Bynack More is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Mountain that is situated in the Cairngorms

Cairngorms

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

 range, 16 kilometres east-south-east of the town of Aviemore

Aviemore

Aviemore is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm...

 in the Highland

Highland (council area)

Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...

 region.

Overview

Bynack More is a Munro

Munro

A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over . They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet , who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munros Tables, in 1891. A Munro top is a summit over 3,000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain...

 and a Marilyn

Marilyn (hill)

A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland or Isle of Man with a relative height of at least 150 metres , regardless of absolute height or other merit...

 which reaches a height of 1090 metres (3576 feet) and stands slightly detached from the other peaks of the range in the north eastern corner. Because of this it tends to be ascended in a single mountain trip. It is typical of many of the Cairngorm mountains in that it is crowned by a large plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

; however, it does look conical when viewed from some angles. The plateau has huge granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 tors dotted across it, known as the Barns of Bynack. The translation of the mountain's name from the Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

 is unclear - some books give it as a “kerchief or a cap” from the Gaelic beannag, others give it as “big little mountain” from beinneag while other sources suggest "chimney pot" from binneag, referring to the tors on the summit. In the past Bynack More has been known as Ben Bynack and Caiplich, named after the Water of Caiplich which rises on the mountains eastern slopes and flows into the Avon

River Avon, Strathspey

The River Avon is a river in the Strathspey area of the Scottish Highlands, and a tributary of the River Spey. It drains the north-eastern area of the Cairngorm Mountains and is largely contained within the Cairngorms National Park...

 and then the Spey

River Spey

The River Spey is a river in the northeast of Scotland, the second longest and the fastest-flowing river in Scotland...

.

Geography

Bynack More is an elongated hill which is orientated north to south, the eastern slopes are steep and rocky as they drop 300 metres vertically to the headwaters of the Water of Caiplich. The hill has two subsidiary tops. Bynack Beag (964 metres) lies a kilometre to the north west and can be easily climbed when approaching the mountain from the north; Bynack More and Bynack Beag are twins and look impressive from the north above Strath Nethy. The other top is A’Choinneach (Boggy Hill) which, at 1017 metres, used to be a Munro but was demoted in the 1981 tables reorganisation. This lies 1.5 kilometres south west and is an easy climb with an ascent of less than 80 metres. Bynack More can be climbed along with the nearby Cairn Gorm

Cairn Gorm

Cairn Gorm is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands overlooking Strathspey and the town of Aviemore. At 1245 metres it is the sixth highest mountain in the United Kingdom...

. The two are joined by a high col

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 to the south west called The Saddle (807 metres). However, it the impressive granite tors known as the Barns of Bynack that are the highlight of the plateau; they lie 500 metres south of the summit and the highest ones are roughly six metres high.

Ascents

The most popular ascent of Bynack More starts from Loch Morlich

Loch Morlich

Loch Morlich is a freshwater loch in the Badenoch and Strathspey area of Highland, Scotland near Aviemore. The loch is home to a watersports center with kayaking, sailing and windsurfing among the activities available. There is also a yacht club and cycling routes around the loch...

 at grid reference and follows a good path passing through the attractive Ryvoan Pass with the charming Lochan Uaine (green lochan). The path swings east crossing the River Nethy and then the northern ridge of Bynack More is ascended to the summit. It is also possible to start from the car park at the Cairn Gorm ski centre (grid reference ) and ascend Cairn Gorm first before carrying onto Bynack More via The Saddle, though this is quite a rough walk. The summit cairn is made up of granite boulders and provides a unique view of Cairn Gorm across the craggy flanks of Strath Nethy; the Ben Avon

Ben Avon

Ben Avon is a mountain in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. The highest point of the massif, known as Leabaidh an Dàimh Bhuide is classified as both a Munro and a Marilyn....

plateau is also well seen.