 brian
brian
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David Goldsmith, I don't think the funicular track is the problem, it's more likely the new fencing they installed to make the M1 racetrack more reliable for the race training groups. The M1 is definitely more quickly skiable than it used to be, but the White Lady has suffered as a result.
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brian
brian
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rockyrobin and Blue Mark, not sure where you're coming from but from Edinburgh I find it quicker and easier to get to Nevis via the A9 to Dalwhinnie and then the A86 along Loch Laggan to Spean Bridge. It's about the same distance wise as going via Crianlarich and Glencoe but a better road.
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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.
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Can anyone recommend any turn up on the spur of the moment accomodation in Aviemore or surrounding area?
Nothing grotty with a ceiling of £50/night b&b.
There's nothing worse than spoiling the trip with poor accomodation. Getting a bit old for roughing it 
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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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A couple of pics from Glencoe last weekend: one of the plateau chair from the car park and the other of some lump near Meal a Bhuiridh. The snow was quite good, so where were you guys?????
Ok, ok, I didn't go last weekend, so that goes for me as well. According to a colleague, who went on Saturday, the snow depths on the upper slopes were quite good. Unfortunately, the weather got a bit wild later on in the morning and the lifts had to close.
rockyrobin, Cairngorm Hotel, opposite the railway station. Good restaurant and lively bar. £45 per person in a twin or double. Room 209 is a bit chilly though.
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Kit Wong, Thanks for the recommendation 
Is it the sort of place i'll be lifting the matress looking for bed bugs pooh?
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| Quote: |
some lump near Meal a Bhuiridh.
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The lump is the backside of Buachaille Etive Mor; she's a lot prettier from the front. 
rockyrobin, Cairngorm Hotel is comfortable.
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| Quote: |
The lump is the backside of Buachaille Etive Mor; she's a lot prettier from the front.
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in fact perhaps one of the prettiest mountains in scotland?! 
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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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Kit Wong, I'll take that as a personal recommendation then 
I've just looked up on their site and looking at the frontage I remember staying there as a child many winters during the 80's with school ski holidays.
They used to have rooms kitted out with bunk beds with loads of kids like me having a whale of a time.
I would imagine with the snow being less reliable than then that will be a thing of the past.
Do they still cater for kids half term group school hols?
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The going is good this week
Lifts now open or opening
Nevis Range (11/12)
Glencoe (7/7)
Glenshee (13/24)
Caringorm (8/17)
Lecht (10/15)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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saikee, hey I like Caringorm (sic) Any idea why they and Glenshee have lower %ages of lifts working - bad weather or too much / too litle snow ??
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brian
brian
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kuwait_ian, it's an uneven distribution problem, wind scoured in some areas, huge drifts in others. If you know Glenshee, then the Cairnwell/Carn Aosda side of the road is more or less complete, the Sunnyside/Cluny runs are complete. Unfortunately there's a missing link between Sunnyside and the best Glenshee skiing in Coire Fionn/Glas Maol.
Of the others, the Lecht is practically 100%, all the main lifts are running. Nevis are assessing avalanche risk before opening the back coire and it wouldn't surprise me if Cairngorm could open the Ciste/West wall since the weather is clearing up today and they might actually be able to see it !
All in all, a pretty rosy picture and the outlook is also good. A mild but not too mild spell late Tues/Wed (which will consolidate the base) before more cold air arrives from the North at the weekend.
If some of the forecast models are to be believed, then next week the UK will have a week of proper winter under N-NE'ly winds which would be excellent for Glenshee and the Lecht in particular.
Scottish skiing might just be saved yet, huzzah ! 
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| Quote: |
| before more cold air arrives from the North at the weekend. |
At a fair rate of knots
Actually, looking good for late this week and into early next week. Even though it's still touch and go for the rest of the UK, it's still looking very good for Scotland.
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You know it makes sense.
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I would like to have said: where were you guys? However, there was no need as you were there in force on Saturday at Glencoe. Those that came would have enjoyed some fine views and some decent skiing. The Main Basin had some fresh snow over a hard base and there were powder stashes to be found on the Spring Run once you had slalomed around the climbers and negotiated the blue ice at the top.
