HISTORY has not been kind to Cairn Gorm. Despite being at the heart of one of the most rare and fragile environments in Scotland, the northern corries of Coire Cas and Coire na Ciste have been a playground for skiers since the opening of the White Lady chairlift on 23rd December 1961.
The development of the skiing area involved what conservationists would call the destruction of the mountain, with ski lifts, fences, roads and car parks "industrialising" these wild corries, just as the plethora of wind farms is doing across Scotland now.
Forty years later, in 2001, on the same date in December that the White Lady lift opened, a funicular railway began running, taking skiers up the mountain in winter and tourists in summer.
There was strong opposition to its creation but it went ahead anyway, unlike the earlier proposed expansion of the ski area into Lurcher’s Gully, west of Coire Cas, which caused enough of an outcry for it to be blocked.
The construction of the funicular is estimated to have cost more than £19 million — mostly funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, with the European Union coughing up close to £3 million.
Many would argue that these things are necessary for the economy of the area, and there is no doubt that they have contributed greatly to the prosperity of Aviemore and the surrounding towns and villages. Worth the destruction of a mountain? You’ll have to judge that for yourself.
With all that man-made intrusion, it is difficult to believe that there are quiet, scenic ways up Cairn Gorm that allow walkers to enjoy the mountain as it should be — but there are.
If you want to be an absolute purist and make a point, it is possible to do the walk I am about to describe without using the Coire na Ciste car park. But most will want to gain that extra bit of height at the beginning and end of the day and prostitute themselves before the god of mammon.
Ugly ski paraphernalia spoils the start of the route, but it is soon left behind for the most easterly ridge of Cairn Gorm, with lovely views into Strath Nethy and across to Bynack More and Beinn Mheadhoin on the eastern side of the Loch Avon basin.
Beginning at the eastern edge of the Coire na Ciste car park, a line of wooden steps drops down to a bridge crossing the Allt na Ciste, rushing towards Loch Morlich.
A path turns south, slightly downhill and contours round to the east, crossing raised moraines and another burn between them, the Allt Ban.
The path skirts the southern edge of an attractive little lochan — Lochan na Beinne — as it climbs the hillside towards an obvious former experimental plantation, with few trees now left.
We took the path veering right, around the rectangular plantation, to gain the ridge above. On a glorious sunny September day, with hordes making their way up Cairn Gorm by the standard route from the Coire Cas car park, only one other walker and his faithful collie followed us up.
A steady climb on a good path now lies ahead for one and a half kilometres to the small knoll of Sron a’ Cha-no. The ridge flattens for another 500 metres to reach a rocky protuberance, where we settled down for a snack and a breather.
It may have been a little early in the year for Santa, and there was no sound of sleigh bells, but across to our right the Cairn Gorm reindeer were contentedly grazing, casting an inquisitive glance our way now and again.
You can get close up and friendly with these gentle beasts on guided walks from the Reindeer Centre in Glenmore and sink your hand into their soft, warm fur.
We watched them for a while before pressing on. The ridge climbs another kilometre to Cnap Coire na Spreidhe, hillock of the livestock corrie.
The summit of Cairn Gorm is now clearly in view, with its weather station just south of the summit. A stony, grassy slope, easy to walk on, leads upwards to the top. It is worth staying to the east of this slope for a great view of Beinn Mheadhoin, with its strange "tors", mirroring the Barns of Bynack on Bynack More. Straight ahead to the south, Loch Etchachan is cradled in a glacial corrie beneath Ben Macdui.
We joined the throng of walkers on the summit and took shelter from the wind next to the weather station. Operated by Heriot-Watt University physics department, it records temperature and wind data, uploaded to a website every half hour. A webcam also provides pictures during daylight hours.
It was time to start our descent, and to complete the circuit I had decided to go down to Coire Cas via the Fiacaill a’ Choire Chais ridge.
In mist especially it is worth taking bearings off Cairn Gorm to the huge cairn at the top of the Fiacaill. An eroded path leads to a levelling at 1140 metres and the cairn lies to the right, around 20 metres away — easily seen in clear conditions.
An excellent path, which has been worked on to make walking on this rocky surface easy, twists steeply at first then more gradually to the bowl of Coire Cas with its manicured paths leading to the car park.
From there, a road walk of around one and half kilometres lands you back at the start.
