 Poster: A snowHead
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Visit Scotland. Also has ski reports.
Cheers
Bob
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great pic. How come the snow isn't sticking in that band of what looks like rock?
Just went to the link and saw they were trees 
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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?
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Just had a great day up in Aviemore. There must have been almost a foot of fresh powder, the only problem was that the visibility was awful. Had one superb run down the east wall of the lady down to the base station when the cloud lifted for 10 minutes, otherwise I was sticking to the M1 and lady mostly, as I could tell which way was down!
No queues today, but as they closed the mountain early, travel up might be a problem tomorrow. If you can make it up I'm sure it will be a brilliant day again.
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Another 10" of fresh snow on cairngorm over night... if the sky clears for the weekend it will be epic 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Was there yesterday. YAAYYY, was great! They have 150cm on the upper runs. Yes, visibility was pretty bad but the snow was so good that any mistakes were cinched better. Managed to shoot down the home road just as the blizzard set in. Months of skiing ahead, hopefully!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I am guessing Scotland must've had about 20 days of continuous snowfall now.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There may not be as much snow at Glenshee, but what there is is superb too - if you can get to it !!!!! Spent 3 hours at the Spittal today, wating for P&K council to open the snow gates. When eventually they let us through, the road was actually better than I had come through on the way up Glenisla. The Aberdeen side was open at 0900 - we didn't get to the slopes from the south until after 1300 !
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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firstracks, Just out of interest, how long is the longest run there, and if you hike up to the top what kind of vertical do you have? Thanks for photos keep them coming
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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The longest pisted windy route is from the top of the Ptarmigan T-bar to the Daylodge via the Traverse, Coire Cas, Zig Zags and the Carpark Run, this is all green runs and 1500ft of it can be accessed by the Funicular. The M2/Daylodge provides a long blue from the Top Station to the Daylodge.
Vertical on the Cas side is 1650ft to the Daylodge bridge, 1750ft to the foot of the Carpark Ski Tow. With the shuttle bus running from the Ciste Carpark it's possible to get 2000ft vertical from the top of the Ptarmigan Tow to the Ciste Carpark. If you really want push the boat out, if you have skins or are prepared to hike, from the Summit down the Marquis well adds just under 300ft and if you ski from the Summit to Glenmore it's 3000ft.
The longest single 'trail' is the Laogh Mor Return to the Ciste Carpark at 3km (close to 4 if you start at the top of the Ptarmigan Tow), but though partially fenced this run takes you well out of the ski area and beyond the patrol boundary and it shouldn't be attempted alone nor if your unfamiliar with the terrain in anything but perfect visibility (it maybe a no go if the Avalanche risk on the East Wall is significant). It starts at a snow fence leaving the Ciste Bowl to skiers right just a short distance below the Ptarmigan Ski Tow, the fence line traverses out high on to the East Wall of Coire Na Ciste and also provides access to the steeper lower pitches of the East Wall gullies (Currently closed due to Avalanche Risk), the fence line continues to traverse the East Wall beyond no2 gully before eventually turning to skiers right and dropping over the ridge into Coire Laogh Mor itself. A short distance into the Coire the fenced run gives way to a wide open slope, pick your own line down here, but keep reasonably high on the Western (skiers left) flank at least at first. The Laogh Mor Return fence line restarts further down and heads skiers left to the Ciste Carpark, but it is very easy to miss this fence completely and overshoot!
Anyway, some pix from today:
More: http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/pixalbum.php?pix_id=576
Ski Patrol are going to have a look with the Piste Basher crew at pisting a run to the Ciste Carpark via the Aonach Ridge for the weekend that will give 2000ft of vertical on the groomers and allow more people to take advantage of the extensive low level cover.
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Winterhighland, "Ski Patrol are going to have a look with the Piste Basher crew at pisting a run to the Ciste Carpark via the Aonach Ridge for the weekend that will give 2000ft of vertical on the groomers and allow more people to take advantage of the extensive low level cover."
that would be good.
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You know it makes sense.
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Winterhighland, what are the t-shaped objects sticking out of the snow on the left of shot 15? are tehy anything to do with the rail track (if that's what it is) further to the left?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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No tees on image 15 thats looking down the west wall poma. If you mean 16, the last image, then the Ts are the supports for the funicular track.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Dave Horsley, you're right 16 was the one. ta.
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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?
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Ah, isn't it just sods law that I end up in France just as it dumps all over Scotland! Thought I'd just add this Scottish Conditions website to the thread, in case any of you haven't seen it yet: Scottish Ski Conditions
Thankfully, the ski I had today saved me from missing Nevis Range too much - I had to literally swim off my balcony through the pow to get to the lift this morning! Still can't help being a little envious though... enjoy!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Jamie,
Nice piccies, but I can still see the fences  .
I'm jealous, haven't made it over to Cairngorm since before New Year, not risked the drive. Today I was a one man piste machine, together with several other HNSC xc skiers as we packed down the tracks for a race tomorrow.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Nice one Dave - hope it goes well tomorrow. Are you taking part in the event?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'll probably race - always embarassing when your beaten by the juniors though, not so bad when they are GB squad skiers, but when its the under 12s its not so good
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Looks like another awesome day up there.
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Was up at Glenshee yesterday.
First time in about 18 years as I have stuck to the west coast recently.
Outstanding conditions on south and west facing slopes some north east facing slopes had been a bit wind affected and the tiger was not open.
