 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's got to be a good thing hasn't it !
Hurray. Good for Scottish skiing.
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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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That's fantastic. On a related note the lifts at Yad Moss in England have run every day since the middle of December - that has to be a record !
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| Quote: |
- that has to be a record !
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Not quite but it has been an exceptionally good season, the best season for snow depth, weather, wind speed reliability and skier numbers since at least 1986. In 1996 I'm informed the tow ran right through from Christmas to Easter except for two weekends.
Scotland of course is in a whole other league. just look at the cover at Cairngorm at the moment..... and weep Alps 
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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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| Quote: |
| a whisky which was laid down in 1995, coincidentally the last year when there were this number of skiers at CairnGorm. |
*slap*
Twaddle for the sake of a line in a story! The last time the skier day figure was above 100,000 on CairnGorm Mountain was 2001 when the figure was 111,000, a bit behind the 118,000 at Glenshee. Though Glenshee remains ahead of the 'Gorm, it seems inevitable that the 'Gorm will close the gap and overtake Glenshee, unless the laws of physics have changed!
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| Peter S wrote: |
Scotland of course is in a whole other league. just look at the cover at Cairngorm at the moment..... and weep Alps |
I'm all for boosting the image of Scottish skiing but this is a wee bit over the top. The Cairngorm snow depth is currently quoted as 150cm on upper slopes and 90 cm on lower. The first few places in the Alps I looked up had about double that.
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It's funny how 90cm of snow can cover a 150cm high snow fence! 
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I'm pretty sure the guy in that picture is being presented with a fire extinguisher. Safety first. 
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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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snowball, as you probably know snow depth figures for Scotland are notoriously inaccurate due to drifing - I'm also quite puzzled as to how the quoted 150 cm could have buried the funicular track up to a depth of some 7metres at points - any ideas?
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Winterhighland, roga, But surely that is part of the point, on one hand we see reports of huge depths of snow, and claims that there is far more than in the alps, and on the other are snow depth reports of (by alpine standards) decidedly average snow depths. Ski Club of GB reports 90cm/150cm, and on winterhighland there is a claim of 185cm, all very good snow depths (and enough to encourage me to plan a visit next week), but what is the truth?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Presumably all figures must come from the people on the hill. The SCGB don't measure figures for themselves, they are given them by the resort. Drifting is much more prevelent in Scotland than most of the Alps. The converse is that often Scottish ski slopes are reporting reasonable snow depths while you can see half of the slopes are completely bare.
The problem is where to put the measuring point to get an average sort of reading. (I say measuring point, but I gather it considered in England that several readings should be taken and an average taken, but countries with regular standing snow probably do it with more specialist methods.)
I think it is fairly clear that some places in the Alps chose somewhere which will give a favourable reading, while others (such as Arabba) do not and I have found much better depths than the figures suggested when I went there.
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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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RobinS, snowball, I don't know where the figures come from but they are highly innacurate - in a normal year the ski club figures are invariably complete tosh anyway and generally Cairngorm won't release snow depths as far as I know because they know how misleading they are so frankly I suspect the ski club make them up!
With regards the 150cm figure all I can say from experience on the ground it's complete and utter nonsense, over Xmas/New Year we got more than that falling with no wind, then we had storms which redistributed a hell of a lot of snow into and around the ski area (that was the first time they had to spend a week digging the road and funicular track out) and the other week there was a major dump with 1 to 2 metres falling. In between those two periods there's been regular snowfall, although not quite as extreme as those two storms, and as I said above the evidence is in the funicular track which is now mostly at, or just below, ground level on the snow - the funi track varies up to, IIRC, 7 metres above ground level when there's no snow and that patently obvious fact can't be argued with even from the 'hallowed' ground of ski club HQ!
From Colin's blog on Feb the 25th:
| Quote: |
| Up the hill there is between 1.5 to 2 metres of fresh powder on the lower slopes and zig zags and probably more further up, the snow is level with the top of the tunnel and track buried in the usual places. |
You can believe who you want I guess but if you want a more definitive answer I guess you could ask Colin on his blog - I won't because as soon as I start trying to string together a sentence that involves the ski club and Scotland I start to foam at the mouth and go into John Cleese angry chef mode (if you recall the Python sketch) .... AAAAAAARGH!
