Cairngorm Mountain Railway
Cairngorm Mountain at 1,245 metres is the sixth highest summit in Britain and the highest peak within the Cairngorm massif that forms the core of the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands. The mountain provides some of the most extensive and most serious high mountain terrain in Britain, its plateau summit and the great corries cut into its northern and eastern faces offering exceptional walking in summer and world-class ski mountaineering and winter climbing in the right conditions. The Cairngorm Mountain funicular railway, one of the highest mountain railways in Britain, provides year-round mechanical access to the plateau edge for visitors who prefer not to walk the ascent.
The summit plateau of Cairngorm and the broader Cairngorm plateau extending toward Ben Macdui and beyond is the largest area of high arctic mountain terrain in Britain, a landscape of shattered quartzite, permanent snow patches, high-altitude lochs and the characteristic dwarf plant communities of the sub-arctic environment. The species that inhabit this landscape, including ptarmigan, dotterel, snow bunting, mountain hare and the insects associated with snowfield and late-melting snow patches, are found nowhere else in Britain at such density and scale, and the Cairngorms plateau is therefore one of the most important conservation areas in the British Isles.
The Ptarmigan restaurant at the upper funicular station at 1,097 metres is the highest restaurant in Britain and provides a remarkable viewpoint over the summit plateau and the surrounding mountains. In winter it overlooks the ski area, which at its best can offer challenging alpine skiing on north-facing runs that hold snow reliably when lower Scottish ski areas are struggling.
The walk from the car park at Coire Cas to the summit cairn is a relatively straightforward hill walk in summer conditions but the summit plateau is notorious for rapid deterioration in weather and navigation is essential for safe travel away from the tourist path.