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WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
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1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 19.57hrs on Mon 12 Mar 18
Linzski Wrote:


It was, however, lovely and wind still so folk were hanging about chatting at the top of the tow, even some in background with no hat/helmet on! I wonder who?

 


W.


Who could that have been grinning smiley cant get away with anything with out some one taking a picture these days. tongue sticking out smiley Also in your m1 picture





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.58hrs Mon 12 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 19.10hrs on Tue 13 Mar 18
After yesterday I went up with low expectations. My ski buddies were otherwise engaged today so I planned a short day skiing on my own.

The first thing noted was the fresh snow in the car park, approximately 2cm had accumulated changing the off piste scratchy hard surface into smooth gliding. The hard base surface had softened up making the runs excellent to ski, a little soft lower down but fresh higher up. The visibility was a bit off with mist up to the summit though the sun was trying to get through, then after lunch the mist lifted and the sun was out so off piste venturing.

The east ptarmigan, gully no1 and the ciste gully were excellent, the fresh was not as deep as a few days ago but the hard surface was sufficiently covered. With the good skiing on the Ciste side I wondered how the Coronation wall had improved and by this time picked up some waifs and strays. Eight of us started exploring the upper mountain off piste in the strong sunshine, mixing in the Fiacaill runs and the white lady, excellent hero spring snow. Nice to meet and ski with winterhighlanders Linzski and Morten.

By the end of the day the snow was crunching up as the temperature dropped , not icy more spring snow, nice to carve through. We used the M2 / day lodge to get back down, a fast pace was skied with smiles all round.

Lots of people pictures going up on face book later.
[www.facebook.com]

Tomorrow does not look good at all, possible 70mph winds, a good day to have a rest I think.

Graeme

The coronation wall, it does not look steep in the angle of the photograph but it does show the nice soft snow as the group descended.


The White Lady, good spring snow the full length and wide.


The old Fiacaill run, one of the best on piste runs of the day.


The gun barrel still awesome.


At the end of the day the Day Lodge run was drying out as the temperature was dropping into nice spring snow.








Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.19hrs Tue 13 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Day Lodge Run.JPG (196kB)   White Lady.JPG (172kB)   Coronation Wall.JPG (176kB)   Gun Barrel.JPG (233kB)   Fiacaill.JPG (184kB)  
Linzski


Posts: 9
Joined: Jan 2018
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 23.39hrs on Tue 13 Mar 18
We drove up for another afternoon through rain on the Glenmore road and into sleet at the carpark which by the time we were half way up the Fiacal Poma had turned to lovely large fluffy snowflakes.


So Windy thought he was going to be all by himself for a nice quiet ski today.


...and then there were two (Windy & Anne) - West Wall Poma behind and a very full east wall of Ptarmigan in background.


Like the Pied Piper there were soon many more......quite a gathering in fact.


We caught up with Windy and Co heading out from the top of Corrie Cas to ski the lovely wide snowfield above Fiacal


Then it was time for a scoot up to the top - Ptarmigan and park looking in excellent condition.




A traverse over to ski Coronation Wall with a stop to admire the view


Superb conditions skiing down


The White Lady was in good shape. Firm at the top and then quite suddenly much softer from half way down. Was too busy skiing it to take any pics!

We ended the day with a fabulous run down the M2 which has been the star run of this season so far. It's still full and wide.


With a stop half way down to capture the last ones standing...........so hard to leave the hill with such good snow and weather conditions.


Thank you Windy, Anne, Sam, Barbara and others for making Morten and I so welcome to your group. We had a great fun and very sociable time skiing with you today. Hope to do it again soon.

Happy Sliding
Linzski



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 23.46hrs Tue 13 Mar 18 by Linzski.

telemarker


Posts: 2934
Joined: Oct 2003
Last Visited: 14:59
12th Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 07.18hrs on Wed 14 Mar 18
That ski helmet wont help much strapped to waist ?

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 15.26hrs on Sun 18 Mar 18
telemarker Wrote:
That ski helmet wont help much strapped to waist ?

