off for my first cairngorm holiday in early october,and im planning a few good walks. just looking at maps and there dont appear to be many footpaths leading upto the summits, as there would be in the lake district for example. is it just a case of doing some proper map reading, or am i missing something?
any advice would be much appreciated!
Yip
100% proper map reading required along with decent walking gear....
Paths quickly fade into nothing..weather comes in fast, no sign posts etc etc.
They had a slight off snow on the cairngorms two days ago!
Cairngorm Snow
Be prepared!
Some Info
Lots of easy low level stuff.
excellent, that sounds like what i was thinking! snow already - should be interesting in october then!
Snow at this time of year is unusual, although not unheard of. Snow in October is common, although you may get "warm" sunshine and clear skies.
Chances are if you check out a guide book it'll tell you whether there is a path or not and there may well be one on the ground even if it's not on the map. Conversely, just because a map says that there is a path it doesn't mean that it will be there especially if it's marked as a single dotted line. You are also unlikely to find many other people on the hills when compared with say the lakes or the peak district. I've remarked on how busy hills are up here when others who are used to England and Wales considered that the hills were empty.
Be prepared for the fact that you will be on your own and no one will come across you if things go wrong and enjoy the space.
There are paths all over the Cairngorms, and the guidebooks will tell you where they are, but be prepared for some huge long days
Yup, there are loads of tracks up there, most Munros seem to be have eroded tracks now. However, you should still take a map/compass and be able to navigate.
One of the features of the Cairngorms is there are lots of rounded plateaus with few distinguishing features off the beaten track. This means, if you do get off the obvious tracks, you'll have to nav for real.
Regarding big days, take a bike for the walk ins. There are loads of landrover tracks for the first/last few miles and a bike really helps cut down on the dull starts/finishes and makes daily mileages more reasonable.
Cairngorm summits require some confidence with nav skills IMO. Quite easy to get confused in mist, it's a huge area with many isolated spots, few quick escapes and very exposed in poor weather. It's also absolutely brilliant. I long to do some more summits up there, may be riding into LG from Rothiemurchas, climbing Devil's Penis, descending and riding out again. That would be a fantastic day.
We're off there this weekend for a couple of days walking and high level camping. Fantastic mountains, and more paths than are on the maps, but as folk above say, make sure you can navigate. When the weather closes in they can be a killer. There's a good Cicerone book on the Cairngorms.
sounds excellent. looking at satelite images it looks like there are some well defined routes where we're going.
on the nav front, im not too worried im a pretty solid map reader and i can use a compass too. but nothing too silly, if the weather's that bad then i'll be finding a nice pub!
pretty solid map reader
are you sure??? last time i checked the M6 toll wasn't on the way to Afan from Doncaster......
if the weather's that bad then i'll be finding a nice pub!
There goes a man who doesn't really 'understand' how empty parts of Scotland are...
When in my late teens, I walked/trekked from the (Aberdeen) East Coast to Fort William, then followed the West Coast up to Ullapool, and then across Caithness back to the East. At one point I didn't see anyone for 3 days, and this was June/July!
And this was with a combination of a few OS maps and a 10 miles to an inch map of GB.
Careful BR, TJ will be along in a minute to remind us all there are no remote areas left in Scotland 
BR - now worries, i'll be staying in aviemore im sure i can find somewhere shelter! 
The last time I was up there was 3 christmasses ago and we did the standard hike from the Corrie Cas car park, through Chalamain Gap and then up to Breriach. We knew we'd be slow so set off before dawn, but still ended up coming back through the gap after dark - there was a lot of snow and ice about. The weather was perfect and as we trudged up Breriach it felt like how I imagine Greenland - miles and miles from anywhere.
The Highlands have loads of isolated areas, just look at a road map and you'll see these huge empty sectors between the roads, chock full with wild mountains.
A point worth remembering about some of the Cairngorm summits is that whilst they can appear smooth and rounded from one angle there can often be some precipitious drops on the other side (as I found out recently when viewing Glas Maol from Caenlochan glen ) Watch those contour lines!
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