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DrHosking


Posts: 427
Joined: Jul 2004
Last Visited: 16:08
18th Mar 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 08.58hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
supposed to be open for uplift today, Ptarmigan, Polar Express and M1
Can someone point me in the direction of the piste map on the Cairngorm Website, can't find it!! No mention of it, if its there its well hidden!

kaiserpc


Posts: 28
Joined: Feb 2015
Last Visited: 15:39
31st Mar 2020
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 09.30hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
[www.cairngormmountain.org]

Can anyone going on Friday let us know what the conditions are like on the lower half of the slopes - I'm thinking of taking my daughter up for the 1st time on Saturday and was going to give her a lesson on the road/path

Snow-Bunny


Posts: 219
Joined: Jan 2008
Last Visited: 21:03
4th Aug 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 13.13hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
Does anybody know why they have got the case marked as out of bounds!!!

alan


Posts: 10768
Joined: Nov 1994
Last Visited: 22:28
10th Mar 2024
What's this?What's this?What's this?
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 20.31hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
Since people are asking and the price was £24.50 on Friday, CML said 'normal price' for Saturday, so that presumably is full price day tickets which is £35.

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 21.17hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
Snow-Bunny Wrote:
Does anybody know why they have got the case marked as out of bounds!!!


Do you mean the Ciste Caroline? The have now shown the route to Corie Laogh Mor of the top of the East Ciste heading over the patrol boundary. The boundary goes to the bottom of the Ciste chair lift.

kaiserpc Wrote:


Can anyone going on Friday let us know what the conditions are like on the lower half of the slopes - I'm thinking of taking my daughter up for the 1st time on Saturday and was going to give her a lesson on the road/path


The lower slopes are very thin and I would not recommend taking a novice on to here. We skied back to the car park today, it was ok for those who know what they are doing and can stop in a very short space. There is a lot of heather and rocks about to put off the unsure. In saying that the top bowl is in excellent condition with fresh squeaky dry soft snow. Perfect for a complete novice. The polar express was being de-iced today ready for tomorrow as was the Ciste t-bar.


Blue bird day with no wind.

The upper mountain is in good condition for this early in the season. The snow is thin but there is plenty to have fun. The east runs have caught the most. The Ptarmigan bowl, Ciste fairway, Travers, 105 to the top zigzag are in good condition. The cas is sort of skiable along the fence line but it will not be open for general use as it needs a lot of snow still. The gun barrel has not caught the snow and is fenced off, partly to stop people gong down while the contractors are rebuilding the Cas Tow gantry, a lot of progress with this. Anyway the cas could not have run as the tow path does not have enough snow yet.
The White lady is thin but skiable. It was officially closed today as they have not managed to get all the hazards marked out.

best runs of the day. The Coronation wall and east Lady, fantastic wide cover right over to the Head Wall. Soft squeaky fresh snow. Fresh track available right up to the last uplift.

All in all a good day to be on the mountain.

Graeme

Working on the cas load area


Ptarmigan travers


Heading to coronation wall


East Lady


Coronation Wall


Many more pics on my facebook page if you are interested.




Edited 2 times. Last edit at 21.38hrs Fri 8 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Cas Gantry Work.JPG (258kB)   Ptramigan Traverse.JPG (269kB)   Coronation Wall.JPG (291kB)   John on East Lady.JPG (218kB)   Les on Coronation Wall.JPG (118kB)  
sspeirs


Posts: 370
Joined: Mar 2008
Last Visited: 09:59
22nd Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 23.03hrs on Fri 8 Jan 16
Looks like a lot of snow in those pics!

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 17.55hrs on Sat 9 Jan 16
Today started of clear and cold but buy lunchtime the wind was picking up and the pea soup rolled in, Visibility became difficult and the light flattened.

The light fluffy snow of yesterday is starting to compress as you would expect but there are still plenty of untracked stashes to find.

As you would expect there were significantly more people today than yesterday but the lifts coped very well especially when the Ciste T-bar opened it took the pressure off. By mid afternoon it was back to skiing directly on to the lifts, a difference to the 5 lines at the M1 first thing in the morning. Even with the 5 lines they were very well behaved and self managed I assume mainly locals and CG regulars knowing what they were doing, they moved efficiently.

