In Gaelic, the words mean 'The Blue Hills', though historically, only the actual mountain 'Cairn Gorm' had this gaelic name - the range of mountains of the high plateau has the Gaelic name am Monadh Ruadh - 'The Red Hills', due to the red colouration of the granite of which they are composed.
Whatever the translation, it's an unprepossessing name for a land of myriad changes, where no two days are the same and the landscape changes by the second. From the high mountains of the Cairngorm plateau, the land sweeps down through ancient Caledonian Pine Forest to the River Spey in the west and the River Dee in the east.
The CairnGorm Funicular is the country's highest and fastest mountain railway. The spectacular panoramic views from the terrace of the Ptarmigan Restaurant, nestled just under the summit of Cairn Gorm, together with the mountain exhibition and shop, offer an excellent all weather experience that is both memorable and unique.
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Views of the Cairngorms from Loch
The base station where you alight the train for the summit, plus climbing up in the mountain ralway
These images were taken from the Ptarmiganat lookout 1094 metres above sea level on May 30th 2005 and as you can see the snow is quite heavy