The reason I wear a helmet is to keep my ears warm, much more efficient than a woolly hat during a Cairngorm breeze, on a hot day off it comes, nice to enjoy the mountain unencumbered, wind in the hair, if I had any hair! Exceptions to this are tree and couloir skiing, no matter how hot helmet on. Today it was firmly strapped to my head to stop it blowing away.

What a horrible day to start with. A howling gale blowing straight down the cas up track with heavy snow falling and significant drifting making visibility zero at times and bitterly cold.

Only the Car Park and Cas t-bar able to run, oh and the sunkids latter on.

The upper two thirds of the cas has been stripped back to solid ice, not patches but a continuous sheet, very unpleasant. The stripped snow was collecting from the zigzag cross over down to the car park giving very nice compacted powdery snow in the gun barrel, zigzags and lower slopes.

After a couple of runs the upper cas started to collect some of the falling snow improving the surface but then the wind picked up even more and stripped it off again. The sun did come out after lunch improving visibility some of the time though the blowing snow was not subsiding.

The 105 was solid and not worth skiing as was the white lady.

Looking at the mountain west facing slopes have gained, east lady, coronation wall etc, every where else has lost apart from gullies such as the gun barrel.

There was a kids slope style competition today. To salvage something of the competition the ground crew got inventive and built a park at the day lodge where the snow factory had been pumping out all that snow.

The UpBattle went ahead too but appeared to be terminating at the top of the cas.

Graeme

Gun Barrel is catching the snow being stripped off the upper cas.


The lower slopes were actually quite good with the snow depositing here too.


West facing slopes are gaining snow, East Lady is looking good.


Jeans bowl is east facing and has lost snow to the wind. Lower down on side slope there is even more snow loss.


A park was constructed this morning to allow the kids slopestyle competition to take place,






Edited 1 times. Last edit at 15.40hrs Sun 18 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: day lodge park.JPG (198kB)   Gun Barrel.JPG (167kB)   Lower Slopes.JPG (173kB)   East Lady.JPG (167kB)   Jeans Bowl.JPG (192kB)  
bogbiker


Posts: 110
Joined: Feb 2009
Last Visited: 17:33
9th Apr 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 15.50hrs on Sun 18 Mar 18
I skinned up the Daylodge and M2, then the Cas and Traverse. It was wild up there. Significantly more so with altitude.

The lower Daylodge piste had lovely light powder on it. Far more than anywhere else on the hill. From the dog-leg on the M2 is just solid ice the entire way. The same was true for much of the Ptarmigan bowl. On the Cas side, the Traverse had caught some fresh, as had the zig zags, but as Windy says, the upper Cas is stripped almost completely bare.

What a shame with such a good forecast for tomorrow.

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 18.46hrs on Mon 19 Mar 18
Definitely a helmet off day today, boy was it hot on the lower runs in the blistering sun, though a superb weather day does not automatically make a superb ski day.

The skiing was rather mixed ranging from hard and icy to soft fresh wind blown snow. It took knowledge of the mountain to maximise the good skiing. When you stood at the bottom of the mountain and looked up you could see the east facing slopes glistening in the sun, this was solid ice. West facing was matt and was soft wind blown.

The upper cas had a mix of hard and good pisted surface. As you skied down you occasionally lost an edge before a quick recovery. As soon as you reached the mid cas the snow changed to very nice and onwards to the gun barrel. At the end of the day much of the upper did become more forgiving giving a nice Cas ski top to bottom.

The M2 was a bit hard with death cookies, again this became more forgiving later on. The surprise of the day was the day lodge and surrounding area. Lovely soft snow, especially on the run and skiers left of the tow path through the small trees. It did get a bit heavy in the warm sunshine.

The lady was pisted but the top half was hard to ski, the lower half was very nice but you did have to suffer the upper half to get there! The east lady has filled in though to get in there it was a long traverse from the lady its self as there were a lot of exposed rocks just off the M2 ridge. The traverse in was icy and I think put a number of people off.