I was skiing with the chap that was repairing the Cas gantry, that is it complete now. I would imagine it will have to be inspected to get the ok before use but it also needs a bit more snow.

The boys pulled one out of the hat and managed to get the cas and top zigzag open for public use.I was surprised at this as it was still a bit sketchy in places and not the cas we have come to know over the last few years but well done guys getting it open. With the heavy traffic it was seeing it was causing a bit of ware so be careful if the forecast snow tonight does not come in.

Many folks were skiing to the car park at the end of the day. This is officially closed and the heavy traffic was causing issues. I would not recommend this route now.

The Lady opened but was thin in places and pretty firm, not the best ski and I avoided after one run.

Best runs, Top bowl, a bit thin at Ciste load area, Traverse wide and deep. M1 a bit tricky. cas fence line very nice.

Biggest mistake, Jeans bowl. Do not, I repeat, do not try this just yet. It looked nice but it was a mixture of fresh patches and ice, not pleasant at all.

Graeme

Lovely morning but that changed at lunch time


Looking over to the cas, fairly thin but officially open


Bottom of M1, watch out for the death cookies


Snow cannon running all day towards the zigzags. M1 que in the distance not bad at all.


Ciste Fairway, a bit thin and narrow at the bottom



This year I am going to be posting most of my picture on my face book page. It is so much quicker to post there as they get resized automatically. It saves me over an hour on each post.So if you are interested head over to windymiller, it is open access so no need sign up, like or anything like that.









Edited 2 times. Last edit at 18.04hrs Sat 9 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Ptarmigan load area.JPG (206kB)   Cas Area.JPG (226kB)   M1 bottom.JPG (226kB)   Snow cannon.JPG (225kB)   Csite Fairway.JPG (205kB)  
sspeirs


Posts: 370
Joined: Mar 2008
Last Visited: 09:59
22nd Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 20.01hrs on Sat 9 Jan 16
WindyMiller Wrote:

.....

This year I am going to be posting most of my picture on my face book page. It is so much quicker to post there as they get resized automatically.

Edited 2 times. Last edit at 18.04hrs Sat 9 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.


Would be a pity IMHO if we stopped posting photos here on WH. I know what you mean, it' takes a bit of time. However, there may be a risk that more people just bypass WH - I could be wrong here of course. Alan and Wnterhighland rely on traffic to fund the site, so the more that bypass WH, the bigger impact on WH. Just a thought. How about putting into a FB album and posting the URL on your report? Or FlickR? (that's what I do when I have a lot of photos)

Just an idea, may or may not have an effect, just raising the concern.

telemarker


Posts: 2934
Joined: Oct 2003
Last Visited: 14:59
12th Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 08.45hrs on Sun 10 Jan 16
I wonder if the photo uploading gui could be improved on winterhighland
I rarely post photos on here or backcountry now, instead use FB backcountry pages
The system on here is pretty outdated out,

Snow-Bunny


Posts: 219
Joined: Jan 2008
Last Visited: 21:03
4th Aug 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 18.33hrs on Sun 10 Jan 16
Thanks Graham. I meant the cas but you covered that. Hope to head up this weekend. Depends on horses, may have to find livery for 2 in a hurry.

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 19.40hrs on Sun 10 Jan 16
Snow-Bunny Wrote:
Hope to head up this weekend. Depends on horses, may have to find livery for 2 in a hurry.


Are you bringing the horses up here? I have room on the farm but we would need to sort out equestrian fencing tape. We should be skiing this weekend try and find us and we can discuss the livery, or give me a call.

sspeirs Wrote:

Would be a pity IMHO if we stopped posting photos here on WH. I know what you mean, it' takes a bit of time. However, there may be a risk that more people just bypass WH - I could be wrong here of course. Alan and Wnterhighland rely on traffic to fund the site, so the more that bypass WH, the bigger impact on WH. Just a thought. How about putting into a FB album and posting the URL on your report? Or FlickR? (that's what I do when I have a lot of photos)

Just an idea, may or may not have an effect, just raising the concern.


