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Timberline


Posts: 491
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24th Feb 2021
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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 15.06hrs on Sat 25 Feb 17
Sadly the trails have had a warm rinse and blow dry since yesterday. The thin snow cover has been replaced by slush and long bare stretches. So there is no skiable snow at Clashindarroch for the time being (apart from a few short stretches on the Haute Route which are not worth the effort of walking to). It will not be possible to hold the Open Championships at Clashindarroch tomorrow. Hopefully there'll be more snow next week.
telemarker


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12th Apr 2021
Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 16.16hrs on Sat 25 Feb 17
I was out at 9am on skis and was able to complete a loop via Leids leap and shortcut and explore some side trails, but snow was disappearing quickly. Seems to be the story of this winter, snow around for 1-2 days then gone.... sad smiley
Timberline


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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 15.49hrs on Sat 4 Mar 17
After much doubt about what the weather was going to do -- no, there wasn't enough snow for skiing at Clashindarroch today, but yes, there was snow. At the lower end of Leids Leap, near the road, there was 2-3cm of wet snow at 2pm today; temperature zero, and light precipitation of wet snow/sleet. In the circumstances it wouldn't have been skiable. At the main entrance there was just a wet dusting of snow. 

The forecasts suggest that we'll not get much more precipitation this weekend, so unless there is a freeze and at least 2-3 cm top-up it's not looking any better for Sunday as far as Clashindarroch is concerned.
Peter Thorn


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16th Mar 2021
Re: The Clash season 2016/17
Date Posted: 08.06hrs on Sat 15 Apr 17
This season has been the worst for number of ski days since I started keeping formal records in 2003/04. We have had so far 16 ski days (6 good, 10 marginal). We have skied as late as 29th April (last season) so there is still some vague hope of more snow but late season snow doesn't last long in the Clash.

Timberline may disagree with this being the worst snow season in the Clash but that is more due to how we assess snow conditions. I use a fairly subjective "is it possible to ski criteria" rather than is there snow on the ground.

An average Clash season is 45-50 ski days.


Timberline


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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 21.07hrs on Sat 15 Apr 17
We are in broad agreement Peter. My records for this year gave 7 good days -- the same as 2015/16. 2013/14, with 5 days, was the worst in the 14 seasons I've been recording.
Timberline


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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 15.49hrs on Tue 25 Apr 17
It's been snowing at Clashindarroch for over 24 hours and, if you tolerate the overhead conditions, the skiing today has been the best (on ungroomed snow) in the whole season. Early this afternoon there was up to 10cm on the lower trails and around 15cm on the higher routes, with more depth building up all the time. Even on the usual thin bits on the Main Drag there was just enough cover to get over the usual thin bits without scraping on stones. You know when its good when the distinction between forest road and verge starts to disappear. With temperatures at plus 1 the snow could reasonably be described as "damp powder" -- a bit on the slow side but just avoiding being sticky. It won't last long, of course, but at this time of year daylight skiing in the evening and early morning is always an option. With a frost quite possible, that damp powder may become interestingly fast. And a bonus for statisticians, today counts as a "good" ski day, which in my records elevates 2016/17 from the position of second worst season in 14 years to third worst.
telemarker


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12th Apr 2021
Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 16.41hrs on Tue 25 Apr 17
Thanks colin
Timely update

Wolfing down dinner, then will be up there for an evening ski
telemarker


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12th Apr 2021
Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 20.36hrs on Tue 25 Apr 17
Definitely deepest snow of season, skied from 7pm to 8.40pm
About 1ft snow on upper haute route, snowed heavily for first 45mins I was out,
Freezing at upper levels and 1 DegC in car park when I left
Timberline


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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 15.33hrs on Wed 26 Apr 17
Glad you had a worthwhile evening ski, Telemarker. There have been further snow showers since yesterday, adding a little more to the snow depths, but with the temperature plus 2 at midday the snow was slow and heavy-going. As usual, the thin cover at the entrance was beginning to melt out, but within the forest the cover seems to have remained as good as on Tuesday -- so, another ski day to give a surprise boost to a disappointing season. Good to see other ski tracks on the trails too.
Timberline


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24th Feb 2021
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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 14.48hrs on Thu 27 Apr 17
With temperatures up to plus 7 today, the trails are becoming broken, and somewhat soggy. On the lower trails, where there was 10cm depth on Wednesday, today's depth has become 5cm. A brief sampling of the Main Drag suggests that there may have been around 90% skiable cover in the trails network today, but this will inevitably diminish fairly rapidly in the anticipated more seasonal temperatures. The last time there was acceptable trail skiing in Clashindarroch in April was in 2013 during the first half of the month, while in the "endless winter" of 2009-10 the last good trail skiing was on 5th April. 2017 is the first year on record (14 seasons) in which there has been good trail skiing as late as 25-26 April.
telemarker


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12th Apr 2021
Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 18.07hrs on Thu 27 Apr 17
Thanks colin

I was wondering if this was the latest good skiing year in recent times, I had wondered when it ended in 2009/2010
So one positive stat from is poor season
Peter Thorn


Posts: 268
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Last Visited: 09:17
16th Mar 2021
Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 18.20hrs on Thu 27 Apr 17
My records since 2004 the latest ski day being 29th Apr 2016 - but that was a marginal ski day. The latest "good" ski day was 17th Apr 2011. So 2017 sets a new record for a late, "good" ski day. The holy grail is skiing the Clash in May.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.21hrs Thu 27 Apr 17 by Peter Thorn.
Timberline


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Re: Clashindarroch Snow Reports 2016/17
Date Posted: 17.55hrs on Sat 29 Apr 17
Any snow on the main trails has now been reduced to unskiable scraps, as expected with the more seasonable temperatures. Whether we find Peter's holy grail of skiing in May remains to be seen. One possibly interesting snippet is that after the "endless winter" of 2009-10, a pocket-handkerchief sized snowpatch survived at Clashindarroch (off-trail) until June.
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