Yet more Atlantic storms roll in... this seems to be the norm this winter, maybe it will be the new Scottish winter sadly, but I hope not. So with a brief weather window (one day) after storm Ciara and before storm Dennis I hatched a plan to ski with (storm) Des.
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| leaving the carpark checking the map |
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| that way! |
There had been days of snow in the mountains, definitely more in the West, but the East also looked possible and easier for Des to get to on the train. We knew that even though there had been loads of snow it was delivered on strong winds so there would be large scoured areas and accumulations in natural features and on lee slopes.
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| flat light |
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| but great skin track |
This problem solving is at times entertaining, often frustrating but does pass lots of time! Plan A was Cairngorm, ride some piste then head over into the slack country off the back and plateau, but on arriving at the ski centre carpark we noticed that the top of Cairngorm was covered in cloud, and this often persists all day on Cairngorm Mountain.... Whereas it looked sunny over near Newtonmore and the Monadhliath Mountains.
30 second conversation and car turned around we headed to Newtonmore. Half way between the two venues the van engine warning light went on and I lost power... Wouldn't this be ironic if we were half way between the two places and couldn't ski due to breakdown after Des had travelled from Edinburgh!?
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| fine firm snow |
Luckily parking outside the GP surgery in Newtonmore and turning it off and on again seemed to reset it and we trundled up a snowy road to the starting carpark.
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| views from the top |
There was snow even in Newtonmore which is a good sign, but as all of the snow was pretty new there wouldn't be a base as it's not had time to thaw a little and refreeze so I started to think that skiing would be challenging. We knew that there would be compacted skiable snow in natural features and the lee slopes but weren't sure about the rest.
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| time for the down |
Seeing that a local guide parked up just after us and set off with 2 x clients I knew we had made the right choice as he would know the conditions, mountain and terrain better than us.
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| looks quite bare, but great skiing |
They put in a great skin track as well and we followed their trail initially. As we got nearer to Creag na h-lolaire (a Corbet I think) they carried on up its shoulder on steeper ground and we struck off contouring round to the bothy near the burn.
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| first tracks |
The weather was good, snow as expected, no base but improving with height and compacted stuff in depressions and gully lines. We saw a few more skiers around and headed up. Initially we had planned to go to the top of one of the munro's, but this looked more scoured so we diverted to Creag na h-lolaire as we could see it had more skiable snow and the guided group had popped up on the ridge and were also heading that way.
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| sastrugi gully |
We had a nice lunch break on top before shredding the first downhill section. There was perfect firm snow... Okay so this section was quite short allowing 6 - 7 turns but it was great. So great in fact that we skinned back up 2 more times. All that way for 6 - 7 turns!
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| other skiers skinning for more |
On the final time at the top we could see that it was possible to link patches further down back to the bothy so we did! Even after the fantastic upper snow it was great skiing all the way! We were pretty happy after the run down for sure.
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| Back at the carpark |
Fair to say we both though that from here it may be quite arduous to get out because the gradient was small and the snow soft baseless. I presumed that would mean lots of hitting rocks, struggling to turn and maybe we would end up just putting on the skins to make it easier!
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| Soup at Ralia |
It wasn't to be, we just rolled and glided the whole skin track back and I didn't hit a single rock. The perfect day, skiing van - mountain - van. Fantastic.
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| See you on the flip side Des |
