Cairngorm traverse

Peaks: Cairn Gorm (1245m), Ben Macdui (1309m), Braeriach (1296m)
Area: Cairngorms, Scotland
Three of the UK's biggest peaks before 11am with the entire range to myself: a memorable outing. The Cairngorms 4000s is a fairly demanding loop with a frightful height loss into the Lairig Ghru, even when a running approach is taken. My time was as limited as ever but I started from the top car park of Coire Cas at 6am and ploughed directly up the side of the hideous funicular railway to save time and energy. Arguably the ugliest mountain in the UK, ruined by ski machinery and the like, Cairn Gorm does at least have excellent views over the range when you finally emerge at its unspoiled summit dome. Two snow buntings cheered the scene considerably, as did the big views across to distant Braeriach. It was well before 7am, and bitterly cold in a strong northerly wind. This gradually dissipated during the morning, however, and the cloudbase remained high with some milky sunshine at times. From Cairn Gorm, characteristic Cairngorm running through boulder fields led to a col before the subsidiary peak of Stob Coire an t-Sneachda (above the famous winter climbing corrie of the same name). I had a sandwich below Carn Lochain, having missed breakfast, before embarking on the wonderful running across the main Cairngorm plateau. This is as high up and as Arctic as Britain gets, and to be completely alone and moving quickly through this landscape is rather special. Surprisingly, I have only been to the Cairngorms once before - when working in Abernethy in November 1991 when, among a range of smaller outings, I had a salutary experience on Bynack More in a semi white-out, long before the days of accurate mountain forecasts, or indeed the internet. A steep learning curve which I remember well. The running was remarkably comfortable. Indeed, for a hill runner, the ascent of Ben Macdui from Coire Cas is ideal: much of the plateau is runnable on a good path. After lonely Lochan Buidhe, the plateau's lowpoint, the going becomes more bouldery - and the huge summit of Macdui is a notorious wilderness of rock with some of the harshest weather in the UK - but, generally speaking, it is good running terrain and I reached the top of Ben Macdui, Britain's second highest peak, in 1.47 from Coire Cas. From here, the deep gulf of the Lairig Ghru is bleakly obvious. You can't see the bottom, but you know you have to get there before starting the climb back out to the opposite ridge. I had to make some calculations at this point. I wanted to be back in our Laggan cottage for lunch, with several family walks scheduled for this afternoon. The solution was, therefore, to cut diagonally across to Braeriach by dropping down the Allt a Choire Mhor, an obvious stream valley that was pathless and wild but, judging by my map, negotiable. This was indeed the case, although it was predictably steep and completely trackless. It gave a wonderful and exhilerating descent cutting right through the heart of the most dramatic part of the range, with superb views across to Carn Toul and Braeriach. The valley narrowed and steepened at various points, demanding a few detours, but I soon gained the base of the Lairig Ghru, the first time I have ever visited what must be the most famous of all Scottish mountain passes (roadless ones anyway). I drank from the stream, slightly dehydrated, before beginning the monster ascent up Braeraich, a sprawling beast of a mountain which makes up in volume what it lacks in shapeliness. My initial target was a shallow cwm on the right, which I headed towards after crossing the narrow base of the Lairig. Unusually dry underfoot after this dry Spring, which eased progress although it remained steep until I gained the cwm, a wonderfully wild place with some old aircraft debris scattered around and lots of mountain hares. I moved up to the backwall, where I found (to my surprise) a small path zigzagging up from the Lairig Ghru. This helped a lot, and I soon gained the broad ridge curving round to the summit ridge of Braeraich which, again, I had to myself: I had still seen nobody all day, although it was still only around 10.30am. Views down An Gharbh Coire, the West Buttress, and across to the Angel's Peak, Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui were superb, although the sun still hadn't burnt the layer of high cloud away. After a quick snack, I girded my loins for the immense descent - probably the crux of the day, as there is no simple way back to Coire Cas from Braeraich, even though it is not that far away. That said, the run down Sron na Lairige was magnificent, and the sun came out half way down, as did the people - the first I'd seen all day. A long, rocky and runnable descent led to a constriction in the Lairig Ghru and a stream crossing to gain a sharp climb and the path through the tight gorge below Chalamain. This was tiring: it is a long way back from Braeraich, and I was dehydrating slightly. Once out of the gorge, I drank from the stream and had a bite to eat: the sunshine was now out and it was becoming a superb day with all cloud gone and magnificent views over dwarf pines and the Cairngorm landscape to the forests of Rothiemurchus and Meall a'Buachaille (another hill I had done in a white-out in 1991). The fun wasn't over, because the path goes to the bottom car park, not Coire Cas, and I opted for an exhausting and very unwise trudge through appalling trackless heather and untrodden valleys to return by way of an unfeasible directissima! Still, I was back before midday which seemed pretty good for such a demanding route. The day developed into a stunning cloudless afternoon, which we spent wisely and productively as a family: doing the longer loop around the Creag Meagaidh reserve, then the longer wall up to the higher Pattack Falls.