 Poster: A snowHead
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MoodyFFS, wow, judging by the webcams i will be doing more than praying to the gods, i have been dancing in the van all afternoon!!! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ricklovesthepowder, 
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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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Arrived in Aviemore a couple hours ago, damp name of the game but can't see the hill from town. Am hoping the cast flurries tomorrow are underestimated. If not, ach well, I've not checked how waterproof my gear is for a while 
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andytb, could you please do a proximity snow dance, as I understand they are more effective... I, like you, am hoping to wake up a wonderfully white hill! 
Am sure you will have a great trip regardless!
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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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luckily im not there for another 2 weeks but it does look rather grim. The webcam at the bottom is showing no snow at all except on the marked piste, and that looks like white slush with brown showing through. There is snow flurries forecast for the next few days but nothing worth mentioning. Ah well, 2 weeks in scottish weather is a long time, i will be packing the walking boots though as i expect that is what i will be doing for my trip up there. Not good really, i have gone from a weeks skiing in the Alps, to a 5 day break to Scotland to go skiing, and now i may be hiking instead  . All hope not lost yet, fingers, legs, arms and toes all crossed and praying for some decent snow before i ski which will be 2 week tomorrow.
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let's keep the ramp steady dudes, appreciate the excitement but the worry and "desperation" can put folk off when the accuracy can only be so high by viewing a webcam - lets not perpetuate the myth that it's total pot luck. Top to bottom still doable, bit sketchy low down, but concrete base further up, more than enough to enjoy currently and there will be plenty of more snow to come yet this season.
peace out
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barry, word!
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Ricklovesthepowder, seriously dude, it aint grim at all, could do with more certainly - but this is what i mean about some of the comments - it can put people off when you cant possible verify the accuracy yourself. I rode top to bottom in great snow at the weekend and there were plenty of parts of the hill i didnt have time to get to. You will be skiing, I can guarantee it as much as i could if you were off to the alps. Please keep the ramp steady - if an alien happened in here, they'd get a pretty bad impression about the Jock snaw and an unfair inaccurate one at that 
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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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barry, sorry, i will try again
WOW look at the webcams, there is so much snow they dont know what to do with the stuff, that off piste powder looks sublime, some of the best i have ever seen through my 17" screen. I hop ethere isnt anymore on the way, they will have to start digging the roads out soon!
sorry for my sarcasm, it cheered me up a little - for a few seconds!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ricklovesthepowder, you should be banned from this thread. I'm sorry but please chill out. It's not hugely common, especially not on the lower slopes, that you can ski extensively off the marked runs or area.
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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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When I looking at the webcams, I got one question,, Where is the snow 
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freeheelskier, don't you start! 
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You know it makes sense.
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scotia, the webcams must be wrong then. fingers crossed for some more snow.
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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 can realy understand why British skier travel to the alpes
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Poster: A snowHead
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recent reports and ACTUAL conditions here:
http://www.winterhighland.info/publicreports/
the problem with some of the webcams is they simply aint in the greatest position to show the best areas of the hill, not by bad design or intentions but simply because of available infrastructure to power them / send the signal or whatever. This has improved in the past few years, but still you really do have to combine a view at the webcams with recent reports from folk who are actually up here and on the hill every day, otherwise you do risk missing out on terrific sport, and to my point earlier inadvertently give out the message that there aint any snow, which is a message you aint qualified to give if you've only taken in one or two views from a static webcam.
We're still in january, quality skiing well into june last season with top to middle (1300-odd ft vert) available to the beginning of june.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ricklovesthepowder, no, you just need to stop panicking over nothing. If you are really that worried cancel the holiday or accept that you'll have to take a bike.
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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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freeheelskier, it is worth a visit, I promise, yes it can be variable but last season was one of the snowiest places in the world. Spend some time on the link I posted to look back at many of the trip reports to see the pictures. In particular some of the backcountry reports should be of interest to a freeheel skier - there are huge areas of wilderness and pretty big mountains to tour around.
A very nice report from pro freeheeler Per Jonsson here on his visit during epic last season
http://schenholm.com/Ovrigasidor/adventure_scotland.html
Make a visit, there are lots of freeheelers up here!
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Hey let's chill and get this in perspective.
The actual situation is as follows:
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Cairngorm:
Burnside run starting to break up, however with colder temperatures tomorrow the machines will be out early to patch up thin areas. Mid mountain and top runs are still in great condition with soft pisted snow.
Glencoe:
Plateau Poma Uptrack is broken as is Mugs Alley at the bottom so Plateau Taxi running. All other lower slopes are patchy and broken. Main Basin and Happy Valley have a good cover of soft snow. Spring Run is open also with nice cover. Rannoch Glades is open with icy patches on entry but good cover once in. Lovely sport on offer on the top runs for intermediate and advanced skiers and boarders only. NO BEGINNER AREAS AT PRESENT
Glenshee:
Most runs are complete with good cover of soft snow on a hard packed base, icy in places.
