The Cairngorms

The Cairngorms are a lump of granite the size of a small country, with a plateau that behaves like the Arctic when it feels like it, and glens that behave like Scotland. The national park is huge. Cairn Gorm the mountain is one summit in it, with a ski road and a funicular argument. Do not confuse the park, the mountain, and the car park.

How people actually use it

Walkers, skiers, people who drove up from Aviemore for a coffee and a look at a reindeer. The plateau is serious. People get into trouble on days that started “nice in the car”. Take the kit you would take on a proper hill. The pine woods — Rothiemurchus, Glenmore — are the other Cairngorms, and kinder if the plateau is in a fury.

The mountain page is Cairn Gorm. The candle is Cairngorms, which is hill air, not a gift-shop pine. If you want the west-coast version of a lump of rock, Ben Nevis is the other brand name.