Ski Club 2.0 Home
Snow Reports
FAQFAQ

Mail for help.Help!!

Log in to snowHeads to make it MUCH better! Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. as well as access to 'members only' forums, discounts and deals that U don't even know exist as a 'guest' user. (btw. 50,000+ snowHeads already know all this, making snowHeads the biggest, most active community of snow-heads in the UK, so you'll be in good company)..... When you register, you get our free weekly(-ish) snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices (or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either)... We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in :-)
Username:-
 Password:
Remember me:
👁 durr, I forgot...
Or: Register
(to be a proper snow-head, all official-like!)

What are Itineraries if they are not routes?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just come across this and don't understand. On the piste map for Ben Nevis (see https://www.nevisrange.co.uk/ski-board/the-mountain/mountain-report/ ) there are orange routes in the Back Corries called Itineraries. I understood this term to refer to a route consisting of several runs to get from A to B. However, in the Nevis ski map they look like runs rather than a route. And being orange rather than difficulty colours they don't give any skiing information. So what do they mean?

Apologies for having to put the web page rather than the image of the map but I can't do that at the moment. Advice on that would also be gratefully received. I have looked it up but can't seem to make it work.
snow conditions
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@TCSC47, They are usually approved routes that are avalanche checked (so can be closed), but they are not pisted and are not manually created, so are entirely natural snow. They are aren’t given difficulty rating, as the difficulty is down to the snow conditions.
snow report
 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
An Itinerary in skiing terms is normally a marked run but one that is not groomed and is left largely in a natural state. Whether or not they are patrolled varies on the country/resort. The map will normally tell you.
latest report
 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
The back corries aren't groomed or marked, though are sometimes patrolled. All the entrances usually involve cornices, so the difficulty would be black or greater. However I haven't actually skied them (though I do know the rest of Nevis Range fairly well), so hopefully someone with experience can answer. Perhaps put Nevis Range in the thread title?

There's a page on the Nevis website explaining the designations here: https://www.nevisrange.co.uk/ski-board/the-mountain/back-corries
snow report
 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
https://www.nevisrange.co.uk/ski-board/the-mountain/back-corries/

This is the page explaining the designations. The snow report will always advise on which of the 3 designations applies (open/limited/closed).

In the 1st photo, the lift is the top of the Braveheart, the obvious entry point in the cornice with many tracks leading down is Chancer.
In the photo above Coire Dubh and Braveheart there is a photo from lower down the lift showing the whole of the rim of the Coire. Yellow Belly is to the right (skier's left) before the obvious rocks start. Further on past the rock band is another entry, Winger Wall. It's not usually quite as intimidating as Chancer. It is very close to the top of Warren's tow, but you won't find it if you don't go looking. Sometimes the entry points are marked, sometimes the cornice is hacked out to ease entry at various points, especially later in the season at Yellow Belly where it can be a traverse in. At Chancer, it always involves a certain amount of 'air' Shocked but after the first 1-2 turns the slope mellows considerably. You can ski down to a bit below the top of the chairlift and traverse back round the mountain fairly easily so entry doesn't depend on the chairlift running but it probably isn't the kind of thing to be doing on your own until you know your way around very well. It feels quite remote round there when you can't see anyone, any lifts, signs, fences or runs. I think open status depends on Avalanche risk and being able to get a blood wagon out on snow. AFAIK they have to helicopter in fuel to run the lift so it only ever runs at weekends and usually in settled weather towards the end of the season.

The dotted lines are the off piste lines that are most commonly skied after a fairly short, flat walk from the summit tow. You can ski from those to the base of the Braveheart but if it's not running will need to skin to about 1/2 way up it to get back to the main lift area. There are loads of other lines detailed in this book available from all good booksellers (as is the companion volume for Glencoe): https://www.inthesnow.com/scottish-offpiste-guidebook-published/
snow report
 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
At Nevis they've been subtitled "Closed" when I've been there Sad
ski holidays
 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Alas my off-piste days are over, but I must say that map looks exciting. The cornices would have troubled me in my day. How do you cope with those without significantly risking them breaking away?
snow report
 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
achilles wrote:
How do you cope with those without significantly risking them breaking away?


Personally I would break or cut the edge, that should also help purge the slope below. You have to be careful not to saw off the branch you are standing on - so to speak. A cornice is an indication that the slope is leeward so would be wind loaded.

How they do it in Scotland I have no idea.
snow conditions



Terms and conditions  Privacy Policy