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Scotland

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thinking of hooning up to Scotland with a couple of friends this weekend. Not sure which area is best or biggest (is biggest best?). Any advise? Also any good recommendations for decent B&B in the areas?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Cairngorm is big but busy. Excellent cover. Aviemore is the place to stay.

Glencoe is great, less busy but rent skis. I have a new set of Rossi Zeniths that need some TLC after taking a battering on the rocks.

Cant comment on Nevis.

The lecht has only small runs but the cover is exceptional and smoth compared to Cairngorm.

Someone at owrk yesterday said that Glenshee is the best for quality/distance/not-so-busy when it is good.

Highland cafe in Braemar has a great fish and chips. Happy

Cheers
Bob
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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?
Cairngorm is big but busy. Excellent cover. Aviemore is the place to stay.

Glencoe is great, less busy but rent skis. I have a new set of Rossi Zeniths that need some TLC after taking a battering on the rocks.

Cant comment on Nevis.

The lecht has only small runs but the cover is exceptional and smoth compared to Cairngorm.

Someone at owrk yesterday said that Glenshee is the best for quality/distance/not-so-busy when it is good.

Highland cafe in Braemar has a great fish and chips. Happy

PS; Glenshee/cairngorm/the lecht are within 2 hours of each other.

Cheers
Bob
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
100mph winds predicted for saturday:

http://www.winterhighland.info/snowreports/index.php?resort=cg

sure you fancy it?

These are the ski areas

Brief run downs:
http://wikiski.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Scotland

In stats:
http://www.highland-instinct.co.uk/skiresorts/

& check out the galleries for some fantastic photos

& read the posts on winterhighland - all the info you need.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
monotokpoint, I'm a Scotland virgin myself and am going up over the next few weeks. I've done a lot of digging and this is what I've found:


Avoid weekends if at all possible.

Don't pre-plan a trip too far in advance. Leave it as late as you can. Keep an eye on the forcast.

Base yourself not at an area, but somewhere in the middle of the areas. The A86 corridor is a good place, and Newtonmore has been recommended. Areas can shut on a daily basis depending on local conditions, so give yourself a choice. Aviemore has also been suggested, but is local to Cairngorm, not central.


Though not everything, these are the most salient points.

WinterHighland and Highland Intinct are good sources of reference (I've a thread on WH "Advice........" which may be worth a look) and the MWIS site for weather.

Good luck, and I may see you up there (though not on a weekend wink )

John.


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Wed 13-01-10 17:15; edited 1 time in total
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Another useful link.... http://ski.visitscotland.com/conditions/
This will tell you all you need to know. Weather/Conditions/Access Roads/Piste Maps/ etc.
Cairngorm is my favourite, espescially when it has this much cover. But it has been stormbound lately and will be very very busy if the weather improves. As far as B&B's go, I'm not too sure as I drive home after a day on the hill, but there is a fairly new centre called Aviemore Highland Resort (i think).
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
winterhighland far far superior to ski scotland, which sometimes doesnt update.

aviemore (cairngorm) has a broad spectrum of accomm available. self catering can be good (just google aviemore self-catering), and there are great b&bs and hotels in and around the village. Quite a few threads on winterhighland too about accommodation, so have a search around. Let me know if you have any specific questions re places etc

this weekend weather looks dodgy, though a day or 2 ago it looked great, so it may change again.

Cairngorm probably has best cover at the moment and aviemore is central enough to get to a couple of other resorts too (15 minutes from newtonmore as mentioned above - newtonmore is more central to get to a few different places but much more accommodation and apres options in aviemore)

One other shout for glencoe, staying at the clachaig inn (if there's room). trip of a lifetime that - ski glencoe, then pints, dinner and pints at the clachaig - it'll change your life wink
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I'm an idiot. Should have posted this

I forgot when I was in Glencoe at the weekend and my buddy on the T-bar said that the Crianlarich hotel (is basic) but has B&B for £20-25/night and they are running a free lift/minibus to Glencoe, a 20-25 min drive.

Disclaimer. Dont know what it is like or have any link to them.

Cheers
Bob
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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.
Cool, many thanks for the tips and advice guys, much appreciated! Will keep an eye out on the weather on the next few days and make a trip there I think Smile Will let you know how I get on
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
BCjohnny,

Avoid weekends if at all possible.

Should read: Avoid CairnGorm at weekends if at all possible.

Someone wound me up last year on another forum regarding queues at scottish resorts so I looked at all my photos to find ones with queues in them. Glencoe can be a bit slow on a bluebird day because the lifts are slow but the carpark is actually small enough that it cannot get ridiculous like CairnGorm with its overflow parks or Glenshee where they just keep bulldozing new carparks alongside the road on busy days.

Glenshee can get busy but I agree with the consenus view on WH that the uplift pretty much copes & if you ski smart you can avoid the worst of it. Sometimes you just have to accept that you're better off getting on the lift with the short queue, not the one you were aiming for!

