acquired knowledge by visiting a “live” site.

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Heading down to Ciste Mhearad

Before the final section up to Cairn Gorm summit, we descended about 50m to practice digging snow holes (much fun was had by all :D).

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Our instructor, Emma, in her snow hole

The weather had been blue-sky all day, with no wind, and although the forecast was for cloud mid-afternoon on the summit, it remained very clear, with brilliant visibility (a complete contrast to the previous day of the course when we were battered by 50-mile an hour winds and spindrift).

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An image from the previous day for comparison!

The views from the summit were excellent, a great bonus, especially for some in our party, for whom it was their first Munro :thumbup:.

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Looking north-east from the summit of Cairn Gorm

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Looking east from the summit of Cairn Gorm

After leaving the summit we headed down towards Ptarmigan Station, on what looked like a newly-constructed “motorway” – a wide granite path, with substantial wooden posts lining the way! To say it’s an eyesore would be an understatement :thumbdown:. On the plus side, I don’t think it would be possible to get lost, regardless of how bad the weather was! :lol:

Although it was only about 160m of descent, the path was icy, making walking difficult. Off to the side of the path the rocky ground had a thin covering of ice and snow, which was at times easier, but I was wishing that I’d packed my micro spikes.

The last 460m of descent to Base Station car park was uninspiring, but on a well-constructed path, fortunately without the ugly poles lining it that the higher path has.

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A quick shot looking south-west on the route down from Ptarmigan Station

We arrived at Base Station car park just before 17:00 where our bus was waiting to take us back to Glenmore Lodge for coffee, cake and a de-brief before heading home. 😋

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Our route (note: difference start and end points)

The two days spent at Glenmore Lodge were fantastic :thumbup:! I learned so much in such a short space of time; I would thoroughly recommend the course, and our instructor (Emma) was brilliant – clear, concise instruction, and lots of patience :angel:.

One more Munro ticked off was the icing on the cake :-P.

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Meiklie Mist


Location: Highlands
Occupation: Chartered Accountant
Interests: Church, walking, crafts, DIY...
Activity: Walker
Pub: Don’t have a favourite.
Mountain: They’re all pretty good!
Place: Highlands
Gear: Osprey rucksack
Member: Historic Environment Scotland and National Trust for Scotland.
Ideal day out: An inspiring ridge walk.

Munros: 33
Tops: 16
Corbetts: 2
Fionas: 4
Islands: 14



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Statistics

2024

Trips: 1
Distance: 6.5 km
Munros: 1

2023

Trips: 4
Distance: 79 km
Ascent: 5035m
Munros: 8

2022

Trips: 10
Distance: 178.75 km
Ascent: 9641m
Munros: 20
Corbetts: 1


Joined: Apr 18, 2022
Last visited: Mar 26, 2024
Total posts: 17 | Search posts