Cairngorms

(). Cairn Gorm () can be seen to the right. The original Gaelic name for the range is Am Monadh Ruadh (the red hills), distinguishing them from Am Monadh Liath (the grey hills), which lie to the west of the River Spey: The English language name for the range is Cairngorms, and is derived from Cairn Gorm, which is prominent in the view of the mountains from Speyside. The earliest reference to this name appears to be from a Colonel T. Thornton, who visited the area in about 1786: Cairn Gorm is generally translated as Blue Cairn, although the Gaelic gorm is also used as an adjective and verb, meaning green or greening and is often seen in connection with growing grass. Thus, there is a contradiction or confusion, because the original Scottish Gaelic name of the mountains translates to English as the "red hills" whilst their English name is the "blue hills" or the "green hills". ==Geography==

The Cairngorms consist of three large elevated plateaux adorned with low, rounded glacial mountains, and divided by the passes of the Lairig an Laoigh and the Lairig Ghru. The range gives the sense of being a single plateau, because the passes that cut through them are not very deep: the summit of Lairig an Laoigh lies at , whilst the summit of the Lairig Ghru is at above sea level at the Pools of Dee, where the water may be frozen over even in mid-summer. This means a walker could cross between the Cairntoul () – Braeriach () massif to the Ben Macdui () – Cairn Gorm () massif and thence onto the Beinn a' Bhùird () – Ben Avon () massif without descending below the summit of the Lairig an Laoigh. The Cairngorms feature the highest, coldest and snowiest plateaus in the British Isles and are home to five of the six highest mountains in Scotland: • Ben Macdui () • Braeriach () • Cairn Toul () • Sgor an Lochain Uaine () • Cairn Gorm () There are no public roads through the Cairngorms, and all the public roads in the general area either skirt the Cairngorms or stop short, providing access to them only. From the south and south-east, motorised access ends at Linn of Dee, or Allanaquoich. From the north-west, a road passes Coylumbridge, Glenmore and the Sugarbowl to end at the car park at the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort. The majority of hill-walkers access the range from these road ends. ==Climate==

(), Sgor an Lochain Uaine () and Cairn Toul () from the Moine Mhor. In terms of height, remoteness and the severe and changeable weather, the Cairngorms are the most arduous area in the United Kingdom. The plateau area has a Tundra climate (Köppen ET), and the shattered terrain is more like the high ground in high-arctic Canada or northern Norway than what is often observed in the European Alps or Rockies. The weather often deteriorates rapidly with elevation so that, when there are moderate conditions below the plateau, the top can be stormy or misty, and there can be icy or powdery snow. Even when no snow is falling, the wind can whip up lying snow to produce white-out conditions for a few metres above the surface, and snowdrifts can build up rapidly in sheltered places. Gravel can be blown through the air, and walking can be impossible. The lowest recorded temperature in the United Kingdom has twice been recorded in the Cairngorms, at Braemar, where a temperature of , was recorded on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982. The greatest British wind speed of was measured at Cairngorm summit weather station in January 1993. The weather can be very hazardous at times, with dangerous and unpredictable conditions. What is often described as Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy, the Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, left five children and one adult dead in November 1971. Cairn Gorm gets of snow annually according to snowforecast.com. Snow patches , 8 August 2008 The Cairngorms hold some of the longest-lying snow patches in Scotland: • On Ben Macdui, snow has been known to persist at a few locations from one winter to the next. Observations in 2007 and 2008 revealed that September was the month when final melting occurred for this patch. It sits at an elevation of and is located at approximately . • Braeriach's Garbh Choire Mòr is the location of Scotland's most persistent snow beds. Snow has been absent from this corrie just 11 times in the last century: 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Situated at an elevation of about 1140 m, these patches are located around ; the two most long-lasting patches are known as "the Pinnacles" and "the Sphinx" after the rock climbs lying above them. Recent studies based on morraine, avalanche debris fields and climate models suggest it is likely that Garbh Choire Mòr (as well as Coire an Lochain in the northern corries) contained glaciers as recently as the 19th century. In 1994, the Cairngorms and surrounding mountains of north-east Scotland had 55 surviving patches, an exceptional number. ==Geology==

The Cairngorms were formed 40 million years before the last ice age, when slight uplift raised an eroded peneplain based on an exposed granite pluton. The highest present-day peaks represent eroded monadnock hills. During the ice ages, the ice caps that covered most of northern Scotland remained static—frozen to the ground for long periods—and actually protected the rounded summits and valleys and deep, weathered granite of the mountains of the area. Glacial erosion is represented in deep valleys which dissect the area. Many valleys are littered with glacial deposits from the period of glacial retreat. The most famous valley is the Lairig Ghru pass, a gouge through the centre of the mountains—a u-shaped valley, now partly filled with extensive scree produced by intense frost action during ice-free periods. Many parts of the Cairngorms exhibit classic periglacial weathering which occurred during cold periods in ice-free areas. Tors are a common feature of the Cairngorm granite massif, being especially frequent on Ben Avon and Beinn Mheadhoin and impressively high on Bynack More. They represent masses of granite which are less closely jointed than surrounding rock and which have therefore been less susceptible to underground weathering associated with fluid percolation along joints. The present tors have been exhumed over a long period of time, not least by periglacial processes associated with ice ages during the Quaternary period. ==Nature and conservation==