Hoped to do the Back Corries at Aonach Mor on Sunday but the conditions were a bit too gnarly- ice and unstable cornices. The only people I saw doing it were coming up using rope and crampons. It would be interesting to hear if anyone skied it yesterday and maybe Easy Gully as well - not too identifiable here due to the large cornice. The conditions were good otherwise on the upper pistes and you could make fresh tracks on the face adjacent to the Goose if you picked your way through rock and ice. The weather was fine (no wind!) and this snap doesn't do justice to views that were on offer.
See you there soon
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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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I was one of those in that queue !. Apart from queing a very good day on Saturday, good snow coud be found at the top, bit patchy near the bottom.
Hopefully get back up next weekend
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hello again,
I'm popping up tomorrow night to Scotland for a days skiing on Wednesday.
Was wondering which resort you guys would recommend to go to for a Blue/Red run Intermediate skier in light of the current conditions?
My intuition says Cairngorm, but are any of the other resorts up to snuff?
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brian
brian
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rockyrobin, yes, Cairngorm is probably your best bet. I was at Glenshee at the weekend and the cover is pretty sparse lower down. Butchart's/Carn Aosda looked nice but it's not a huge area. The Lecht is better for beginners, it does have a couple of steeper runs but they're all pretty short. Nevis sounds like it's been pretty badly wind scoured and could do with more snow.
Glencoe is closed on Tues/Wed, otherwise it might've been worth a shout. It will probably have better weather this week but Cairngorm has nice fresh snow and a reasonable area open.
Your biggest problem will probably be mist/flat light. Good luck though.
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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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Info about the numbers last weekend
| Quote: |
The cold snap is not all bad news, however; the snow has provided a desperately needed boost for Scotland’s five ski centres, which enjoyed their best weekend of the season so far. Conditions at the centres were said to be "perfect" and "spectacular". Cairngorm attracted 3,400 skiers and snowboarders and 2,600 non-skiers over the weekend, while another 1,200 took to the slopes yesterday.
Glenshee had more than 3,000 skiers and snowboarders during the weekend and a further 800 skiers yesterday. The Lecht attracted 5,000 over the weekend and more than 1,000 yesterday. Glencoe had 1,400 skiers on Saturday and Sunday but only 100 yesterday, while the Nevis Range attracted 1,600 skiers on Saturday and Sunday and another 500 yesterday. |
Full article including news of a sledger's death and school closures from today's Scotsman
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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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Hi everyone.
Given current conditions/lift openings, would you choose Cairngorm or Glenshee to ski tommorow (Friday). I only ask cos i was at Cairngorm yesterday (it was great), but fancy a bit of variety....but if its still best at cairngorm then ill happily to back there.
Dilemmas!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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The Gorm is generally more reliable in terms of snow, plus you have the Lecht if Cairngorm is closed.
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tomski01,
According to the official web site Caringorm has 10 out of the 17 lifts still closed. That seems prettly limited. Has the snow all fallen on the England side?
Description of Nevis Range is also disappointing
No fresh overnight snow, runs remaining firm. Summit has nice skiing. Goose Gully open for experts only, other runs nice skiing were groomed. Most middle runs are thin or narrow in places with some icy patches
Glenshee seems to be doing alright with only 9 out of the 24 lifts still closed. The description of the site is "RUNS Continuing snow showers have added another covering of powder snow. Most of the runs now have good cover of groomed powder snow on a hard packed frozen base. Best skiing/boarding of the season so far." The last sentence is interesting but I find No 1, 2 & 24 lifts closed disappointing as it leads to a large area is unavailable.
Think I may drop everything and drive up 6am tommow morning if the road is open. Friday should be easier for getting accommodation which I usually make enquiry along the journey when near Glenshee.
Any snowheads going?
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brian
brian
Guest
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saikee, Cairngorm has effectively mothballed the following lifts as they are duplicated by others. I think this is essentially a cost cutting measure.
West Wall chair/Coire na Ciste chair
Fiacaill t-bar
Aonach Poma
Daylodge Poma
The Sheiling tow is just a beginner tow and could run if they needed it.
So effectively the only lift they would operate but can't at the moment is the White Lady tow. Actually they might be able to run this too. It's uplift is duplicated by the funicular and M1 poma. I guess we'll find out at the weekend.