The upper lifts were de-iced and the tow paths prepared though they did not come on. It looked like every one and there dog was out digging the rail track to get the train running. The train did come on mid afternoon.

The Coronation wall was looking good and one or two people were making fresh tracks on it. We chatted with ski patrol and they were strongly recommending to keep off it before it could be fully assessed for avalanche risk. I made an oblique ski of the bottom section close to the traverse, and yes it was good.

In a day like today with brilliant sunshine we decided to skin up the ptarmigan and marquis well area to the summit to look at the view, spectacular. The skiing was not the best but worth the hoof up . You could clearly see Glenshee and the pisted runs in the distance. Nice to meet winterhighlander Snowmandave here and had a chat. We though the ski back down on to the east ptarmigan would give nice soft snow, we were wrong. Unlike the east lady it was hard and scratchy so it was back over to the cas to enjoy the last few runs in the late afternoon sun.

Lots of pictures going up on face book later.
[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

Upper cas, the run was mixed but just look at the ice to the sides glistening in the sun, solid boiler plate stuff


Mid Mountain, the snow in the foreground was bullet proof though higher up on the east lady was excellent.


East Lady, lovely skiing


The Day Lodge Glades, very nice skiing though was getting a bit soggy in the warm sunshine.


On the way back down from the summit we though the east ptarmigan would be soft like the east lady, wrong! hard and scratchy.






Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.56hrs Mon 19 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Upper Cas.JPG (231kB)   east lady.JPG (213kB)   Daylodge Glades.JPG (205kB)   mid Mountain.JPG (227kB)   East Ptarmigan.JPG (222kB)  
SnowmanDave


Posts: 186
Joined: Dec 2013
Last Visited: 12:36
3rd Mar 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 09.14hrs on Tue 20 Mar 18
WindyMiller Wrote:
The surprise of the day was the day lodge and surrounding area. Lovely soft snow, especially on the run and skiers left of the tow path through the small trees. It did get a bit heavy in the warm sunshine.



In a day like today with brilliant sunshine we decided to skin up the ptarmigan and marquis well area to the summit to look at the view, spectacular. The skiing was not the best but worth the hoof up . You could clearly see Glenshee and the pisted runs in the distance. Nice to meet winterhighlander Snowmandave here and had a chat. We though the ski back down on to the east ptarmigan would give nice soft snow, we were wrong. Unlike the east lady it was hard and scratchy so it was back over to the cas to enjoy the last few runs in the late afternoon sun.


On the way back down from the summit we though the east ptarmigan would be soft like the east lady, wrong! hard and scratchy.
 

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.56hrs Mon 19 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.



Nice to see you up at the top!

I got about 1/2 way down the east ptarmigan & removed by skins & then thought that this was you choosing an easy route...!!!Boiler plate...

After I left you at the bottom at the gunbarrel I actually made it back to the car park in one piece & yes the day lodge & lower runs were perfect condition.

I also realised that I had been ski-ing wrong as I decided to ski the lower section differently. basically, spent all day touring on the boilerplate (except bottom section of lurchers) & with ski crampons on...so weight is more toe....& I was trying to ski like that & not weighting by ski properly...so I relaxed my knees, & put my heel down more...way better...

Not bad for my first tour in the boots & only the second time I have worn them!

Anyway hope to get out again when the snow is a bit softer....I think I've had enough of boiler plate..or "Cairngorm Concrete"...




---That was not a fall, I intended to do that!---

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 19.15hrs on Tue 20 Mar 18
Another stunning helmet off day on the Gorm.

The pisting has improved the runs though you could still find icy patches, especially at the top of the White Lady and left hand side of the Ptarmigan Bowl. The majority of the runs were firm but nice mid mountain up and soft below.

After getting up the mountain the first serious run of the day was the Coronation Wall, what a run down, superb and that set the tone of the rest of the day. The ground team have gone berserk, if it was white it was pisted. Areas were pisted that have not been since 2013. This improved the normally off piste areas that were icy into quality runs. The East Ptarmigan which I described as hard and scratchy yesterday now has a high line pisted and a run back to the t-bar. The snow came up soft and smooth to ski.

