FIACAILL RIDGE, CAIRNGORMS

START Cairngorm Ski Centre car park GR: NH990059 GRADE 1 / 2 Distance: 8.5km / 5.3 miles Time: 4 hours

Crossing over into Grade 2 territory at its hardest, this high and mighty ridge is the most technical scramble here – but don’t let that put you off. There’s a relatively straightforward path that bypasses the final and trickiest section of scrambling. That means you can pick and choose both your grade and your exposure levels; plus the nearby car park removes any collywobbles over remoteness. Difficulty aside, the Fiacaill Ridge is a stunner of a route, with grippy scrambling over rocky teeth, views of Cairngorm and the Northern Corries, and an obvious day extension that takes in Britain’s second highest mountain, Ben Macdui.