 Poster: A snowHead
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After a good start back at skiing as an adult, getting four sessions at Glenshee and Lecht in two weeks, I haven't been able to get back until today, a three week gap. (Mrs Wonkyski being oddly insistent on occasionally seeing her husband - I am just in Scotland for work so commute back to the midlands when possible - and work being annoyingly adamant that I occasionally turn up to earn my salary.) I was looking forward to it but tasks I couldn't get out of meant I didn't arrive at Lecht until nearly 2pm.
A clear day with a ambient temperature of around 2 degrees but a windchill in the very strong winds must have been in the minus teens. Still, was fairly well layered so thought I could cope for a while. I looked at the conditions and people having fun, (including little kids happily sliding down the nursery slopes)
The thing is, I looked at up at the top and considered the effect of the wind up on top and seriously doubted my ability to cope with skiing in the strong winds, given that last time I tried, the easiest green slope was only just withing my ability. I considered just practicing on Kestrel, the blue slope, but I spent a lot of last time there and thought that after the first hour I would grow out of that. Would have settled for that, and just practiced basic skills, but given that I'm hiring kit, I would have been handing over around £40 for what remained of the afternoon (or what I could tolerate, which ever came first.)
So I didn't ski in the end. Intellectually, I feel I made a sensible decision. But I also feel a bit down and that I just basically wimped out.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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No brianer not to ski. You did the right thing on the day. Just look forward to going for it next time. I refused to ski for 2 days on our week’s holiday this year as it was snowing, as I just can’t stand not having good visibility. I did have a brief “bloody hell bambi just get in with it” moment but hey. It’s a holiday and is about having fun. I wouldn’t relax and enjoy it so what’s the point?
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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 weren't alone 😉
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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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@bambionskiis, I know I did. In my job we're trained nowadays to avoid the 'get on with it' mentality regardless as that can result in smoking holes in the ground. Still, feel a bit deflated and as the evening went on, the wind-blasted, arctic, Lecht became a sun lit snowy playground in my head that I could have and should have enjoyed and improved my skiing on...
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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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@Wonkyski, if conditions were that bad then you probably wouldn't have enjoyed it...but there can be scope to improve by skiing in conditions that aren't the best. That said, I wouldn't spend £40 just for that privilege, so think you made the right call. If you'd been in a European resort as part of a 6 day trip then I'd have said it's possibly worth making the effort, but in a windswept Scotland, when you can probably ski again in the coming weeks, it's not worth the hassle or expense.
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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 don't know about the Lecht but I was at Glenshee yesterday, it wasn't easy. lots of boiler plate ice everywhere, where the pisty beasty had broken it up it wasn't too bad but the wind soon blow away the soft stuff. The wind was bad, it made my face numb very quickly and I got stopped in my tracks several time by gusts. Just the kind of conditions that put beginners off.
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@Wonkyski, better to be down the mountain wishing you were up it than the other way round... good call.
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Good call. The mountains command respect precisely because not every day is a good day to be on them. Everybody has their point at which it's not worth going out, and it varies by personality, by experience, by expectations, by ... . Whatever the celebrated saying would have us believe, there are are plenty better things to do than have an unpleasant day on the mountain. You will get your own back next time! (And if it weren't like that, they probably wouldn't become the addiction that they are for many people.)
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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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@OwenM, That was exactly what I was concerned about, can only imagine what it was like at the top of The Lecht, as it's pretty much fully exposed, but it can't have been great. The traverse across the top to get to the easier run was probably out of the question, especially for someone of my skill level. Slopes looked very shiny and icy too, not at all like the beautiful soft snow when I went at the beginning of February.
@moosepig, Yes, pilot's have the same expression "Better to be down here, wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.." I find I often apply a pilot's risk / benefit appraisal to situations on the ground (sometimes to my wife's bemusement) but it does (usually) keep me in one piece without being completely risk adverse. Let's face it, if you wanted to stay completely safe, you wouldn't try to take a heavy lump of metal and fuel into the air, or try to slide down a mountain with some sticks on your feet..
@Pyremaniac, I agree, the challenge and changeability is part of the appeal. Even driving into the remote parts of the Highlands can feel like an adventure!
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@Wonkyski, good decision.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| moosepig wrote: |
| @Wonkyski, better to be down the mountain wishing you were up it than the other way round... good call. |
+1 The sailors here will recognise that one. Better to be sat in the marina wishing you were sailing...
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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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| achilles wrote: |
| @Wonkyski, good decision. |
+1
Been there and now much prefer chilling with the bros sippin hot chocolate indoors.
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@Wonkyski,
Reminds me of that old joke; how do you know you have a pilot at your party? He tells you!
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You know it makes sense.
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@zzz, yes, absolutely, guilty as charged! 😋
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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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It’s your decision - so it’s the right decision for you.
I ski whatever the weather - and that’s the right decision for me because I, and I do wonder where this masochistic tendency comes from, take a perverse pleasure in facing down the elements.
However, this isn’t a job - it’s recreation and there are no prizes either way - so either choice is fine and beating yourself up afterwards makes no sense at all. Enjoy your skiing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Wonkyski, plenty of people on this forum flying heavy metal all over the world..... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@zzz, and some of us flying little spamcans  .
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