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The figure now being quoted on Winterhighland is measured at tower 9 (second tower from the bottom) on the Coire Cas T-bar at 2600ft, so if you want to split it into upper / lower, in terms of vertical still on the lower half of the ski area.
The principle reason for monitoring this is to get some grasp on the behaviour of a consolidated regularly groomed snow pack and how it relates to the weather data being collected mid-mountain by the Winterhighland weather stations. Originally was going to try and measure Gunbarrel snow depth adjacent to this tower, but that would require levelling to ascertain the difference in height of the snow surface at the low point of the Gunbarrel compared to the Tow Track, this would be a major faff for no gain in terms of the reason for doing the measurement. However it's fair to say that given the profile of the Gunbarrel at that point, the snow depth on the run is likely to be twice that reported on WH.
Perhaps this figure should come with a health warning!
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You know it makes sense.
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Winterhighland, Thanks for that info, certainly the pictures of quite exceptional snow cover did not really tally with the 90/150 reports, and your 185cm at that piont makes sense. Just hoping for some good weather mid-week next week now when I can get up there (staying in the North-West for the week, so within 120 miles rather than the 500 from home!)
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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^ lol, yeah fair point Alan they have actually been okay this year and followed the crowd in accepting the Scottish conditions are really good but you know as well as I do that their profile north of the border 'aint what it ought to be if they're claiming to be a club for skiers/boarders right across the UK ... love 'em
I'd get my head chopped off on Winterhighland for saying this but I do think they're making more effort these days though, what with the clean up campaign they were involved in last season and stuff so maybe this season isn't a temporary blip ... their Scottish snow depths are still cobblers though!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Yes, the Gorm will open into May and there's a group of Snowheads heading up to enjoy what promises to be a memorable weekend - at the moment cold and snowy just prior to our arrival and staying cold on the Saturday then what could be a t-shirts and shades day on Sunday.
If anybody wants to grab some great last minute sliding then join the posse - take a look at the thread here and the latest photos (taken Monday 26th) from the mountain courtesy of firstracks here and here
Still stunning conditions and no crowds whatsoever now too! 
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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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^ I've done the drive from Bristol in 7/8 hours, how long does it take from your house to Les Arcs?
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roga, 13-14 hours in general.
Yes I am sure I could do Scotland in less - I was just making a general point that personally I would rather choose to drive to the Alps than to Scotland due to the state and business of our roads and it is a shame that there isn't better and cheaper public transport available as an alternative.
Just to be completely clear I am not having a go at Scottish skiing or making any comparisom between Scotland and the Alps - my comments are based solely on the desirability of the drive from my perspective and mine alone.
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Boris, Generally though once you are north of the border the condition of the roads improves markedly . (unless you are within Aberdeen city council's area in which case many african cities have better roads)
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 27-04-10 13:47; edited 1 time in total
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Boris, I can see where you;re coming from and I do kind of agree, it's that reason that's stopped me skiing Scotland to date. However, do we want more Motorways plowing through the Highlands? Personally, I'd rather not thanks. Just wish the sleeper train wasn't £100 a head, it's not going to cost that much in petrol and we can take more stuff in a car.
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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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kevindonkleywood, agreed - I used to drive to Aberdeen on a regular basis.
But to get there I have M40, M42, M6, M74 - the first 3 in particular can be particularly pants
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Boris, no worries was genuinely interested in how long the drive was. I agree about the roads, they are generally appalling especially with the number of roadworks around but that was better last time I drove it. Sleeper trains are a great alternative though and there are cheap flights up to Inverness (or Glasgow for the west) with Easyjet too.
To be honest this year I haven't found it a particular hassle despite some delays at Xmas due to roadworks and a crash but then I've become aware that each time I've travelled up there were thousands of people stuck in airports, on the Chunnel or at channel ferry ports so frankly Scotland has been an absolute breeze in comparison - a point I've tried not to rub in this season despite being sorely tempted to! 
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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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I will have to give it a go at some point - would probably be fine for me as a solo trip
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You know it makes sense.
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GrahamN, ouch, did you do that at the weekend?
Injury never stopped you in the past though surely?
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FAQ
