I left my car in the large parking area on the east side of the A93 Braemar to Blairgowrie Road at the Cairnwell Ski Centre, where the charge for leaving my vehicle there was £3. We crossed the main road, walked along the front of the Ski Centre buildings then up a steep gravelly vehicle track to more buildings including a circular restaurant.
We left the vehicle track here and climbed steadily south-west, south of a ski tow, through grass and heather as well as some marshy ground. Higher up there was a slight increase in the gradient and this led onto the north-west ridge of The Cairnwell where there was a rough vehicle track and a ski fence.
The vehicle track descended a few metres south-east to the top of the chairlift then the track became steep and very rough before reaching the unsightly buildings at the summit of The Cairnwell. After visiting the cairn, the highest point on this Munro, we walked a short distance south where we took a break with good views down Glen Shee.
Afterwards we returned down the north-west ridge before following a walker’s path to the col at the head of Coire Dhirich. We then walked up a well used path towards Carn nan Sac by-passing this minor top to the west. It was then an easy walk west with a final steeper section to reach the cairn marking the summit of the Munro, Carn a’ Gheoidh, where we took another break sitting in the sun.
We later returned to the col above Coire Dhirich and from there walked north along another walker’s path, wet in sections, to join the vehicle track and ski fencing to the south-west of Carn Aosda. The rough track then a short stony path led to the cairn marking the summit of this our third Munro of the day.
After a few minutes at this top we returned to the vehicle track and briefly followed it before descending south along the edge of another rough vehicle track which led to the circular restaurant and the starting point.
- Time taken – 5.5 hours.
- Distance – 11.5 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 660 metres.