Cairn Toul: An Arctic Climb 



The snow-line to-day was at about the 2,000-foot line. A 

 few miles to the west Oarn a' Mhaim reflected the clear sun- 

 light from its snowy slopes, while in the distance Beinn 

 Bhrotain and Monadh Mor stood out in unrelieved white. 

 Perhaps two miles up the glen the track crosses the burn and 

 rounds the shoulder of Carn a' Mhaim, and here extensive 

 snowfields were met with. This snow had fallen towards the 

 end of October, so now, a fortnight later, after successive 

 frosts and thaws, gave a good walking surface. Grouse called 

 loudly in the bright sunshine, and on the fresh powdering of 

 snow that covered the old fall the track of more than one fox 

 was visible. 



Once beyond Cam a' Mhaim the track turns north and 

 becomes the Lairig proper, which leads through the heart 

 of the hills to Aviemore. From here one of the finest hill- 

 views that Scotland can give meets the eye. Near at hand, 

 and rising from just west of the Dee, the precipitous Devil's 

 Point, towering to a height of three thousand three hundred 

 feet, was flooded with sunlight, its rocks covered with snow 

 and ice. Beyond it Cairn Toul was mist-capped, and away 

 northwards an occasional glimpse was caught of Coire 

 Bhrochain of Braeriach, with eddying mists hiding the 

 summit of the hill. Beside the Pools of Dee, at the summit 

 of the Lairig, the sun shone brightly and the ridge of 

 Sron na Lairige was also sun-bathed. The River Dee was 

 low this day, for the frost had imprisoned many of the 

 smaller springs. Its hurrying waters, clear as crystal, were 

 easily forded just where the lonely bothy of Corrour stands, 

 as it were, sentinel over the Lairig. From here is a fine 

 view of Ben MacDhui, for the summit of this great hill is 

 not more than two miles distant. To-day the hill was buried 

 beneath a very heavy fall of snow. At the top of Coire nan 

 Taillear a great cornice hung, and the track of a small 

 avalanche could be seen where, having broken from the 

 cornice, the snow had rolled down into the corrje beneath. 

 A thin mist hall-veiled the top, but the cloud was so trans- 

 N 193 



