You are NOT Logged in.
Chat about all aspects of snowsports, backcountry, climbing and mountaineering.
Goto Thread: PreviousNext
Goto: Forum ListMessage ListNew TopicSearchLog In
Goto Page:  12Next
Current Page:1 of 2
Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 00.14hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Hi.

Ok here goes!!!
I went boarding for the first time last year and loved it. I want to go again but family commitments mean i can only manage a few days. So the plan is to drive north from Sheffield for a few nights.
I would like the shortest commute, a range that is good for beginners and ideally has a little action in the evening too. Also as my budget isnt massive maybe somewhere close to areas that can be driven to after hitting the slopes to keep accomodation costs down.
I know i am expecting a lot but am hoping for some guidance. I have just decided i want to go and am getting a little fuzzy eyed after searching and reading.
I gope to go in the next month or so, will go midweek and and open to any thoughts.
Glenshee is the closest location, any thoughts on this area welcome please.

Thank you in advance. And sorry for the vagueness of this post.

Cheers.

Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 00.23hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Correction. It appears Glencoe is closer.

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 00.40hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
How much boarding did you do last time? Are we talking about a week with instruction, a couple of days, a few hours in a dome? If you can be flexible and go at short notice during the week, then that's always a good starting point.

One question about your boarding experience is whether you have used and are comfortable using surface lifts, particularly fast Pomas?

CairnGorm Mountain has the advantage for novice boarders who are advancing that you can access a whole range of terrain across more half the mountain, including top station to carpark via entirely green runs from the Funicular.

Glenshee though the biggest area, really requires you to be able to comfortably use fast Poma tows, otherwise you will be pretty limited terrain wise there. Also ultimately where the snow and weather is best will come into the equation too.



Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 09.01hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Hi Alan.

Thanks for your response. This is exactly the kind of insider knowledge i hoped for.

I had an all day lesson before i left for a week in Bulgaria. I started to get quite comfortable and relaxed on the board by the third day and was linking turns etc which was the level i hoped to achieve.
I used only one un chaired drag that week. It was like a hook shape that skiers hook between their legs. I struggled with it but have been reading that the weight when using drag lifts should be on your front foot with your back foot not fastened. I think i was leaning back when i was struggling.
I can be flexible with dates yes.
Glencoe appears to be the closest place to me. Is this worth considering? An extra hour or 2 each way doesnt sound a lot but an extra 2 hours each way within 3 days on top of a 6 hour journey is something i would rather avoid if possible.

Thank you.

sredna100


Posts: 571
Joined: Jan 2008
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 11.48hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Both Nevis range and glencoe can be easily reached if you stay in Fort William and these 2 areas currently have by far the most snow, this may well change by the time you want to slide so keep watching on here for info.

Nevis range has a long quad (4 man) chair thats popular with boarders and serves a number of easy intermediate runs. If you can handle surface lifts they are there too.

glencoe has the cliffhanger chair giving mid mountain to lower mountain sliding, upper hill is drag lifts, real good snow just now !

Fort William is the nearest town to a ski area, only about 4 miles from the edge of town, accomodation even at short notice is never a problem and Glencoe are is about 35 mins down the road and you could easy do both areas from there.
There are plenty bars and places to eat as well

Cairngorm is around 60 miles also if you wanted to slide 3 areas in 3 days?

All scottish ski areas are snow and weather dependant, early season strong winds are a big problem so watch the forecasts, different directions affect different areas so one may operate and another not in the same wind speed and direction but hill on a different aspect.

Hope this helps ? gotta go for an afternoons skiing, looking good today

Cheers.

Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 13.25hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Thank you Sredna. Yes that helps a lot.

I am going with an intermediate skier, will both these locations serve him well too?

Cheers

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 15.11hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
I would like the shortest commute, a range that is good for beginners and ideally has a little action in the evening too


Stayin Fort William or in or around Aviemore then. Overall given your various criteria it's hard to look past Aviemore or one of the surrounding Strathspey villages. Though Aviemore is distance wise a longer drive than Glencoe, the A9 is a much easier drive than the A82 if you are unfamiliar with roads.

It's about a 15minute drive from the middle of Aviemore to CairnGorm Mountain and the Lecht is only 45-50minutes from Aviemore as an alternative. Nevis Range is around 1hour 15minutes from Aviemore.

Since you are driving you can be a bit more flexible and if you'd like to try out more than one area, I'd be minded to travel up to Aviemore, start on CairnGorm and see how you get on. If you manage OK with the tows then you can move onto another area with much more confidence that you'll get more out of it.

