 Poster: A snowHead
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Up at the crack of dawn this morning to drive from Edinburgh to Glencoe, ski, get to Glasgow in time for work in the evening, then back to Edinburgh, before a flight to Geneva tomorrow morning ahead of a week in the Portes du Soleil. Am I bonkers?
Fortunately it was worth it. Forecast was a bit iffy with lots of snow showers out to the west, but in the end only a couple made it far enough inland to reach the ski area. For the rest of the day it was fairly sunny with raggedy cloud coming and going above the summit, albeit with a chilly wind. -6C at the top, around freezing at the car park. A few people were asking whether they needed to pre-book tickets etc. Here was our experience - bearing in mind it was midweek in termtime, and the forecast was less good than the previous day. Lifts open at 9. We didn't pre-book and arrived at 7.40am as we thought ski hire opened at 7.30. That was *much* too early - we were the only day trippers in the car park for the first half hour, and ski hire didn't open until after 8.30. However the ski hire queue built up quickly from about 8.15 and there were a few Facebook comments later on from people who had to queue for over an hour. Next was the lift pass office - no queue (£30 midweek pass) - and then full Scottish breakfast (£8.50) in the new base lodge - again no queue.
Access Chair, opening time
If anyone has a chance to get up to Glencoe this week then Thursday looks like being the best opportunity before it gets milder, windier and potentially rainier at the weekend. Currently all runs have lots of snow, and plenty of opportunities for off piste. Everything open apart from Flypaper (avalanche risk?), Canyon (burn not quite covered yet) and the top part of Etive Glades (rocky?). Snow cover quickly runs out below the top of the access chair, so no chance of skiing back to the car park.
Looking down from the top of the Access Chair
As for the open stuff - lovely cold, packed powder on all the blues and greens with windblown fresh on top. About as good as it gets on the plateau. The (new for 2023) chairlift here is great for swallowing up the crowds. Combined with the Plateau Poma and the newish Coire Pollach lift, it's a bit of a metropolis there now!
Plateau Poma
Plateau Run (green)
New Rannoch Chair
Rankin's Return (green)
Plateau area from bottom of Etive Glades
Wall T-bar is more useful than the Cliffhanger chair for mid mountain. All good here - especially the reds: Thrombosis (powder in a gully) and The Wall (lovely powder stashes).
Wall T-bar
Higher up, Happy Valley and Main Basin (blues) were the stand-out highlights. Etive Glades variable - not entirely sure if it was officially open, but it was signposted. The steeper runs were much more variable with a mix of powder and wind scoured hardback, plus a few icy patches. Reds: Spring Run good, Rannoch Glades not so good. The relatively-rarely-open Rock Garden red itinerary was open and marked, along with the warning sign: "may contain rocks".  Summit Button at the top was open but a bit "agricultural" with an awkward camber, snowdrifts lower down and a rocky, icy uptrack further up - lots of people falling off! The parallel T-bar was much easier.
Main Basin T-bar / Summit button
View from the top
Main Basin (blue) with the (closed) Haggis Trap in the background
Happy Valley (blue) - superb early on
Etive Glades (blue)
Good track to access all the runs on skier's right from the top - often you have to walk to reach these as snow gets scoured from the ridge, but not today
Rock Garden (red "itinerary")
Rannoch Glades (red) - not as good as it looks
Spring Run (red) - better than it looks!
I'd estimate there were around 500 on the hill, but all lifts were open so there were pretty much no queues - occasional 2-minute waits for the drag lifts. Back down just before 4pm, though the lifts were all still turning at this point.
Back down the Access Chair
This was the first time we've had lunch in the plateau cafe ("mid mountain restaurant", as amazingly, this is the first time I've visited when I haven't been able to ski to the car park to eat there. We had an early lunch as the first snow shower came in at half 11, and food had already almost sold out! Beware. Basic food - "plats du jour" were a) pie, b) Chicago Town mini pizza, or c) soup in a cup. And they were the only plats, full stop. But at £3 or less each, can't really complain.
Overall a very enjoyable day and a great atmosphere on the hill. Staff and customers all really friendly and seemed to be having a good time. Glencoe does seem to be superbly run at the moment and couldn't fault anything on the hill. Long may it continue!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 18-01-23 1:09; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Super - might just pay a visit. Good timing on PDS 
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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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Photos now added!
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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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Nice! Enjoy PDS.
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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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@denfinella, fantastic, some of the best photos I've seen of the area, thank you.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Where is the Rock Garden itinerary? Between Main Basin and Etive Glades? Haven't come across it before
Flypaper closed or 'very closed'?
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Thanks all.
@DidierCouch, Rock Garden is between the Main Basin and Rannoch Glades (so on the "red" side of the top lift).
Didn't see anyone skiing further across than the Spring Run... so "very closed?" 
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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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Fab, looks like it was worth it! Have a great trip to the PDS, will expect a comparative review... 
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@denfinella, fantastic! Your TRs and photos are always brilliant.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I noticed the rock garden itinerary route signposted, and had a chat about it on a lift. Unfortunately, that photo failed to load on my screen, along with a couple of others.
Happy valley was great on Monday too.
The picture just loaded, must have been a problem with your photo server. So that photo did not tell me much, as I went past that sign too after a discussion on the lift.
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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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@mountainaddict, I'm sure the Alps will be just fine Perfect opportunity to introduce people to Scottish skiing this week - surprised you haven't been up though, as far as I know!
@ElzP, but of course...
@Hurtle, thanks. It was a great day.
@Bigtipper, sorry about the photos not loading. They're hosted on Imgur, so might be something at their end...
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You know it makes sense.
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FAQ
Enjoy the PDS.
- mainly down to the fact we didn't get back from Tignes until late on Sunday after driving from Manchester Airport and would have needed to be back in the north east by tonight.