In the warm afternoon sunshine all runs were softening into great spring snow, even some powder stashes still to be found. Coire na Ciste has become a play ground for intermediates and above. Extra runs on the east Ciste have been pisted close to Gully No1. The high fence line above the east Ciste leading to Gully1+2 has been pisted giving easy access to the whole east side, not just the gullies.

To the ops team, any chance of putting a machine down the Coronation Wall like you did in 2013? It would be nice to keep some of the snow that has filled in here.

Gully No2 was special, not often it stays in such good shape but that is over two weeks now. The only draw back is if you want to ski its full length it involves a bit of creative poling back to the west wall poma. The Ciste gully is wide and soft its full length, right down to the new road way that has been cut to get back to the WWP. No more icy traverse over this season.

The Aonach bowl was another special place. The snow remained in good condition all day.

Hard to say what was the best run of the day every thing was giving smiles, even the home road down to the day lodge poma!

I can only put 5 pictures up here, so many I wanted to post so I will put some on face book later.
[www.facebook.com]

The forecast for tomorrow looks horrible, high winds and temperature rising. May be a day to stay at home.

Graeme

The East Ptarmigan was hard and scratchy yesterday. Today they pisted a high line in and a run back to the t-bar. Very nice for lower intermediates and above.


The east side of the Ciste is just a large playground if you like steep red and black runs. In the fore ground you can see the new road way to get back to the WWP.


The team have been trying out new areas not normally pisted giving easy access to the ciste gully from different areas that were only accessible for off piste skiers.


The Aonach bowl was excellent.


An unusual picture angle. We skied the full length of the Lady on perfect snow and then continued down the home road to get on to the day lodge poma and back up to over yonder and the west wall poma.








Edited 3 times. Last edit at 19.34hrs Tue 20 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: new run.JPG (211kB)   Bottom of Lady.JPG (220kB)   The East Ciste.JPG (204kB)   Aonach Bowl.JPG (238kB)   East Ptarmigan piste.JPG (220kB)  
WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 18.42hrs on Thu 22 Mar 18
Arriving in the car park this morning it was already +7oC, the hair dryer wind turned up to maximum and with the strong sun the snow pack was soft, very soft. All signs of ice had gone and the snow was retreating fast from the thinner areas.

Most runs are still deep and wide though the lower slopes have been significantly punished, by the end of the day water was pouring over the car park run. The home road, which we enjoyed on Tuesday is now broken.

The good news is places like the Cas that had been hard were good spring snow higher up though heavy lower down. The Ptarmigan bowl has suffered too, especially skiers left near the ciste t-bar, right hand side is still good.

And even better news, the West Wall which has been a no go area for such a long time became a pleasure to ski, wide, deep and steep smiling smiley . Even Ryvoan, the piste of steel, softened into a lovely ski.

By the afternoon the off piste was getting heavy and tiring on the legs so areas such as the east side of the Ciste were becoming less popular.

BASI were running courses and made a long line of double moguls down the east ptarmigan. When they went for lunch, well we just had to! These old fogies still have it. I do miss a good mogul field with all the perfect pisting going on these days.

The wind was strong but surprisingly none of the lifts went off. Skiing the traverse was a challenge and polling was required to make it to the end.

The concern now is what is going to happen when the temperature drops and the snow hardens.

A few people pictures on face book later.
[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

The Cas was soft up to the top, no hard areas. Note the brown areas increasing in size.


Ciste Bowl, nice ski in to the gully.


The east Ciste, gully no1 was nice in the morning but got heavy in the afternoon. Note the brown areas on the road way back to the WWP. The snow is very thin in places.


Ryvoan softened up with bare patches appearing, heather and rocks.


