Ben Macdui

Ben Macdui is the second highest mountain in Scotland (and all of the British
Isles) after Ben Nevis, and the highest in the Cairngorms National Park. The
summit elevation is 1,309 meters (4,295 feet) AMSL. Ben Macdui lies on the
southern edge of the Cairn Gorm plateau, on the boundary between the historic
counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire (currently on the border between the
Aberdeenshire and Moray council areas).

Before the production of accurate maps of Scotland in the 19th century it was not
known for certain that Ben Nevis was the highest point in Britain, and it was often
thought that Ben Macdui might be the higher. Following surveys of both peaks in
1846–47, Ben Nevis was confirmed as the higher. Following these surveys, there
were plans to build a cairn on the top of Ben Macdui to make its height greater
than Ben Nevis, but these plans did not come to fruition. The summit of the
mountain has a direction indicator erected in 1925 by the Cairngorm Club of
Aberdeen in memory of a past president Alexander Copland. The indicator shows
the directions of the most noteworthy mountains that can be seen from the summit
in clear weather.

Snow patches have been known to persist at various locations on Ben Macdui,
most notably Garbh Uisge Beag.
After the defeat of Domnall mac Uilliam in 1187, Donnchad II, Earl of Fife,
acquired Strathavon, a territory stretching from Ballindalloch to Ben Macdui.
Because the mountain marked the western boundary of Donnchad's territory,
Gaelic scholar historian F.C. Diack and place-name scholar Professor G.W.S.
Barrow have suggested that the mountain took its name from Donnchad's family,
the Mac Duibh, however the name may derive from the Gaelic for a black pig,
[3]muc dhubh.

In 1810 a Rev Dr Keith surveyed the heights of several Cairngorm summits using a
barometer, estimating the height of Ben Macdui to be 4,300 ft (1,300 m). This
sparked interest in whether it, or Ben Nevis, was the highest summit in Scotland.
The Ordnance Survey built a trig point on the summit in 1847 in order to
accurately survey the height, confirming that Ben Nevis was indeed the higher.
The surveyors also built a small shelter that became known as the "Sappers'
Bothy", the remains of which could still be seen as of 1998.

Queen Victoria hiked to the summit on 7 October 1859, aged forty.[5] About her
experience, she wrote: "It had a sublime and solemn effect, so wild, so solitary –
no one but ourselves and our little party there ... I had a little whisky and water, as
the people declared pure water would be too chilling."[citation needed]
During the Second World War commando troops training in the Cairngorms
visited the summit of Ben Macdui, building small shelters to the northeast of the
summit. In early 1940 a plane crashed at the top of the Allt a' Choire Mhoir, to the
northwest of the summit.

Ascent
Probably the easiest route of ascent is from the Coire Cas car park at the foot of
Cairngorm Ski Centre by a path that leads up over slowly rising moorland. This
route is about 7 km (4 mi) long; a somewhat longer route allows one also to climb
Cairn Gorm. One possible alternative route follows the path coming up from Loch
Etchachan. This loch may be reached from Loch Avon to the north or by coming
up from Glen Derry to the south. Other routes include coming over Derry
Cairngorm, or via the Lairig Ghru pass, which lies to the west of Ben Macdui.

Nearly all these routes are long days by Scottish standards.[clarification needed]
When coming from the south it is common to use a bicycle to cover the 5 km (3½
mi) from the road end at Linn of Dee to Derry Lodge at the southern end of the
massif.

Am Fear Liath Mòr

The area of Ben Macdui is said to be haunted by the legendary Am Fear Liath Mòr,
or Greyman. There have been several accounts of an unnatural presence, with
mountaineer Norman Collie claiming to have heard footsteps before fleeing from
the summit in terror.
Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Macdui