Glenshee 4th March 2010

Gareth, Jon and myself took Thursday off work and headed to an icy but sunny Glenshee. Started the day off with a cooked breakfast in Blairgowrie and arrived at Glenshee bathed in warm winter sun. Started off with the Tiger black run, rocks and grass poking through and plenty of moguls. Didn't do a good job of it but probably not the best choice for first run of the day. Should have wondered why no-one else seemed to be attempting it. Over the back on Meall Odhar was great with packed powder and nice gulleys to play in. Huge cornices too, hanging formidably above the corries. A great day in the sun and a continuation of a great season so far. Wide coverage but not a great depth of snow. Heavy traffic areas scrubbed down to ice.

Glencoe, Sunday 28th February 2010

The previous Thursday & Friday saw a huge snow fall making Glencoe the snowiest resort in the world (according to Glencoe). The whole lift system needed dug out overnight and the road cleared of drifting snow. We thought it would be better to wait till the Sunday even though they did manage to open for Saturday.
Once up there it was a bit misty but midway and lowdown it was nice and clear.
Using my new board setup we made short work of Happy Valley, Main Basin and the home run down to carpark.
Etive Glades and Flypaper were closed due to avalanche risk. The previous Friday two skiers were airlifted from Etive Glades after triggering an avalanche there. The week before this had been a powder playground.

Glencoe, Sunday 21st February 2010

An astonishingly beautiful day at Glencoe. The sun shone all day on a gleaming white hill. Most of the pow from Wednesday had been taken, but there were a few pockets hidden around the hill on Etive and Rannoch Glades.
The Spring Run wasn't great for snowboards as it was in the early stages of growing moguls. These can put a stop to nice rhythmic turns. The whole area was accessible even from the top of the plateau across to the restaurant, this hasn't been ridable for a while. Rannoch Glades was a favourite and I couldn't work out why no-one else was taking advantage of the broken yet fluffy powder. That was until the middle of the afternoon when I gave it another bash. Carried away with slashing the pow, a big heel-side turn was met with the all too familiar clatter of my board striking a rock hidden beneath the snow. As I rode out of the softer snow onto more consolidated pack, I felt the board drag on heel-side turns. I nursed it down Mug's Alley and turned my board over only to have my worst fears confirmed. The granite teeth of Glencoe had stripped away a huge chunk of the base right up to the rail. This put a dampener on things and I only made a few more runs of mugs alley and the plateau before heading down early.
Conditions were great, Main Basin was pisted! and there was still a smidgen of powder to be had days after last fall. Queues weren't too bad either.

Glencoe, Wednesday 17 February 2010

The day before the webcams for Glencoe were showing blue skies and fresh snow. It was quickly decided to take Wednesday off work. The weather report made good reading with 60% chance of sun. The day however started foggy and cold. On reaching Tyndrum the snow started coming down heavy. The road conditions got very sketchy. The car park at Coe was quite busy and we were soon up the hill. Snow was still falling and the top of the hill shrouded in mist. Visibility was poor but the snow was exceptional. Etive Glades was full of untouched powder, absolutely phenomenal riding! Rannoch Glades was tricky with few reference points. The bottom slope falls away and as I lead the group down I found the slope breaking away and the small slab avalanche took me down the slope. Having cleared the slope of loose snow I persuaded the others to follow. Looking back up I could see them sitting above the break in the snow. It was quite a drop.
Visibility improved lower down and many more runs on Etive Glades were inevitable.
A great day and the best snow I've had at Coe for a while. Not too cold, but cold enough to keep the powder fluffy.

Glencoe, Sunday 7th February 2010

Headed up to Coe with Jonathan, they journey was overcast but due to brighten up. On approach to the ski hill you could see the profile of the mountain with small cap of cloud on top. The hope was for this to lift. The reality was that it would get thicker. Throughout the day it became more of a 'white-mare'. But, the wind was non existent (the reason why it didn't shift).
The snow however was great and we carefully picked our way down the main runs at the top as well as Mugs Alley. Spring Run and Flypaper were closed. No doubt to stop people wandering off the wrong side of the mountain. A distinct possibility. On the lifts you could not see as far as the next pylon. Soft snow and another win for me in the Kinder Surprise challenge although I did break mine eventually when I lent over to do my bindings.

From Glencoe 7 February 2010

Brushes Painting

Messing about with Brushes app on my iPod touch. A bit like finger
painting. Tricky to start with but could be good for killing time or
making visual notes.

Glencoe, Saturday 23 January 2010

No photo today I'm afraid, after driving all the way up last weekend for a half day and being chased away by the weather, I got up to Coe bright and early to make the most of fair conditions in the West.
Cairngorm was still being dug out as I drove up early taking care on very slippery roads.
It had been a cold night so once up the hill I found Mugs Alley, the run from Plateau to Cliffy very hard ice. Once up the top at Main Basin though, most of this was softer, Etive Glades too was very nice at the top. Spring Run however stayed in the shade and never really softened, but cover meant Thrombosis was available amongst the very wide coverage.
Conditions deteriorated a bit in the afternoon, only slight mist though. Calm winds and wide coverage with short queues meant everyone had a good day.
Still could do with a bit more depth though. I'm sure that will come though. It's still early days for the season.