Cairngorm Ski Road and Coire Cas

The road from Glenmore to the Cairngorm ski centre ends at the main car park at the base of Coire Cas, which Cairngorm Mountain gives as 635m above sea level with space for over 400 cars. It does the work of a strenuous half-day walk from the comfort of a car. From the car park, the view opens back down Strathspey towards Aviemore and the Monadhliath hills beyond, and up into the corrie, ringed by the steep ground below Cairn Gorm’s summit and the Northern Corries.

The car park is also the base of the funicular railway, so the view is open to anyone regardless of fitness or mobility, with tarmac underfoot and no walking needed beyond the car park itself. Cairngorm Mountain calls the site one of the easiest access points into the Cairngorms National Park. In winter it is also the access point for the ski area, and Cairngorm Mountain charges for parking outside the snowsports season.

This is not a wilderness experience. The car park, day lodge and ski infrastructure are all in view, and on a busy weekend it can feel more like a resort than a mountainside. What it delivers without any walking is height, with the high ground of the Cairngorm plateau rising directly above the 635m car park. The viewpoint suits anyone who wants mountain scale for the price of a drive, and anyone travelling with somebody who cannot walk to get it. A visitor hoping for wildness should go elsewhere, since a day lodge and a ski tow fill most of the view. For a walk in place of a view from the car, Loch an Eilein is a level 5km circuit through pinewood back down the valley.