Sgor Gaoith

“Scottish mountains over 3000 feet high are collectively called the Munros after Sir Hugh Munro, the man who first catalogued them.”

The Munros: A Walkhighlands Guide by Paul & Helen Webster (Pocket Mountains Ltd, 2012)

There are 282 mountains in Scotland that qualify for the Munro label. By comparison, Wales has 15 and England 6 (Munros outside of Scotland are called Furths). This should give some context to the term Highlands which is synonymous with the Scottish identity. 55 of these Munros can be found in the Cairngorms National Park where I was spending a holiday in June 2025. Several of these though are inaccessible except by a multi-day journey. There are a few near the village of Aviemore, my holiday homebase, which can easily be tackled by a roundtrip hike. So I decided to try my hand at Munro bagging. The headliners in the region are Ben Macdui and Cairngorm, which I bagged just a couple days prior. The next to bag was Sgor Gaoith, just to the south of Aviemore.

Sgor Gaoith means windy peak. Of all the windy peaks in existence in Great Britain, it is curious how the name stuck on this particular mountain. But we would see if it lived up to its moniker. For Komoot users, please note that it is not possible to plan the route that you see below due to the discontiguous trails on their map system. This route came from the book referenced in the quote at the beginning of this post. There is some off trail hiking in the latter half of this route that simply requires you to follow a direction rather than a path, and there is one part which requires some minor scrambling (down). As long as you don’t mind the feeling of being off trail, there is nothing otherwise to worry about.

Starting Point	Parking area marked at A on the map
Distance	17.3km
Hike Duration	3h 43m

It’s Not Just a Beer, It’s a Journey

It was a day of everchanging skies, teetering between hope and doom. After a lengthy prelude under the protective canopy of the trees, the winds rejoiced in a sinister dissonance as I emerged into the open valley at the base of Sgor Gaoith. The wind roared in my ears. The mountain was intent on living up to its name.

During the ascent, a rainbow formed over the hike’s origin. Was it a promise of success or was it the last gasp of the rays of sun before they were choked by the thickening clouds?

Before arriving to the top of the plateau, there is a moment of anticipation to see what lies beyond. These views never transcend to a photograph, but the next shot was one of my favorite moments on the hike.

Up on the plateau, the bulge of the Sgor Gaoith peak comes into view. It was both frigid and windy up here. Hat, gloves, and an extra layer were necessities. Snow still lay in pockets on the grass.

To the east, several other Munros lingered under the clouds. I am unskilled to identify them, but somewhere in that depth of mountain peaks lies Ben Macdui.

Just to the north of Sgor Gaoith is Sgoran Dubh Mor, a peak only 7m lower in elevation. It is high enough to be a Munro but it is officially listed as a “child summit” or Munro Top due to its close proximity to the higher Sgor Gaoith.

It is after Sgoran Dubh Mor that the hike goes off trail with the Komoot app. The descent follows a grassy slope towards two minor peaks, Meall Buidhe and Geal-charn.

It was here that I discovered that I broke one of the main rules of hiking. Don’t forget to bring your charging cable. My last photo before my phone went into energy saving mode captures the rift that I needed to scramble down to get back to the main trail.

The Old Bridge Inn

Back in the warm confines of Aviemore with my freshly charged phone, I enjoyed my celebratory beer at The Old Bridge Inn, a great pub and restaurant with live music on Wednesdays. It was Thursday.

Final Thoughts

Sgor Gaoith proudly lived up to its name. It may not be the biggest baddest Munro around, but someone long ago certainly had the right idea of what to call it. It was cold up there. Although, based on my experiences in Wales and Scotland, I wonder if there could be a hundred different ways to say windy peak in old Gaelic. Every mountain seems to deserve it. As I sipped my delicious ale in the cozy Old Bridge Inn, I decided I kind of like this munro bagging thing, so I made my Friday preparations for another hike, the final one of my holiday. And this time I would remember my charging cable.