Oban, 15-17 February, 2008

From Oban

Norm's Birthday weekend in Oban, obviously involved too much drink, not enough snowboarding, some poor food, some excellent food, bar pool, darts, sore heads, queazy stomachs and no sea-faris.

Glencoe, February 9th 2008

Misty conditions prevail with warm temperatures and spring snow conditions. There was not a drop of wind but this also meant that the mist did not move and visibility was shocking. Up top snow was plentiful and soft so this was not a problem, however it was very disorientating. Top T-bar was dismounting 1 pylon early due to windblown top. There was quite a bit of snow loss further down with the bridge at the Cliffhanger starting to show through and the very bottom of the Plateau run starting to break up. The plateau poma was fully operational though.

Went up on my own and car park was full. In the hill it still seemed quiet that was until on the rare occasion when the mist lifted you could see people scattered across the mountain. Very strange as the mist also seemed to deaden the sound.

Could do with a top up of snow, but the  base is holding together.

Glencoe, February 2nd 2008

Stu, Jon and myself headed up to Coe from a snowy Glasgow. We had a weather window where the wind had eased just for the Saturday, winds had been ferocious and were due to pick up again on Sunday.

The hill was scoured with the bulletproof base showing through, however where the wind had deposited the softer stuf it was great. Main basin had lovely compacted powder and this also followed the fences lower down. The Wall also allowed for some powdery turns.

Spindrift and the wind made visibility poor at times, but there was plenty of give in the softer snow which made for easier riding.

A full day was had just as winds started picking up again.