There is ample nursery area.
Nevis Range:
All Goose, Summit and Warrens runs are complete with very good skiing on soft snow. Summit Terrain Park has a Table Top, 2 rails and a medium kicker in place - closed Tuesday due to poor visibility. Lower runs are thin and broken. Rabbit run skiable to home run with about 150m walk to top station. Downloading is available on quad chair. Alpha tow is open for access and the artificial slope which is available for lower abilities.
The Lecht:
Most runs are complete, wet spring snow Some icy patches, but still good cover.Best snowsports on Eagle,Grouse, Chairlift runs.
Nursery area- Kestrel good cover, Robin some icy patches. Wren Closed. Magic carpet some icy patches. |
So to sum up, upper runs at all the ski centres are in very good condition, lower runs are often broken and patchy but at Cairngorm (and probably some of the others) great efforts are going into snow farming and patching up the runs.
Now after the last exceptional seson it's back to more 'normal' conditions but believe me a few years ago we'd have been grateful for a situation where at Cairngorm most of the main runs are open and the White Lady, for example, is full width and full length along with all the other main runs and additionally we have (still) top to bottom riding. Now those lower runs might break up completely in the next couple of weeks but they might not, we don't know, but it'll take a lot more to break up the upper runs. In the immediate future the forecast is for a wee bit of snow and then cold (just confirmed on the BBC with a nice chart showing blue over Scotland and winds from the far north east) so there's no need to panic at the moment although for those of us, including myself, who'd like more extensive off-piste it's not as good as we'd like but hey there's still a lot of snow around high up ... it's just not a metre of powder!
To be honest freeheelskier there are plenty of people on other threads panicking about conditions in the Alps too where some areas are crying out for snow lower down, silly really since they've often got a couple of thousand metres of decent snow above the bare and patchy lower slopes but that's par for the course when people are used to supposedly guaranteed good conditions and there's a bit of that sometimes here I think given last seasons snow fest.
The weather is actually pretty close to what was predicted in the Autumn by some forecasters, Bastardi comes to mind IIRC, with very cold early on and then closer to average temps later on and low levels of precipitation. However we've already had almost 3 months of pretty excellent cover at Cairngorm (and elsewhere) and mostly top to bottom riding which is still pretty exceptional historically for the time of year. There's plenty of time for more snow to fall and with an already excellent base higher up that means plenty to look forward to so anyone reading this please heed the positive voices and don't panic ... and anyone panicking please chill, it could be so much worse and has all too often been in the past!
On an aside this winter IMHO is a great argument for more extensive snowmaking on lower slopes, if cannon had been running throughout the cold periods (and there have been plenty) we'd have one hell of a base on the lower slopes and would be able to pretty much guarantee top to bottom riding right into half-term and perhaps beyond - it might also have made the lower webcams prettier too for Ricklovesthepowder
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| I know english skier that have say to me that there is most of the time a mix of slush, mud and grass |
A lot of it shows a lack of understanding of a maritime climate. The principle ski runs at CairnGorm, Glencoe and Nevis Range, plus to a lesser extent Glenshee are natural snowfields, the form of which has been determined over millennia by the feedback between climate and topography.
Big winter storms drive snow into these snow fields, to depths far in excess of the actual snow fall (and far in excess of the depth you'd get on your average tree lined Alpine meadow). For snow depth to be far greater than that which falls, the total snowfall must be focused into a smaller area than the total. Hence it is possible to have superb snowsports and surface conditions without the full mountain being uniformly white.
The other side of this coin is that it allows the natural snowfields to persist far longer than actual snowfall and mean climate would suggest. Is this different from an Alpine or Continental climate, off course it is. Indeed it is actually these big storms and freeze/thaw cycles that allow snowsports to continue deep into spring here, and usually to do so with very good surface conditions. Spring Snow is one of the undoubted delights of Scottish Snowsports.
If your mind is closed and snowsports to you is pristine pisted motorways without as much as a hint of a roller (Yes I remember the ludicrous debates in the main forum on here about how skis should never leave the snow surface unless in the park!) let alone terrain features and variations, and should be roped off down the sides then Scottish Snowsports probably isn't for you. If however your prepared to open your mind and/or would like to explore and are thinking about dabbling in off-piste then Scottish Snowsports definitely has something for you - you can pit your skills against ungroomed and variable snow conditions within the patrolled ski areas. Indeed the latter category is a potential market not being exploited in my opinion, some of the very things that the detractors rubbish Scottish Snowsports for are arguably also it's greatest strengths.