A more accurate number for lifts would be 10/11.
In terms of terrain they have a much bigger skiable area open just now than Glenshee. A pity the West Wall and Ciste gully aren't open, anyone know how far away they are ?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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saikee, 'england' side?!
Coire Cas zone was great skiing, as was M2 - Day Lodge run, M1 and White Lady were a little icy, well blowy up Ptarmigan area. West Wall poma was open and then shut yest due to 'drifting' apparently, but hoping it will be open tommorow!!
brian, tink you are right, the majority of zones are mostly open, and it wasnt that(!) busy yest so they prob didnt see point in duplicating lifts.
ciste gully - no way, very grassy. The wind has caused the snow to settle in sheltered Coire Cas area, most of it blown off other side of mountain i think!
anyway it passed my test , im off up there now, catch ya later!
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Finnally looks as though I may be able to head up the higlands this weekend.
Was fancying Caringorm but the youth hostel and bunkhouse are booked up. Does anybody have any other suggestions for cheap accomadation for the friday or saturday night?
thank-you
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brian
brian
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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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Just booked with Spital of Glenshee for Friday and Saturday nights. £75 per person including breakfast and dinner. This should allow 3 days of skiing. If the roads are good may even try Lecht and Caringorm.
Set off 6am from Newcastle tomorrow. 3 spare seats in a 4x4. Takers welcome. Intend to come back Sunday evening possibly from Caringorm.
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saikee, if you had posted this before I left work this afternoon I would have taken you up on the offer. Boss is a black and white so at least he will be happy with the score - shall I phone in sick ???????
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You know it makes sense.
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Paul Mason,
Told the boss that if he doesn't see me tomorrow I am taking the day off. If you still want to go just PM me. You need to drop the car in my drive (can take 20 cars) in Ponteland before 6am.
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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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Bloody hell saikee, how big is your drive - do you live in the Police HQ ?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Police HQ isn't far away. That size of the drive says something about Mrs Saikee's parking.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| saikee wrote: |
tomski01,
According to the official web site Caringorm has 10 out of the 17 lifts still closed. That seems prettly limited. Has the snow all fallen on the England side?
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At the start of the season Cairngorm said they would only ever open 6/7 lifts this season even if they could open every run on the mountain. It's a cost cutting measure and co-incidentally they have been making money this season for the first time since they installed the funicular, despite the ropey conditions they had to put up with in January.
I think they ought to do something about the web site though. Anybody who wasn't aware of that announcement would think that most of the mountain was shut, rather than it having some of the best conditions in about 4 years.
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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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This piste map makes interesting viewing, notice that many of the other pomas arent even on there. This is from the ski-scotland wesbite, and dated 2004.
http://ski.visitscotland.com/ski_centres/cairngorm/pistemap
as such, you could argue that every lift is currently open, although not sure how you get to the top of the blue run on the east side of coire cas or the runs at the bottom of the ciste side!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Cairngorm looks fantastic on the webcams this morning and the forecast for the rest of the week is great.
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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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Just came back for a so-called 3-day and 725miles trip.
Supposed to set off Friday 6am but was still in bed at 7:30am. Finally managed to arrive at Glenchee 1pm. Saved some money by buying 1/2 day ticket. The East side (Glas Maol) was pretty poor and we had to walk on grass to get to the lift in Meall Odhar. Gave up after a few runs and headed for the opposite West side. Snow in Butcharts Coires was reasonable. Generally the ski area aroud lift 4 to 8 were covered with good snow although occasional rock protrusions spoiled the fun. Glenshee did not have the snow England had. It was pretty bare everywhere. Still skiers were out in huge number on Saturday (didn't go, heard from a fellow skier) and the car park was full. The hotel we stayed in was doing very well entertaining over 150 guests!
As we were disappointed by the snow condition of Glenshee so we drove the 90 miles to Caringorm on Saturady. The A924 road to Pitlochry was confirmed blocked AA but since we had snow chains, the weather was sunny and there was hardy any snow on the road so we ventured through. Not one grain of snow was on the road until we arrived Caringorm at 10:30. The journey from Spittal of Glenshee to Glenshee is only 5 miles but to Caringorm it is 90 miles and took us 2 hours. Well it was snowing in Caringorm. Long queue first at the lower car park for the transfer bus and then another long queue for the ski pass. The 2-hour queuing did produce some benefit. We qualified for the 1/2 day pass again!
