Cairnwell Pass

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The Cairnwell Pass is a mountain pass on the A93 road between Glen Shee, Perthshire, and Braemar, Aberdeenshire, in the Scottish Highlands. The border between the two counties crosses the summit of the pass. With a summit altitude of 670m (2199 ft), the Cairnwell Pass is the highest main road in the United Kingdom, and at the summit is the Glenshee Ski Centre, Scotland's largest and oldest ski centre ^[1]. Historically, the pass was a drover's route from the Lowlands to the Highlands. The road is often blocked by snow in the winter.

A mile south of the summit is the Devil's Elbow, a notorious double-hairpin bend climbing at a gradient of 33 percent. The modern road bypasses the hairpin bends, but the old road still exists and its route can be walked, or carefully cycled.