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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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^ yeah and it's worth noting that a month or so after that there were big dumps of snow and great skiing ... I remember it well
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barry, Nice link, I will visit Scotland when I have time and there is snow, I promise  Yes I know there have been bad with the snow in lower parts in the alpes,, also in the Pyrenees,, but the alpes have the glaciers, but they are very crowdy when its bad with the snow in lower parts,, but there is a hell of a differents in the alpregion, there is resort that have good snow, and there is some that is not,, I have just arrived back home to france after 3days powderskiing in Gran Sasso, I use to do like this, go there the snow is, I never make my mind up where to go long time in advance,, ,, But, with a hope for snow for everyone
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Here is an extract from the cairngorm website.
"Wednesday 26th January. 7am Update
Wind Easterly 15 - 20mph, Temperature -3C at Top Station, Visibility 50m. Snowing heavily above traverse.
Fresh Snow overnight, dusting from sugarbowl up, drifting at top of the Coire Cas"
Also says they are digging out the tracks at the top of the funicular! Great news!
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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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Glencoe in particular can look horrible but provide great skiing as most of the good runs are in the gullies, see Winterhighlands pics on the previous page
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You know it makes sense.
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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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andytb, sounds brilliant! Got any photos?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ahem, might have missed that bit, not a day for photos as vis was 50m all day 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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andytb, sounds great, is it stil snowing? how much would you say has fallen and down to what level?
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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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Drove back to town pretty early, about 3, and the trees had a dusting of white to just below the Ciste/Cas fork in the road. Turned to rain by Glenmore. It wasn't snowing/raining when I arrived at the pub but the hill is 10 miles away. It was just flurries until later on, so maybe an inch if it keeps going overnight?
All will be revealed in tomorrows episode of andytb skis in the low cloud
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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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andytb, sounds great!!! keep us updated
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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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Cairngorm are reporting 10cm of fresh and the mountain certainly looks a lot whiter!
Official report for Cairngorm:
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Weather Conditions
Thursday 27thJanuary.
Clear skies at present. Wind/temp at 1000m, 10 -15mph/-4.0c. Fresh overnight snow.
Looks like a great day in prospect.
The Burnside run has been patched up, and with colder temperatures the machines will work on patching up thin areas on lower slopes. Mid mountain and top runs are still in great condition with firm pisted snow. The machines are working hard to maintain top to bottom skiing.
Run Conditions
10cm of fresh snow has fallen during the day improving all pistes.
The main pistes are in great condition and the groomers have been working hard to groom most areas, superb snowsports on the White Lady, M2 & Top Bowls.
The machines have also been harvesting snow to add to the base on the lower slopes, to enable us to keep the lower slopes and Car Park tow complete. With colder temperatures the machines will be able to push more snow onto the thin areas.
Ciste Gully and East wall remain closed due to icy conditions and no run out on West Wall piste. |
Shame about the Gully and Wall but sounding very good otherwise!
And elsewhere in Scotland:
Glencoe not much change since yesterday (not sure they've updated to be honest):
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Main Basin and Happy Valley have a good cover of hard packed snow. Rannoch glades and the Spring run are icy so are currently closed but will be assessed later.
Plateau Poma Uptrack is broken as is Mugs Alley at the bottom so Plateau Taxi running. All other lower slopes are patchy and broken. Top runs for intermediate and advanced skiers and boarders only. NO BEGINNER AREAS AT PRESENT |
Glenshee:
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Snow flurries are beginning to make a difference with a couple of cm's of fresh snow on a hard packed frozen base, icy in places.
Most runs remain complete but one or two are narrow in places |
Nevis Range:
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| Set up firm overnight. All Goose, Summit and Warrens runs are complete. Upper runs are firm and grippy, with nice skiing on the groomed areas. Lower runs are thin and broken. Quad chair recommended for access and download. Alpha tow open for artificial slope for lower abilities. Summit Terrain Park has a Table Top, 2 rails and a medium kicker in place. |
The Lecht:
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Most runs are complete, new snow on a firm base,all runs have vastly improved due to the new snow and the high standard of grooming.Best snowsports on Eagle Grouse, Chairlift runs.
Nursery area- Kestrel and Robin excellent cover , Wren, Magic carpet some icy patches. |
So there we go, already decent conditions improving and the prospect of cold at least until the middle of next week - not too bad eh!
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the dustiest of dustings on the ground in aviemore this morning
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Ricklovesthepowder, half the fun of skiing in Scotland for me is the un-alpine-like conditions. If you want to guarantee top to bottom skiing on smooth snow with no "water features", heather, stones or mud to dodge then jump on a plane to Geneva for pretty much the same cost as the petrol up to Scotland (from where you and I live). I've only skiied at Cairngorm and Nevis a handful of times (but that includes JUNE last year...) and I've had amazing days in powder, and full cover, but also fun of making your way down narrow slushy routes surrounded by green and brown, that you'd never get chance to ski in the Alps as they'd shut them! I hope you have a lovely time and heaps of snow, but it can be so much fun when it's not
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barry,
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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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Sounds good guys. Save some for me in just under 2 weeks please!!!
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FAQ