Really good conditions elsewhere. Glas Maol was very busy but worth it. 15-20 min queues by mid mortning first thing was fine. A bit of wind crust made the steepest entry look a bit dodgy, but fresh tracks to be had elsewhere.
In the afternoon we skied Cairnwell side far shorter queues and good snow on the more south facing slopes wonderful fresh tracks from Carn Aosda down to the road and generally very good snow from Carn Aosda.
The Car parks were pretty full but with most lifts open queues outwith Glas Maol were decent lets hope this is going to be a great season.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Skiied Glenshee yesterday, first time I've really skiied in a Scottish centre. Must admit I was a bit disappointed. I know that there's always underinvestment because good snow is such a rare commodity, but the state of the tows just seemed really poor. The pistes were also pretty poor. Lots of really good snow but almost every run had patches of exposed grass and rocks. My skis, which had done two weeks in Austria without a scratch, now have some serious damage. Won't be using my own skis if I ever go there again. I could understand the bare patches if there wasn't much snow or there was a lot of wind, but with the current conditions I'd have thought that the piste bashers would have been able to give all the runs good coverage. Just sticking up signs that say "Rocks" seems a bit pathetic.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Valkyrie, Maybe skiing in Scotland isn't for you.... ?
I've just had 3 of the best days I've ever had skiing at Lecht and Cairngorm this weekend (and yes that one rock that was just pokeing it's head above the snow on the daylodge run I hit it twice today)
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Valkyrie, where abouts? I didn't ski extensively at Glenshee (mostly beginner slopes) but I found coverage was excellent. What more could you want than a sign telling you they were there? I have spoken to some local businesses and they are interested in sponsoring 'Fence' signs which will be in place by the next time you visit 
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You know it makes sense.
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Valkyrie, This really is a bumper snow season for Scotland and often Glenshee suffers worse shortages of the white stuff than the other centres, hence why the lifts are the way they are. As an example of how poor conditions can be, I 'worked' at Cairngorm for the '92 season and I had all of 3 days of paying work! Funniest thing was going to claim the dole in Inverness, I was expecting it to be really difficult to get any money out of them. They asked me what my normal occupation was, I said 'ski instructor', they said 'cheque will be in the post within 2 weeks!!!' They knew there was absolutely no snow (as in none, period) and therefore no work available.
So when they get years when there is next to no money coming in, is it hard to see why the lift infrastructure is so old? The centres in the main work miracles still to be in business IMO and must be mechanical magicians to boot. Also Scottish skiing is different in ambience and character to everywhere else you'll ever ski, that's part of the reason I like the place (and I started there, which kind of helps!).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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West is best !! Glencoe rocks !!
What an amazing day on the mighty one today and the decision not to go yesterday was vindicated. Slept through alarm so arrived at 10.00, no queue for access road, loads of space in car park, no queue for lad's kit hire, no queue for ticket office, no queue for hot chocolate, no queue for uplift, no queue for lunch and drifted powder all over the east side of the plateau. Blue sky all day, just a gentle to moderate breeze and hardly touched a rock ... you just gotta look where you're going and as for worrying about your planks, that's what ptex and files are for if you're that bothered about them staying new and shiny !! Folk smiling all over the mountain as usual.
Skied all over the mountain and found a totally untracked route back to the car park somewhere in the middle of nowhere ... memories of leading my youngest over snow bridges crossing untold gullies and burns are still fresh in my mind.  Hard work but what a finish.
Report here ... http://www.winterhighland.info/publicreports/index.php?50,1830
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Poster: A snowHead
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Looks great guys! Keep the reports and photos coming. 'Adventure' skiing is what the UK (all bits) are about, anyone expecting perfect flat pistes will be disappointed for sure, but I can't remember seeing it look so good for so long.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Valkyrie wrote: |
| I know that there's always underinvestment because good snow is such a rare commodity, but the state of the tows just seemed really poor. .... Won't be using my own skis if I ever go there again. |
One reason for lack of investment is Scottish based "skiers" like yourself. Let's not beat about the bush here, I'm sick of the number of times over the past month I've heard the following on CairnGorm "I haven't skied in Scotland for 10, 15 or even 20years. Why did they close half the lifts". 
Depending where you went in Austria it's possible you did a sizeable portion of your skiing on relatively low level farm pastures. Which is a different world to ski areas that sit atop of mountains in a maritime climate where almost all of the marked trails retain their natural terrain and underlying undulations as well. You can't just crank it up here like you might on some mega trails abroad without regard to terrain or other skiers, if you do you'll quite likely damage your plank(s) if not yourself, but that very fact is why Scottish accident rates per 1000 skier days are contrary to popular belief significantly lower than in the Alps
Posts like this come up every year, some of it is based on misconception, some on a degree of ignorance, some after a particularly unfortunate day where a ski area or agency controlling access screw it up like on CairnGorm on Satuday, but what I've found most of all is that the principle reason for posts/comments like yours is because people who have cruised around some artificial alpine motorways come to ride in Scotland for the first time and have their ego deflated.
So instead of throwing the toys out of the pram, as there is always something new to learn and try for everyone, seek to expand and improve your skill set, treat Scottish Skiing as a halfway house between organised Alpine snowsports and the Backcountry, more off-piste than on, then people come to realise there is far more to be got out of snowsports than can every be offered by the tamed motorway pistes alone. 
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If only I lived closer 
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Well said Winterhighland!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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hear hear Winterhighland
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