One option would be to stay in Aviemore a few nights. Then you could head South via the A86 and A82, book one of the 'hobbit houses' at Glencoe and stay there on site and have a day at Glencoe. `It will be a shorter distance to drive home and the more infuriating bits of the A82 will be out of the way early in your drive going South as opposed to at the end of a long drive heading North!





Guest
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 15.24hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Definitely agree with Alan. Stay in Aviemore, or Fort William.

For yourself, the best places to ski would probably be (in order) Cairngorm, Nevis Range, The Lecht, Glenshee and Glencoe.

For your friend, they'd all be fine (the Lecht probably the least suitable), but you'd want to consider going to more than one centre over the three days or so to give him variety.

Gartcoshyy


Posts: 170
Joined: Nov 2008
Last Visited: 12:16
19th Feb 2018
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 16.25hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Did you go to Bansko by any chance?

Anyway, Glenshee is my favourite resort... but I'd steer well clear if your a novice drag lift user on a board. They tend to catapult you rather than drag you. It'll take getting used to if your used to chairs. One thing to bare in mind, the chairs in Scotland aren't detachable so they don't slow down to let you sit... Lifties will sort you out though. Best thing to do is watch and learn!

I'd suggest Nevis Range. It's an extra 45mins from Glencoe, it has a nice gondola that takes you to the mountain. It's Scotland’s newest resort and has semi modern lifts which are A LOT more gentle than the other resorts lifts. Summit run at Nevis is a nice little button tow and usually has a park built for you to give a bash.

Fort William is pretty lively compared to small towns in the highlands.
They have a Premier Inn too... and as much as I like to keep things local you generally can't beat £29 for a room if you book in advance... but that'll always be a gamble with skiing in Scotland.

You could try the hobbit houses at Glencoe Mountain? Right on the base of the resort and on the way from the south to Fort William so you could even do Glencoe, stay the night then do Nevis? PS Glencoe is only £25 for a weekday full area pass!

Nevis is probably your best bet as a novice boarder though.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 16.29hrs Sat 11 Jan 14 by Gartcoshyy.

Nude_Model


Posts: 48
Joined: Nov 2013
Last Visited: 09:39
26th Jan 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 17.05hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Go to cairngorm with the rest of the occasional day trippers

Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 17.08hrs on Sat 11 Jan 14
Thank you all. This is the kind of advice i need.

Liking the idea of Aviemore stop and Cairngorm boarding, plus we have options if the weather is more suitable elsewhere.
No Gartcoshyy, we stayed in Pamparova. Horrific 5 hour transfer! Was my first boarding holiday so have nothing to compare it to but i thought it was great. Nightlife almost non existant though which is a shame.

Thank you all. More advice welcome

Nick_Scots


Posts: 84
Joined: Jan 2010
Last Visited: 21:40
15th May 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 18.53hrs on Tue 14 Jan 14
As a now intermediate boarder, I have gone from not using pomas and t bars in march to now using them all. Your weIght should be 50-50 and get a stomper pad for the rear. Remember that you are still snowboarding when on a drag lift ie still control the board with the edges.

If you can't leave the front leg in when on a chair lift, just carry the bosrd but run off at the top !

As a beginner I went to Glencoe. Bit tricky at the top of the cliffhanger chair as It's narrow at the top then steep to the top of all the plateau runs. There Is a slight rise to so you need speed to get over that. If you go left it's steep red there.

Glenshee is best ss there is more forgiving pomas and t bars and more greens n blues.



Blockzzz


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2014
Last Visited: 20:34
15th Mar 2014
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 22.07hrs on Tue 14 Jan 14
Thank you Nick.

Think we are going to head to Aviemore for fun at Cairngorm for a few reasons. Although its a further drive, Aviemore isan easier route apparently. And Cairngorm gives good options for me as a beginner and my mate who is inter. Only down side i can see is that there is only poma and t bars. Oh well i wont be the first to fall!

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 23.33hrs on Tue 14 Jan 14


alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 17:02
27th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: Resort, location and advice on everything please.
Date Posted: 23.34hrs on Tue 14 Jan 14
Only down side i can see is that there is only poma and t bars. Oh well i wont be the first to fall!


Remember there is the Funicular railway from which you can still access everything in the purple circle from without using any tows.



For T-bars, start with the Ptarmigan Tow (the highest tow), it's good a fairly easy track and serves green terrain. T-bars are made for two, otherwise it's unbalanced - an inexperienced boarder new to tows will get on much better riding a T-bar with a skier (providing the skier isn't a T-bar novice too)!



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 23.37hrs Tue 14 Jan 14 by alan.

Attachments: gorm-map-from-funicular.jpg (254kB)  
Goto Page:  12Next
Current Page:1 of 2
Your Name: 
Your Email: 
Subject: