Beinn a' Bhùird

Beinn a’ Bhùird is a Munro in the Cairngorm range of the Scottish Highlands. It stands near Braemar in Aberdeenshire, where the River Dee bends through a wide valley of heather and pine. The mountain’s Gaelic name means ‘table hill’, though locals once called it Painna Bòrd. A single-track road follows the Dee south from Braemar to Linn of Dee, then loops back north to a car park at Allanaquoich. From there the slopes rise steeply, often dusted with snow even in late spring. In 2006 a glider pilot survived a night trapped on the hillside before rescue teams located him. The usual route climbs Glen Quoich along an old Land Rover track to the summit ridge. An alternative path follows the Quoich Water through a narrow gorge called Am Beitheachan to a bealach known as The Sneck. In the early 1960s Swiss investors built a ski area called Mar Lodge with two T-bar lifts. The longest lift stretched 620 metres and could move 1,400 skiers each hour. After two winters with little snow the project closed in 1965 and its lifts were taken to Glenshee. On the summit visitors find a broad plateau of granite slabs and wind-blasted grass. To the north the view opens over the Lairig Ghru pass to Ben Macdui. Eastward the plateau drops into Glen Avon, a quiet glen of birch and lochan. The old ski road still winds through the lower slopes, now used by walkers and stalkers. The silence is broken only by the cry of ravens and the rush of the Quoich Water far below.