Lettercard - Cairngorms. skiing, Ptarmigan restaurant - colourmaster c.1970s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  The Cairngorms - includes tourist guide and map - pictures: skiing in the Cairngorms / Ptarmigan Observation Restaurant / White Lady Shieling / Fiacail Ski-Tow /
• Publisher:  Colourmaster International
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Cairngorms are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain of the same name—Cairn Gorm.

Usually referred to as The Cairngorms—this 'modern' use of Cairn Gorm to represent the whole range is potentially misleading—Watson (1975) refers to it as a nickname explaining that the range's former name is Am Monadh Ruadh—the red hills distinguishing them from Am Monadh Liath—the grey hills to the west of the River Spey.

If you look from Aviemore on a clear evening, the granite screes of Lairig Ghru and Braeriach do glow a warm red in the sun. The name Am Monadh Ruadh still lives among the oldest folk of Strath Spey, but long ago, outsiders had replaced it with 'the Cairngorms', on maps and in guide books

—Watson (1975)

Ironically—naming the range after Cairn Gorm creates a contradiction since Cairn Gorm means Blue Cairn—taking that literally would make the red hills the blue hills changing the old name entirely. This irony appears to have been missed by many for both names were used in the naming of the National Park that incorporates the range. Its official English name, Cairngorms National Park, translates into Gaelic as the Blue Hills National Park, with its Gaelic strap-line, Pairc Naiseanta a Mhonaidh Ruaidh, translating into English as the Red Hills National Park.

In Alexander (1928) the author refers to Colonel T. Thornton visiting the area about 1786, and his book Sporting Tour published in 1804 in which he refers to the range as the Cairngorms—continuing:

The use of the term ""Cairngorms"" as applied to the group must have become well established early in the nineteenth century, for we find it in Col Thornton's Sporting Tour (1804), where there is a reference to ""Aurora peeping over the immense Cairngorms""

—Alexander (1928) (p21)

Both Alexander (1928) and Watson (1975) appear to suggest that Colonel Thornton's book was the first time the term Cairngorms was used in print to refer to whole group.

The controversy over the name of the Cairngorms is representative of other controversies surrounding these mountains, which have the capacity to produce strong reactions in people who regard the mountains with affection.

Although The Cairngorms are within the Cairngorms National Park, they are only a part of it. Watson (1975) delineates the main Cairngorm massif as being between Aviemore in the north-west, Glen Gairn, Braemar in the south-east, and Glen Feshie in the south-west.

The approximate southern-boundary of the range runs from slightly east of Braemar, west along Glen Dee to White Bridge, through Glen Geldie to the head of Glen Feshie. The western-boundary runs down Glen Feshie (northward) and the River Spey to Aviemore. The northern-boundary runs roughly eastward from Aviemore through Glen More to Glen Avon. The eastern-boundary then runs (southward) up Glen Avon, and over Am Bealach Dearg to slightly east of Braemar.

To the south of the Cairngorms are a separate distinct range, The Grampians. Watson (1975) describes them as running from Drumochter in the west almost to the sea just south of Aberdeen, continuing:

Some map-makers have confused the issue by printing 'Grampians' over the Cairngorms and Strath Don hills as well! As it has often been used on maps to take in the Ben Alder and Perthshire hills far to the west of our area, it is unsuitable for this book.

—Watson (1975)

Gordon (1925) draws the area of the Cairngorms even more tightly: the end-papers show a map where Aviemore, River Feshie, River Dee and Creag Choinnich just make it onto the map, and Glen Geldie, and Glen Gairn do not.

Before the Regionalisation of Scotland in 1975, most of the Cairngorms were within the county of Aberdeenshire, with the rest reaching into Inverness-shire in the west, and Banffshire in the north.

The Cairngorms consist of a large elevated plateau adorned with low, rounded glacial mountains.

Although not strictly a single plateau, the Cairngorms give the sense of being a single plateau, because the passes that cut through them are not very deep. Adam Watson gives the summit of Lairig Ghru as 835 metres, and the summit of Lairig an Laoigh at 740 metres, and The Sneck at 970 metres. Topographically, this means a walker could cross between the Cairntoul (1293m) – Braeriach (1296m) massif to the Ben Macdui (1309m) – Cairn Gorm (1245m) massif and onto the Beinn a' Bhùird (1196m) – Ben Avon (1171m) massif without descending below the 740m summit of the Lairig an Laoigh.

The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (see Cairngorms National Park) on 1 September 2003. The national park is in the Scottish council areas of Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus, Perth and Kinross and Highland.

type=lettercard

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=scotland

county/ country=aberdeenshire

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted