Sunday 31 March 2013

Easter Sunday Steepness!

Chris at 1141
Having split shifts in the day has been great this season and meant that i can get out biking or skiing in the day time. The weather is still amazing here and when Chris asked if anyone was free this afternoon for a ski tour i jumped at the chance! I had heard that the descent off the windy col into Coire an t'Sneachda was good at the moment and with the avalanche forecast looking a bit calmer today it was an ideal objective for an afternoon.







Setting off up the Fiacaill Coire Cas we encountered patches of rock hard windslab and i began to worry dropping in would be a grim prospect; I needn't have worried!
 Soft spring snow greeted us at the top of the col and there were lots of tracks already there. Chris volunteered to go first whilst i tried to take a couple snaps. We regrouped at the bottom and traversed back round to piste. All in all, a great way to spend a sunny Easter sunday!









Thursday 28 March 2013

Cairngorm cruising







This season has been great for skiing in Scotland and today was no exception. Today I headed up the hill with Kris, Anna, Gordon and Jude. 
With a high pressure sat over the north the weather was yet again beautiful and an overnight dump of fresh snow left the Ciste gullies again in great nick, to only get better as the sun softened the snow. Once again the gullies where the place to be, with a close second place going to the white lady. With there being hundreds of tourists flocking to Aviemore for the Easter holidays this weekend, it's been great to make the most of the weather and avoid the crowds!








Wednesday 27 March 2013

More sunny skiing in Scotland!

With the winds subsiding and the weather forecast looking positive me and Greg planned to go touring. Within half an hour of the car park, however, plans rapidly changed!
 A lot of the terrain had been stripped by the wind revealing rock or bullet hard neve, clag was covering Cairngorm and Greg's binding snapped, meaning unless he was in uphill mode his brake would engage. So a swift return to the lodge to ditch the big packs and for Greg to swap his skis and then of to piste bash. It did mean we had the pleasure of skiing with Julie and Matt. Later in the day the sun came out give yet another beautiful day with alpine-esque views.
 The Ciste gullys were in generally great nick with good powder in most places, but areas of hard wind slab and solid sastrugi, which i found out the hard way when i took a wipe thanks to hitting a rock hard sastrugi ridge! Luckily nothing damaged but my pride!


Wednesday 20 March 2013

Snow and Cycles



With the road to the hill shut today due to the drifts, it meant skiing was off the cards. Mr Stewart Atkinson, lord of the snowboard, was also unfortunately left without his days work, however, it did give him the opportunity to test the new forks on his bike!

 There is some brilliant riding around just from our doorstep so we decided to go and session some of the trails just next to the lodge. 











An interesting climb up the forestry road lead us to the top of the trail with a snowy descent ahead of us down the upper trail and down on to "the trail from nowhere".








"The trail from nowhere" has a couple log hops/rolls to make and were sketchy in the snow, and with the cover meaning some of the obstacles obscured, it made for a very entertaining ride! 




Further along the road is another trail known as "Hot Damn!", as short push up ride down affair with a super steep roll in to begin, which was twitchy in the snow to say the least. A super fast descent leads shortly to several line choices at the bottom, all great fun in the snow.













All in all a pretty successful afternoon and it sure beats sitting on your backside and not doing anything!















Andrew Moles has a couple great little videos of the trails on his blog

Tuesday 19 March 2013

The blogger II: Return of intent

Sooooooo... Where to begin?
It's been a long while since i last posted a blog and a lot has changed in that time! The last couple years (and particularly the last 12-18 months) have been massive for me having relocated to Scotland and achieving a massive amount personally and professionally.
 I am currently working as domestic staff at Glenmore Lodge, which for anyone who doesn't know is the SportScotland national outdoor center, essentially a hub of outdoor sport and a wealth of knowledge and training from some of the best there is in the business. For me this is an incredible place to be, with amazing skiing, biking, climbing and paddling right on the doorstep.



 In January i completed my Winter Mountain Leader (WML) training and have spent most of my days off working toward this since then. Before Christmas i was skiing most days and managed some longer tours in the Cairngorms, which is an amazing ski mountaineering destination.




Recently i have also managed a few days winter climbing and fully intend on a few more before the winter ends!

It's not long now until winter will be over and i will be leaving the lodge to continue working as a freelance instructor and i am really psyched to have filled a large proportion of my diary with work with Bigfoot Adventures and Wilderness Scotland. I am still actively seeking to fill gaps in my diary.
Kepp an eye out on the blog as i fully intend to keep it up to date this time around! Thanks for reading!