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.
Though the aim of my 5 days in the area wasn't to get QMDs, I'm putting this one in as it was a good learning day. Over the week, it was good to watch the avalanche forecasts play out and plan around them and then see how they related to the ground in real time. The wind was all over the place all week. This day had a green forecast for N through to SW, so we thought we'd be ok to go and have a nose at aroute in Coire an Lochain. It wasn't! Was very interesting to see the reality of the snow on the ground being very different to how we'd imagined. 