in the Cairngorms The Cairngorms provide a unique alpine semi-tundra moorland habitat, home to many rare plants, birds and animals. Speciality bird species on the plateaux include breeding ptarmigan, dotterel, snow bunting, golden eagle, ring ouzel and red grouse, Mammal species include red deer and mountain hare, The surrounding areas feature an ancient woodland, one of the last major ones of its kind in the British Isles, known as the Caledonian forest. In the forests, capercaillie, black grouse, Scottish crossbill, parrot crossbill and crested tit are found. Of particular fame is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve at Abernethy Forest and Loch Garten. A famous pair of ospreys are present in the summer months, and they often attract large crowds to see them. The forest is home to the endangered capercaillie and endemic Scottish crossbill. Research into lichen communities in the Cairngorms has shown that the area hosts distinctive terricolous (ground-dwelling) lichen vegetation associated with different types of plant communities. The most diverse lichen assemblages are found in the low-montane zone (750–900 m), particularly in prostrate Calluna vulgaris heath, where fruticose macrolichens are co-dominant with vascular plants. The lichen vegetation of the Cairngorms, while significant within Britain, is best considered a species-poor outlier of Scandinavian heath communities. Three main National Vegetation Classification (NVC) communities support significant lichen vegetation in the area: Calluna vulgaris–Cladonia arbuscula heath at lower elevations, Vaccinium myrtillus–Cladonia arbuscula heath at intermediate levels, and Oreojuncus trifidus–Racomitrium lanuginosum rush heath on exposed summits. The distribution and diversity of lichens varies across the range, with the northern Cairngorms showing the greatest diversity, which decreases both eastward and westward due to changes in vascular plant and bryophyte cover. As well being included as part of the Cairngorms National Park the Cairngorm Mountains are designated as a national scenic area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland. Apart from a small area around the Cairngorm Ski Area, the whole of the mountain area is protected as both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area, thus forming part of the Natura 2000 network of protected sites. The Cairngorms are classified as a Category IV protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Cairngorms were declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 1954, being the largest NNR in Britain. In 2006 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) reviewed the Cairngorms NNR, and it was decided that the reserve should be broken up into separate, smaller reserves that reflected existing management units. There now are four NNRs within the core mountain area of the Cairngorms. The Abernethy Forest National Nature Reserve covers a stretch of land from the plateau down to Loch Garten on the north side of the range, and Glenmore Forest Park, covering a remnant of the Caledonian Forest surrounding Loch Morlich, is also designated as a national nature reserve. Threats to the ecosystem The Cairngorms represents an unusually cold area of mountains in a maritime climate at 57 degrees north. The climate is projected to warm—and precipitation patterns to change—under present climate change models. This is an over-riding concern for the long-term conservation of this area. Ptarmigan has been considered as an indicator species for this process, although the natural population cycles of this bird do not seem to have been disrupted as yet. Other man-made threats include the problems of popularity in a country with limited wilderness resources and a large, relatively affluent urban population. These include various types of recreation and the associated trampling damage and erosion, disturbance, litter and threats to water quality. ==Human habitation and ownership==

The valleys between the individual plateaux were used as drove roads by cattle drovers who built rough protective shelters for their arduous journeys. At about the same time that droving was dying out towards the end of the 19th century, deer stalking estates were flourishing, and so the shelters were developed into bothies to provide improved, though still primitive, accommodation for gamekeepers. In modern times, these bothies have been taken over by the Mountain Bothies Association for use by walkers and climbers to provide shelter and rough sleeping accommodation. With the exception of the bothies, there are no buildings or settlements within the Cairngorms, nor is there evidence for historic settlement, except in the uppermost reaches of the Derry and Gairn rivers. ==Leisure==

There is a funicular railway on Cairn Gorm serving the Cairn Gorm Ski Centre. The funicular opened in late 2001, and runs from a base station at 637 m up to the Ptarmigan Centre, situated at 1097 m, 150 m from the summit of Cairn Gorm. Guided walks continued to be the only way for walkers and summer visitors to access the plateau if arriving via the funicular as of 2017. The mountains are very popular for hill-walking, with eighteen Munros lying between Ben Avon in the east and Glen Feshie in the west. As with all land in Scotland, there is a right of responsible access to the mountains for those wishing to participate in recreational pursuits, although the restriction on access via the funicular means walkers and climbers cannot use the railway to access the hills. Angling for trout and salmon is popular in the lochs and rivers that surround the mountains, and Loch Avon in the very heart of the range is noted for its Arctic charr. Other popular activities include birdwatching and wildlife watching, whilst the Cairngorm Gliding Club (based in Glen Feshie) offers the opportunity for gliding. ==Gallery==

File:Cairngorm mountains - geograph.org.uk - 1512462.jpg|Cairn Lochan (1215 m). File:View north west from the summit of Beinn Bhreac - geograph.org.uk - 760977.jpg|View north-west from the summit of Beinn Bhreac (931 m). File:South western slopes of Beinn Mheadhoin - geograph.org.uk - 532107.jpg|Loch Etchachan. ==See also==