Solo hiking the Cairn Gorm 4000s in Winter

In early December 2024 we had a few incredible weather days forcast. Storm Darragh had brought us snow, so i decided to head out and play in my local mountains. The Cairn Gorm 4000 route takes in the five summits above 4000ft in the Cairngorms. Cairn Gorm, Ben Macdui, Cairn Toul, Sgor an Lochain Uaine (Angles Peak) and Braeriach. Depending on the exact route taken, it is somewhere around 35km with 2400m ascent. In a slight variation the the classic route, i headed up the East ridge of Cairn Toul, which is a lovely grade 1 scramble. Whilst for some folk the challenge is to get around as fast as possible, I was more interested in maxxing out the good weather and hanging out with the mountains for as long as possible. Before undertaking a similar route, always check the weather at the Mountain Weather Information Service and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service. If camping up on Cairngorms, please pick up your free poo pot from the ranger base at the ski center.