 Poster: A snowHead
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Well cairngorm at least.
This is an objective guide to Scotland from someone who has only every experienced the Alps. worth a read if you're curious about UK skiing.
http://www.planetski.eu/blog/76
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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i live in northern ireland...i can stand on the giant's causeway and see the coast of scotland...on a clear day, it feels so close, its like you could pick up a stone and hit it.....but i can get to chamonix for less.....
okbye
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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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moffatross, yes I agree, I've never had queues at Nevis or Glencoe like those at Cairngorm. However Chamonix with its plethora of expert skiers is not exactly a prime place to associate with fur necked poseurs.
I'd add a Nevis photo but I've put them on here too many times already. And I'm told there are some good off piste gullies at Cairngorm - though perhaps not as good as at Nevis.
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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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I like the piece and do think it's pretty fair, agreed that it's actually a review of Cairngorm rather than the whole of Scottish skiing and the author has made the same 'mistake' as many people do in talking about Cairngorm as if it was Scottish skiing. However understandable perhaps for a 'newbie' to the Scottish scene.
Bits I particularly liked:
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| In many ways it felt genuine as all the people in the car parks preparing to brave the weather and those out on the hill were there because they loved skiing and snowboarding. They weren't the poseurs and loud-mouthed English middle classes that seem to stand out so much in Verbier, The 3 Valleys and Val d'Isere. Here were people with a real passion and who were prepared to make an effort. The gear was old fashioned, the clothing hardly the latest fashion, but the passion for snow sports was very, very real. |
I like that and feel it sums up the 'buzz' pretty well.
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| You have to treat skiing in Scotland for what it is and not compare it to anywhere else. |
Absolutely, it's unique and all the better for it 
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For me I somehow felt I was going back to the roots of British skiing and I relished coming down runs I had only heard and read about; The White Lady, Coire Cas and the West Wall.
The slopes seemed to contain ghosts whether it be from the hey day of Scottish skiing in the 1970's and 80's, Frith Finlayson and Ali Ross through to the British racers, Alain Baxter, Emma Carrick-Anderson and Sean Langmuir who had started here. The Bell brothers had raced here as children, as had Konrad Bartelski. |
Yes, absolutely spot on there and particularly apt given the author is currently writing the official history of BASI, an organisation whose history is inextricably linked to Cairngorm.
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| Rather bizarrely I actually came to enjoy the queuing. Not only was it very organised with long lines developing, but also it meant the only way to pass the time was to chat. Everyone just chatted to the people next to them about the weather, the snow any anything lese that came to mind. It was one of the most sociable ski resorts I have ever been to. |
Yup and this is probably the least sociable of all the resorts relatively speaking - imagine what James would say about Nevis or Glencoe!
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| ... anyone who is remotely interested in skiing and has a love of the mountains should give it a go. |
Spot on again and it's a point many of us have made when discussing Scotland with the doubters, in fact many of the points James Cove makes in his article are very similar to what we've been saying for a while. However that last point is the most important for me, if you come from the UK and purport to love the mountains and be a skier (as opposed to ski) you cannot in truth make that claim IMHO whilst discounting our very own mountains and ski areas. Lets hope that comments like James' and all of the positive buzz that's coming out of Scotland this year will help a few of our fellow skiers to discover what is IMHO, and always has been, the heart and soul of British skiing.
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roga, yes, absolutely. I agree with all that.
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