Also on the map ofCairngorms‹ Scottish HighlandsCairngorms National Park
Cairn Gorm
- Easiest route
- 3.4 km+591 m · about 2 h · T2
- Prominence
- 146 m480 ft
- Isolation
- 4.4 km
- Tonight
- -6°CFog · Wind 13 km/h NW
Cairn Gorm is a 1,245 m (4,085 ft) mountain in the Cairngorms, Scotland, United Kingdom.
All facts
- Elevation
- 1,245 m · 4,085 ft
- Nearest higher peak
- Ben Macdui (1,309 m)
- Range
- Cairngorms
- Region
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Protected area
- Cairngorms National Park
- Coordinates
- 57.1162° N, 3.6440° W
How to get to the top of Cairn Gorm
The shortest mapped walking route from where a car can get you, with distance and climb from the terrain model.
From Coire Cas Car Park (parking)
- Distance
- 3.4 kmone way
- Climb
- +591 m(1,939 ft up)
- Time up
- about 2 h
- Difficulty
- T2Mountain trail, sure footing needed
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL. Climb from the terrain model. Trails change and maps miss things: check conditions locally.
Cairn Gorm 3D map
Drag to orbit · click, then scroll to zoom (or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll) · One finger scrolls the page · two fingers orbit and zoom · 6 × 6 km
Cairn Gorm terrain and contours
50 m contours from the Copernicus GLO-30 terrain model. The route drawn is the easiest mapped one. Click two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.Tap two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.
West → east through the summit
Cairn Gorm weather
Tonight · Fog · -6°C (21°F) · Wind 13 km/h NW
Cairn Gorm forecast for the summit, about 1,245 m. Summit vs base: the Base line is for about 650 m.
- Tonight-6°–13 km/h NWBase -2°
- Today-5°0°26.5 mm44 km/h SEBase -1 / 4°
- Sun-2°0°6.9 mm46 km/h WBase 1 / 4°
- Mon-1°0°9.9 mm29 km/h SBase 3 / 3°
- Tue-1°6°5.7 mm46 km/h SWBase 2 / 9°
- Wed0°3°0.7 mm21 km/h SWBase 3 / 6°
- Thu1°4°0.1 mm12 km/h SBase 5 / 8°
- Fri2°3°7.6 mm19 km/h SEBase 6 / 7°
- Sat-2°3°18.5 mm23 km/h SEBase 2 / 7°
- Sun-3°-2°24.1 mm17 km/h NWBase 1 / 2°
Forecast data: MET Norway, CC BY 4.0; daily low and high, precipitation total and strongest wind from the hourly data, model run Oct 23, 23:19 UTC.
Camping & parking near Cairn Gorm
Campsites, parking, trailheads and mountain huts mapped in OpenStreetMap around Cairn Gorm, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Check access, fees and permits locally.
Nearest parking
Coire Cas Car Park
Nearest hut
Fords of Avon Refuge Hut
Nearest campsite
Glenmore Camp Site
All mapped places 7
| Place | Distance |
|---|---|
| Parking | 2.7 km NW |
| Coire Cas Car ParkParking | 2.7 km NW |
| Coire na CisteParking | 3.5 km NNW |
| Fords of Avon Refuge HutHut | 3.7 km ESE |
| Hutchinson Memorial HutHut | 4.6 km SSE |
| Glenmore Camp SiteCampsite | 6.3 km NNW |
| Ryvoan BothyHut | 7.5 km N |
How steep is the route to Cairn Gorm?
The easiest mapped route, 3.4 km from 650 m to 1,245 m. Steepest stretch: 23°.
- 0–15°3.1 km
- 15–30°0.3 km
Grades are averaged between profile points about 50 m apart, so short steeper steps don’t show.
Land cover
ESA WorldCover 10 m classification of the same area.
Snow & ice means glaciers and year-round snow (a yearly average), not today’s snow cover.
Nearby summits
Named peaks within 3 km, measured from the Cairn Gorm summit.
Summit list 8
- 11141m1,141 m 0.7 km W
- 2Cnap Coire na Spreidhe1,150 m 1.2 km NE
- 3Stob Coire an t-Sneachda1,176 m 1.4 km SW
- 4Sron a' Cha No1,028 m 2.3 km NNE
- 5Cairn Lochan1,216 m 2.5 km SW
- 6Stacan Dubha1,014 m 2.6 km SSE
- 7A' Choinneach1,017 m 2.8 km ENE
- 8Beinn Mheadhoin1,182 m 3.0 km SE
Wildlife seen nearby
Sightings of the most-seen species on iNaturalist (research grade) within 3 km; 275 species recorded in all.
Sightings per species 6
- Snow Bunting58
- Alpine Lady's-mantle56
- Northern firmoss54
- Rock Ptarmigan40
- Cloudberry38
- Alpine azalea38
Where Cairn Gorm sits
- Range
- Scottish Highlands14Cairngorms5
- Region
- Scotland153United Kingdom371Europe2,143
- Protected area
- Cairngorms National Park5
Ranked in 1
Nearby places
Coire an t-Sneachda↑1.3 km WSW
Loch AvonLake↑1.8 km SE
Loch EtchachanLake↑3.7 km S
Lairig GhruPass↑4.1 km SW
Bynack MorePeak · 1,090 m↑4.3 km NE
More in the Cairngorms 1
Cairn Gorm downloads: topographic map, heightmap, STL 3D model and DEM
Free files made in your browser from this page's terrain data. No sign-up; credit the sources below.
Print & wall
3D printing & 3D apps
Free to use with credit: see the data sources
How accurate is this?
within 10 m This 3D map reads 1,243 m at the summit; the official height is 1,245 m.
A 30 m terrain model averages each cell, so a few metres either way is normal.
| Source | Summit | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Official height (Wikidata) | 1,245 m | — |
| Copernicus GLO-30 (used on this page) | 1,243 m | -2 m |
| Copernicus GLO-90 | 1,241 m | -4 m |
Data sources
- Terrain
- Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Imagery
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026 (scene 2026-07-15)
- Land cover
- © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium
- Facts
- Wikidata (CC0)
- Routes, Camping & parking
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
- Summits
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overture Maps Foundation (ODbL)
- Wildlife
- iNaturalist community observations, counts only
- Accuracy comparison, Panorama
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Forecast
- Weather forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)
- Sources
- Wikidata · OpenStreetMap · GeoNames · Wikipedia