The Cairngorms
Britain's biggest national park has a mountain plateau with the climate of the Arctic, a herd of free-roaming reindeer and a ghost said to follow walkers across Ben Macdui.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Eastern Highlands of Scotland, spanning Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Scottish Highlands
- National park status
- Established on 1 September 2003
- Size
- About 4,528 square km, the largest national park in the UK and almost twice the size of the Lake District
- Highest peak
- Ben Macdui, 1,309 m, the second highest mountain in Britain
- Big five
- Five of Scotland's six highest mountains are here; only Ben Nevis is elsewhere
- Cairn Gorm
- 1,245 m; the name comes from the Gaelic for 'blue mountain'
- Funicular
- Cairngorm Mountain railway opened 2001 and reopened in 2023, climbing to Ptarmigan at 1,097 m
- Reindeer
- Reintroduced to the Cairngorms in 1952, Britain's only free-ranging herd
A slice of the Arctic in the Highlands
The Cairngorms are not just big, they are high in a way that is rare in Britain. The central plateau is the largest area of land above 1,000 metres in the whole country, a vast, bare, wind-scoured tableland that feels more like Lapland than Lanarkshire. The weather matches. Gusts of more than 170 mph were recorded on the summit of Cairn Gorm in 1986, and snow can linger long after the rest of Scotland has turned green. Some patches in the high corries have survived whole summers, though in recent warm years a few have vanished altogether. Up here live creatures that belong to the far north: ptarmigan that turn white in winter, dotterel, snow bunting and mountain hares.
Five giants and a famous pass
Ben Nevis may be the highest mountain in Britain, but the Cairngorms hold the next five. Ben Macdui, Braeriach, Cairn Toul, Sgòr an Lochain Uaine (better known as the Angel's Peak) and Cairn Gorm itself all stand in this one massif. Between them, the Lairig Ghru slices through the range, a deep glacier-carved pass that has linked Speyside with Deeside for centuries. Walkers still cross it on foot between Aviemore and Braemar, one of the great Scottish hill walks. Tucked beside remote Loch Avon is the Shelter Stone, a house-sized boulder with a gap beneath it where climbers and walkers have sheltered for generations.
The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui
Ben Macdui has a ghost. In 1925 the mountaineer and chemistry professor Norman Collie told a Cairngorm Club gathering that, alone on the summit in mist, he had heard footsteps crunching behind him, as if something far bigger than a man were taking strides three or four times the length of his own. He said he was seized by terror and ran down the hill. The tale of Am Fear Liath Mòr, the Big Grey Man, took off from there. Sceptics point to the Brocken spectre, a giant shadow cast on mist, and to the way thin air and isolation play tricks on the mind. Either way, it remains Scotland's best-known mountain spook.
Reindeer, ospreys and ancient pines
In 1952 the Swedish herder Mikel Utsi and his wife Dr Ethel Lindgren brought reindeer back to the Highlands, centuries after they had died out. Their descendants still roam the slopes above Glenmore, and visitors can meet them on guided trips. Below the plateau lie remnants of the old Caledonian pine forest, at Rothiemurchus, Glenmore and Abernethy. This is home to red squirrels, crested tits and the rare capercaillie, a turkey-sized grouse with a spectacular courtship display. Ospreys returned to nest at Loch Garten in the 1950s after decades of absence, and have been watched there ever since. About a quarter of the UK's rare and threatened species are found in the park.
Smoky quartz, skiing and a very steep train
The mountains gave their name to a gemstone. Cairngorm is a smoky yellow-brown quartz found in the granite here, long set into Highland brooches and kilt pins. Skiing arrived in the 1960s, and the Cairngorm Mountain funicular opened in 2001, hauling passengers to Ptarmigan station at 1,097 metres, the highest railway in the UK. It closed in 2018 for repairs and reopened in 2023. To protect the fragile plateau, visitors who ride it stay within the station area unless on a guided trip. The wider park also takes in Speyside whisky country, including Glenlivet, and the Deeside village of Braemar, famous for its Highland Gathering.
What to look out for
Come prepared. Cairngorm weather can turn from sunshine to whiteout in an hour, and navigation skills matter on the featureless plateau. Look for ptarmigan on stony ground, red deer on the lower slopes and crossbills in the pines. Walk around Loch an Eilein for an easy, atmospheric stroll with a ruined island castle, or take the waymarked trails at Glenmore. In winter the hills belong to skiers, ice climbers and snowshoers. In summer, the heather turns the lower moors purple.
Notable people
- Mikel Utsi
- Ethel Lindgren
- Norman Collie
- Adam Watson
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