Hazards:    Ski centre infrastructure – large number of pylons and cableways plus snow fences; busy car park; high mountain environment.    

Despite the ugliness of the Cairngorm Mountain Ski Centre complex, at 1245m, the summit of Cairngorm is a great place to take off and the ski runs do make for a relatively easy walk up.

 

In contrast to Scotland’s other ski centre’s, it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll be allowed onto the lifts/ funicular railway with a paraglider, but the walk up to the Ptarmigan Station isn’t too bad and there are a range of take off options between the top station and the summit.

 

This is not a site for a windy day and it’s best flown on a nil wind forecast.  Given the amount of ski tow infrastructure, this is also not a site for the nervous or the low airtime pilot.  One option is to walk in a north easterly direction from the Ptarmigan Station to Cnap Coire na Spreidhe (1151m) from where it’s possible to fly into the much quieter Coire na Ciste and landing options at the ski centre overflow parking (grid ref 299800, 807400).