The Cairngorms are ‘a little piece of the arctic in Scotland’ according to the SMC Munros Guide and the area contains many of the tallest peaks in the East Highlands. Ben Macdui (1309m), Cairn Gorm (1244m) and Braeriach (1296) are probably three of the better known and the whole area is full of steep corries and high plateaux. Access to the mountains is typically from Aviemore or Braemar.
The trip proper into the Lairig Ghru over the Ben Macdui plateau to bothy at Corrour, walking in a pair. Day 1: Starting from the Ski centre car park ascending via Fiacaill a Choire Chais onto the Cairngorm/Ben Macdui plateau. Weather conditions were initially clear but breezy however the visibilty rapidly declined on the plateau, though the wind dropped and conditions were very calm. This lead to a quite surreal navigational journey in which i was very grateful to get the oppourtunity to practice poor visibility navigation, without the additional challenge of high wind and driving precipitation. Mostly the visibility was about 50yards, though occassionally lifting to give a hint of the wider landscape. We dropped out of the clound not far below the Ben Masdui summit heading to Corrour. A big day and my first serious backpack since my teens. Day 2: initial plan was to summit Cairn Toul via the East ridge. Conditions were initial quite good and the walk up to the start of the ridge scramble gave good conditions (up to about 850-900m). However as we approached the ridge itself the weather worsened, with high wind and snow which forced the conclusion that continuing to decend was a poor plan. By our return to the bothy weather in the Glen was also fairly poor, but we elected to wrap up and take a walk towards the Linn of Dee, primarily to keep warm. Further heavy snowfall overnight and an indication from new arrivals to the bothy that condition were unlikely to improve lead to a decision to head out on day 3 via Lairig Ghru and the quickest/safest route possible. A decision vindicated by the continuing worsening of conditions on the following night and day leading to the closing of the Rangers station and ski centre.