The photos of Nevis & Cairngorm below were taken at about the busiest time of last season, 1st weekend of Feb 2009. Blizzards all week departed to give perfect weekend weather & leave the snow level down at the sea. The weekend when many did the fabled 'ski to the car park at Nevis' - 4000ft vert & I got my 'tree-skiing at Nevis' (see the 'Nevis Chairlifts' thread on WH) photo. The only significant queue I saw at Nevis that day was for the Gondola down at the end of the day (hence skied down).

At CG we mostly skiied off the DLP as queues elsewhere were awful - didn't use the M1 at all & the most efficient lift was the intercarpark bus. Got forced to use this as WWP opened - skied to it, sat in queue 15mins, it broke & loads of skiers stuck there with only the Ciste car park as a route out. Funicular queue was on the verge between 'barely acceptable' & 'ridiculous' at abt 15-20mins. Actual snow was great though Cool

The photo at Glencoe was taken about 9.45am on a beautiful sunny weekend day in April. I just looked all the way up the tow & realised I was completely alone. You can see the loading area of other main t-bar, out of focus in the top left of the picture - again no queue. It got a bit busier later but still barely enough to catch your breath at the bottom of a run. And that was with all the top & mid-mtn runs open. The runs were completely empty. I went to CairnGorm around then also & thought the queues too much at abt 5mins for the WWP or Funicular (& only used the M1 once that day due to the queues).

In december 2008 I skied at the Lecht (a bit icy, 50% open) for nearly an hour without seeing any other skiers! Got stopped by the piste basher & advised to go back to the ticket office whenever I finished & ask for £10 back as the conditions didnt justify full price, while he drove up & down creating a perfectly groomed piste, just for me! Toofy Grin

http://picasaweb.google.com/neil2829/Queues#5328655133962859330
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
what...snow wrote:
The photo at Glencoe was taken about 9.45am on a beautiful sunny weekend day in April.


The other thing that seems to be coming loud and clear is, if you can wait, go late season, snow conditions allowing. Generally better weather, combined with local skier/boarder "fatigue" gives better quality slope time, even on weekends.

"what....snow" nice pics. Hopefully get some of my own later on.

John.
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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.
I might do a mid week trip, are the queues at CG ok mid week ?
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 brian
brian
Guest
Best short term weather forecasts for the highlands from MWIS:

Cairngorm, Glenshee and Lecht: http://mwis.org.uk/mountain/EH.PDF

Nevis and Glencoe: http://mwis.org.uk/mountain/WH.PDF
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 brian
brian
Guest
rayscoops, yes, but get up the hill early to make sure you get in the top car park. The faff of waiting for the shuttle bus is a pita you don't need first thing. Queues aren't bad midweek once you're skiing though.
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 brian
brian
Guest
Doesn't sound like anyone's going to be skiing Cairngorm for a day or 2 yet. A SE-ly gale has been blowing all the snow off the plateau down into the ski area:

"Since 5.30am we have been battling snow depths of up to 4 metres on the link road and down road and have not yet reached the car park. We have 2 17 tonne Caterpillar Tractor Shovels and a JCB shovel hired in to help as the ploughs could not get past the Ciste Road end this morning. The team will recommence trying to get a route open at 4.00am, however once we reach the Car Park assessments will need to be made on the Mountain. We do not for see an early opening for snowsports. Keep an eye on the website and listen to MFR before setting off for the mountain
Please note that due to conditions there were no staff on site to answer telephone calls. Until the staff get to the Day Lodge it will only be voicemail."
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
For the most detailed comments on the situation on Cairngorm go to the Cairngormmountain website http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/ and read the blog (Patrollers blog, which is actually run by Colin the operations manager) which has really interesting comments which are kept reasonably up-to-date. Brian's quote above is extracted from that I think. Don't be put off by the fact that the blog heading is out-of-date.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
brian wrote:
Best short term weather forecasts for the highlands from MWIS:

Cairngorm, Glenshee and Lecht: http://mwis.org.uk/mountain/EH.PDF

Nevis and Glencoe: http://mwis.org.uk/mountain/WH.PDF


MWIS are good but certainly not excellent when a stasis moves to mobile synoptics. Much better to learn to interpret the various NWP output and its supplementary guidance yourself rather than take MWIS (or any published mountain weather forecast) as gospel truth. If I'd taken their West Highlands prediction to heart rather than my own interpretation last weekend I'd have very definitely skied on the wrong day.
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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?
BCjohnny, stumbled on this in the Snowboards section Very Happy
http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=51434

http://youtube.com/v/WUxM6M4Vb8E
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
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rayscoops, Cheers. Caught it first time 'round, but worth seeing again.

Guess there's more white around at this season, but that clear, runny "snow" on the camera lense is still a bit sobering.....

The way it's shaping up it may be April before we get up there.

John.
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