It has already happened, a number of well known CG regulars that used to post here only use facebook now. I now get more information on CG from my face book feeds each day than I get from here. I tried to encourage more folks to post on WH last year but it quickly turned into the windymiller only thread. The biggest complaint was how difficult it is to post here. I spoke to Alan about it but he said it would not be easy for him to change the format and would cost him significantly more.
I am not planning to stop the posts on the snow thread just the ones in the public reports. I was putting up around 15-20 pictures a night and it was taking for ever.

Anyway Today....

It was a mixed bag with weather, bitterly cold with the viability very poor at times with heavy snow showers going through, occasional glimpses of sun but very few and far between. The new snow freshened up the surface from mid station up giving some nice fast skiing but in the occasional flat light the bumps would bite back! By late afternoon the temp went from minus stupid to positively warm. The lower slopes actually got soggy and it was raining when we got back to the car park. I would not recommend the lower slopes at the moment.

The crowds were surprisingly less than yesterday and there was very little wait to get on to the Ciste or Ptarmigan. There was a bit of a wait at the M1 but only two or three lines at the worst and on occasions nothing at all, ski straight on.

The strong winds this morning caused quite a bit of drifting but on the upside the fences were doing their job and their lines are the places to find the powder. The traverse is wide, very wide and the cas is catching the snow now and filling in but it will take a while for the lift to run.

Graeme

M1 Load area, good coverage and getting better


bitterly cold in the wind, snow drifting at top of ptarmigan


Looking from the M1 over to the WL and East Lady. A number of folks skiing this today but I thought unwise with the changing visibility.







Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.48hrs Sun 10 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: M1 load area.JPG (205kB)   Ptramigan.JPG (203kB)   M1 looking to WL.JPG (203kB)  
h1ghlander


Posts: 57
Joined: Jan 2011
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 00.41hrs on Mon 11 Jan 16
What is wrong with the Cas gantry Graeme, somebody told me on Saturday it had been condemned by health and safety inspectors?

Any time scale on when it will be sorted?

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 08.24hrs on Mon 11 Jan 16
h1ghlander Wrote:
What is wrong with the Cas gantry Graeme, somebody told me on Saturday it had been condemned by health and safety inspectors?

Any time scale on when it will be sorted?


Yes it has but it has already been repaired. They have built a new load area in front of the lifty hut so we will now be queuing in front of the lift instead of going around the old gantry. See the picture from the other day. They have actually removed the entrance to the old gantry now.
We just need a little more snow to see how the queuing system will work in practice. I have been told there will be a number of lifties there to help.

cmorrison


Posts: 1121
Joined: Sep 2007
Last Visited: 10:36
21st Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 09.20hrs on Mon 11 Jan 16
WindyMiller Wrote:
h1ghlander Wrote:
What is wrong with the Cas gantry Graeme, somebody told me on Saturday it had been condemned by health and safety inspectors?

Any time scale on when it will be sorted?

Yes it has but it has already been repaired. They have built a new load area in front of the lifty hut so we will now be queuing in front of the lift instead of going around the old gantry. See the picture from the other day. They have actually removed the entrance to the old gantry now.
We just need a little more snow to see how the queuing system will work in practice. I have been told there will be a number of lifties there to help.


How will this work for people coming off the car park tow or on the bottom leg of the zig zag? Will they now need to walk up the bottom of the gun barrel?

kaiserpc


Posts: 28
Joined: Feb 2015
Last Visited: 15:39
31st Mar 2020
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2016
Date Posted: 12.30hrs on Mon 11 Jan 16
I did end up trying to teach my 8 year old daughter on Saturday after walking up a bit (just below the old beginner area). It wasn't too bad actually, once we had skied on it a few times the snow was okay. There were a few rocks and a burn to navigate round mind. As for the ski lesson, my daughter decided she didn't want to learn the snow plough and wanted just to point her skis down the hill - so lots of speed and zero control - she has mastered the art of falling on her back side.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 12.47hrs Mon 11 Jan 16 by kaiserpc.

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