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Picture of the Cairn Gorm base stationWhen we woke up in the morning we thought this day might be lost for what we had planned: Dense sea-mist (or haar as it is called in Scotland) reduced visibility significantly. Not the best weather for a visit to Cairn Gorm Mountain. But we were in luck: As soon as we had passed Inverness and were on our way to Aviemore it started to clear. After a quick shopping stop in Aviemore we drove up to the base station at Coire Cas. Here we split up: My mother took the Funicular to the Ptarmigan while I started to walk up to Cairn Gorm. Picture of the funicular
Picture of a pathMy walk started with the steep path leading up to the Ptarmigan. I could see the rail of the Funicular on my right for most of the time, looking over to Cairn Gorm, my destination. After about 30 minutes I arrived at the Ptarmigan, where I met my mother who had watched my walking up. Quite strict rules apply to protect the environment: Picture of the Coire Cas area
Funicular passengers are not allowed to leave the Ptarmigan building and viewing terrace, while walkers are not allowed to use the Funicular for their return journey. So I left my mother to enjoy the view from the viewing terrace to continue my walk. Following the path to the summit of Cairn Gorm I had an excellent view north over the Ptarmigan and Loch Morlich:
Picture of the Ptarmigan and Loch Morlich
Picture of the Cairn Gorm summitSoon I arrived at the highest point of this holiday: The summit of Cairn Gorm at 1245m with the large cairn (and a quite ugly weather station). Continuing south west I walked down again. The views were amazing, although difficult to capture in pictures. The best way to show them is probably in panoramas, I've prepared two QuickTime VR panoramas: Picture of the Cairngorms and Loch Avon
First a view south west from the slopes of Cairn Gorm (note: 3.8MB download, requires QuickTime VR). Preview:
Picture of a view from Cairn Gorm
Second a view of Cairn Gorm from the south on the Coire Cas path. Preview:
Picture of Cairn Gorm
All too soon it was time to return to the base station after a fantastic walk in beautiful weather. Along the A9 and the River Spey we drove to Perth where we had a reservation for the night. Cairn Gorm was the last walk for this holiday, the next few days would see more urban attractions.
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