Yes there was snow in Caringorm but it was both windy and foggy too. We were searching like blind people in dense fog at Ptarmigan. Other areas were still starved of snow and only the corridor along the funicular had reasonable snow cover, if one keep an sharp eye avoiding the rock here and there. I had a genuine fear when riding the No. 3 drag lift as the path was so icy and bumpy that I was preparing for a fall at any time. It wasn't the fall I fear but the long walk through the rocks back to the bottom. Unless one was lifted to the top successfully there wasn't any place to ski down. It was as bad as that in Lift No. 3. The best condition was Lift No. 6. Being lowest in the valley and shielded from the wind skiers were able to see the piste they were on.
Last day on Sunday we checked out of Spittal of Ghenshee and drove to Nevis Range. The journey took another 90 miles and 2 hours. We arrived at 11am and there was no queue for getting the ski pass, no queue to get into the gondola and no one was using the lift except me when I went up the Rob Roy T-bar. It was a red slope but it looked like black to me and there was only one guy on a ski bike coming down on a fresh piste as no noe seemed to bother with it . It had an icy base covered with some frozen snow. The action seemed to be around Goose T-bar and the Summit Button as everybody was there.
Out of the three days the best piste, in perfect condition, was the Spider run from the Summit Button lift. I was really amazed by its excellent condition. Many dark siders were getting the tarrain park organised there and everywhere around the summit button was as good as anywhere in the Alps, except it is short of course. Further down the condition wasn't good at all. I tried the only chairlift there but had to remove the ski to walk to it. Everybody had to unless he/she could ski on mud and rock.
The only problems of Nevis Range is that skiers wanting to enjoy the excellent blue runs of the Summit Button lift have to come down on only red and black runs. Didn't see any black open but the red slopes were icy and rocky. There were not the type of slopes you can practice to improve confidence. You need to turn rather quickly just to survive.
So Glenshee, Caringorm and Nevis Range in 3 days. I couldn't believe Scotland didn't get any of the big snow that England got. In my 725miles trip the car only came to contact with snow on England side and the last 5 miles from Caringorm over the three days period.
I think the snow in the above three Scottish resorts will last at least a couple of weeks but the big snow simply didn't go there. It was dropped on the wrong place in the South of England!.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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saikee,
| Quote: |
Other areas were still starved of snow and only the corridor along the funicular had reasonable snow cover
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I think there was a lot more snow at cairngorm than you were letting when i was there on Friday, most runs in great nick...cant believe it had all gone by the time you arrived! Or did you only ski the red runs?
Looks like a thaw is due for Scotland by this weekend 
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brian
brian
Guest
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brian, freezing level was going to be at about 800/900m by Friday/Saturday according to metcheck, snow-forecast etc, but i think the current weather situation is hard to predict at the moment, hopefully you are right!...trust me i dont want it to be true, im going up this weekend! 
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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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Well you can keep ya Val d'isere's and ya Val Thoren's cos yesterday Cairngorm was definitley where it was at!
Clear skies and on the whole the snow was great. M2 had some good snow and the white lady had some deep powderish snow, which would have benefited from a piste basher but still good fun. The queues were long but definitely worth the drive from Fort William where I had been skiing the previous day at the Nevis Range.
Nevis Range was tricky and like you saiod Tom, the best snow was defo at the summit but the run was short and was almost a whiteout. The Warren run was reasonable but this could have done with a piste basher.
On the whole, after my first weekend skiing in Scotland, I'm impressed, but I think I was very lucky to have such a great day of it yesterday at the Gorm! I'll try and pop some pics up later just to prove it!
'ave it!
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brian
brian
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tomski01, don't panic !
The models are showing high pressure building from the west. It's a long way off in forecasting terms but if it turns out as predicted it will be dry, light winds and maybe even some sunshine next weekend. It'll freeze overnight and then soften through the day.
Snow loss is pretty minimal in those conditions, it's rain that really strips the snow off. Should be some excellent spring skiing for you !
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FAQ
Might get to use my virgin snow chains at last! 