A High and Lonely Place: The Sanctuary and Plight of the Cairngorms

The Cairngorms Massif, in the eastern highlands of Scotland, is an elemental place of sky and space where snow lies all year around, a primeval mountain plateau rising out of the ancient pinewoods, a landscape in crisis. This vast and remote Arctic wilderness, home to a unique variety of rare fauna and flora, is immensely fragile and vulnerable to change. The encroaching tourist and leisure developments, deer estates, the current forestry techniques now threaten its death by unnatural causes. Jim Crumley's book argues that the Cairngorms are not a resource to be used and abused but a wild place vital to this crowded Isle's spiritual health. He proposes a radical solution to ensure the mountain's survival.