Braeriach
Local highlightThe third-highest mountain in Britain, a huge Cairngorms plateau ringed by deep corries and cut off from the nearest road by a long walk in
Open accessin a National Nature Reserve open to the public
Braeriach is the third-highest mountain in Britain at 1,296m, behind only Ben Nevis and its Cairngorm neighbour Ben Macdui. It’s a Munro — a Scottish hill over 3,000 feet (914m) — but the word “peak” undersells Braeriach: the summit is a vast, bare plateau (a high, flat tableland) of frost-shattered stone and moss, with the ground falling away into a ring of deep corries, the steep ice-scooped hollows typical of the Cairngorms. The River Dee rises among the springs up here, some of the highest in the country. The catch is getting there, because no route is short. The standard way up starts from the Aviemore side, a long day through the Lairig Ghru pass or the Chalamain Gap before the real climbing begins, often linking Braeriach with Cairn Toul and Sgor an Lochain Uaine around the rim above Loch Einich. This is serious ground: the plateau keeps its snow late, the weather turns fast, and the featureless top needs careful navigation in cloud.
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