Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Glencoe, Sunday 26 May 2013

The week after my previous visit to Glencoe they decided to close all uplift due to warmer and wetter conditions. It had been a fantastic snow filled season, not just in quantity but the quality of snow was outstanding.
However I had reached 16 days on Scottish snow. This equaled my previous record. I was left wanting more!
There had been some chatter about hiking up the mountain at Coe. They were positively encouraging it on their Facebook page. 
The weekend came Saturday was blue sky, but everyone was busy and I decided to take a bike ride instead. I rode down to parents house and decided to take their car and head up to Coe on Sunday morning. 
The day dawned slightly grey. There was a glimmer on sun. But that came to nothing. I took the chairlift up and started my hike. It was an easy trudge up The Wall and then Happy Valley, then across the summit to the top of Main Basin. On the way up I messed about with filming on iPhone, ContourHD & EOS7D. Messed about in Main Basin, then took a full run down, through the Haggis Trap, which was full. The snow was completely smooth with no other tracks. At rescue hut level I walked past top of Cliffy chair then down lower Thrombosis till the snow ran out where it joined Mugs Alley. 
The day was grey with a few light showers. But light winds and reasonable temperatures. 
The whole trip was worth it just to beat my record & to get some turns in after my birthday!

Search for Snow from Michael MacDonald on Vimeo.

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