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| Starting up the tourist path |
After the horrendous weather on Thursday, there had been a big dump of snow on Friday. We had a rest day; took in the sights of the local area and chilled out a little. Out of the window at Nakiska on Friday evening, I could see that there was a good covering of snow on Creag Dhubh above 500m. I was immediately psyched and fancied bagging Cairn Gorm the next day (via the non tourist route of course).
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Sun over
Fiacaill a' Choire Chais |
We left early and with the short drive up the road, we were ready to leave the car park by 08:30. As we passed the Ski Centre and headed up the wide track, I started to get an idea for just how much snow there had been. There was at least 5 inches of soft fresh powder. We were two of many folk heading up to the top of Cairn Gorm in the sunshine that morning. Not at all surprising considering the excellent weather. We passed under the funicular and into a couple of switch-backs. At this point, it was time for us to leave the tourists behind and let them enjoy their very uninteresting slog up the rest of the track to Ptarmigan Station. The path was difficult to follow but that wasn't too much of a problem, as we simply headed straight up the slope of Fiacaill a' Choire Chais. As we passed the Ski Tows and gained height, I looked over at the funicular, ski tows, buildings and tourists. Not the most picturesque of mountains to say the least, but at least folk were out enjoying the outdoors and made it more accessible to all.
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| The controversial funicular |
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| Looking down to Loch Morlich |
The going up the slope was tough in the deeper powder as we got higher and as the gradient steepened. However it was great fun in the snow and we were in no hurry at all with most of the glorious day still ahead. As we gained the ridge, we were hit full in the face by the strong southwesterly. We quickened our pace and and took shelter behind the large cairn at 1141m.
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| Looking south across the plateau |
A quick brew and a few photos later; we were heading for the summit slopes. On the way up, there were great views across the plateau over to Ben Macdui; in my opinion one of the best views in Scotland. We hadn't seen a single soul after leaving the track below but when we reached the summit, we found it swarming with people. I think they were all quite surprised to see us appearing up the slope by the non-tourist path. It was rather windy at the top and it was rather chilly, so we took shelter by the weather station on the summit and had a spot of lunch. After that, we joined the tourists in Ptarmigan Station for a hot chocolate... or two.
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| The Northern Corries |
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| Summit Weather Station |
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| An iced up weather station |
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| On top of the world |
