Glencoe, March 23, 2008

Easter Sunday, and I was not sure about the weather. I decided to leave Glasgow in the morning, nick mum's car and head up to Coe for the afternoon and meet Fiona. Webcams showed sun shining down on the mountain, but it was the wind that worried me.
On arrival it was snowing. Good for coverage, not so good for visibility. However clear patches came and went and the snow conditions were great. Glencoe really is getting a solid covering.
From previous thaws there were a few wee icy bits poking through, but nothing worth worrying about. The snow kept coming in waves and this means Glencoe must be doing the best out of any Scottish resorts.
Go to my YouTube page to see a day in my life in Glencoe Half Day.

Glencoe, March 16, 2008

The same windpack powder was a bit choppy and harder this morning, however this started to soften enough to make for a great day. Sunny spells as the not so cold northerly wind whipped the clouds away. Generally good visibility. It looks like there will be plenty of the snowpack to last till the end of the season, maybe into May once again.
The rainbow rail has been dug out along with a few others. The snow has certainly buried many of the main features of the hill.
The spring run once again proved excellent, bowing out convexly with the weight of snow its holding.
Deirdre and myself headed up for today and what a beautiful day it was. Not as cold as predicted and the strong sun at times meant the old pit vents had to been undone at lower level. A few wee jumps were had on rollers and the bum hole at the bottom of the canyon. And full length runs from the top down spring run, main basin to canyon were all great fun on the abundant snow.

Glencoe, March 14, 2008

Windpacked powder slightly wet making first few turns under the cliffy a bit sticky. Once used to it though conditions were excelent. Sunny spells amongst light showers. The hight of some of the drifts was incredible. Haggis trap and most of the canyon was completley filled. The canyon was almost like a new run. Spent most of my time under the cliffy to stay out of the wind and take advantage of the rare terrain change.
Main basin was totally loaded with snow. Rainbow rail was buried and snowcovered all the rocky islands that are usually near the bottom of this area. For a Friday the car park was pretty full. Nice to see people taking advantage of the great late season conditions.

Tignes, France. March 2008

6 Days in Tignes France, started with sunshine and plenty of soft snow. Conditions got a bit colder with a wee bit of snow added midweek. Did pretty much the whole Tignes basin and over to Val D'Isere.

The Chalet Anapurna was a great base with ski in and out conditions. The food provided was excellent and the group of 20 was well catered for.

Check the picasa album for images.

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.