Run of the day, the West Wall. Firm to ski, not icy,






Edited 2 times. Last edit at 18.52hrs Thu 22 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Cas.JPG (224kB)   East Ciste.JPG (242kB)   Ryvoan.JPG (213kB)   West Wall.JPG (219kB)   Ciste Bowl.JPG (188kB)  
WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 15.43hrs on Fri 23 Mar 18
Arrived to torrential rain and strong winds. By the time I had my boots on and walked over to the station I was soaked, so much so even the train driver mentioned it!

As the train ascended the rain turned to snow just above mid station and by the tunnel mouth the snow was accumulating. At top station the strong wind was blowing the new snow around and visibility was coming and going.

Under foot the snow was hard with pockets of fresh. As we headed down the snow quickly became heavy and the fresh snow was sticky. Skiing the Ciste gully was stop-go with the different types of snow. The road over to the West Wall Poma is getting thin and brown.

By lunch time the wind picked up significantly and the team were shutting down lifts and to be honest it was not a problem as it was not pleasant to be there. We headed over to the White Lady. The run is wide and long with heavy but nice snow. The problem was trying to get on to the run with the wind, it was a real challenge. Once in the skiing was good but then you had to go back up….

Not a day for off piste, the snow was heavy and lumpy, leg breaking stuff.

The park was being worked on by Adam and Mike and the pipe cutter was being used to get the shapes. Depending on what the weather does tonight the park should be usable tomorrow.

The Cas and Gun Barrel were were not all that more sheltered and in the softening snow it was time to call it an early day.

The lower runs are breaking, the car park run and home road are broken and burnside is thin and narrow. There is quite a bit of snow in that area so hopefully once the temperatures drop they can begin to patch.

Over all the main runs are still wide and deep, we just need the weather to play ball.

Graeme

Best run of the day was the white lady, a little heavy but well pisted.


The bare patches are getting bigger on Ryvoan.


The M1 is deep and wide with reasonable snow. The problem was the wind trying to blow you back up the slope.


The gun barrel is still wide and flat. the snow is heavy but this will change as the temperature drops. Look at the lower slopes in the distance, more brown than white.


The lower slopes, heavy rain here and the snow is saturated.






Edited 1 times. Last edit at 15.51hrs Fri 23 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Lower Slopes.JPG (214kB)   Ryvoan.JPG (203kB)   M1.JPG (218kB)   Gun Barrel.JPG (220kB)   White Lady.JPG (209kB)  
veletron


Posts: 447
Joined: Feb 2006
Last Visited: 14:46
1st Apr 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 17.37hrs on Fri 23 Mar 18
Hi

Anyone know what the touring conditions are like out towards Macdui or over the back of Cairngorm towards Loch Avon?

Thinking of a tour on Sunday.

Nigel

WindyMiller


Posts: 654
Joined: Sep 2010
Last Visited: 17:31
1st Sep 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 17.57hrs on Sat 24 Mar 18
veletron Wrote:
Hi

Anyone know what the touring conditions are like out towards Macdui or over the back of Cairngorm towards Loch Avon?

Thinking of a tour on Sunday.

Nigel


Sorry Nigel, it was Monday the last time we went for a wander so my report and pictures are out of date as the weather changed significantly. Folks are saying there is still good cover and if Laogh Mor is anything to go by today the skiing will be good.

And to-day..


I arrived early this morning 08:20. With the weather forecast to be good I expected the car parks to be busy. Nobody, no one,not a soul. I was the first in the lower Cas car park, I usually park there so I can ski back to the car. There was a camper van that had been there over night and it looked like a car parked for climbers but no skiers.

The lifts came on 08:35, still no one about and this continued all day. Empty bars were going around the Cas, Ptarmigan and Ciste. No one waiting at any of the pomas unless they were having a chat with the lifties or rent a crowd kids ski club turned up.

As expected the snow was hard to start with but it quickly softened in the strong sunshine. The lower runs that had broken yesterday were patched up and giving good skiing. The freeze thaw cycles is producing nice spring snow conditions.

I made the mistake of skiing the Ciste gully first thing, not a good idea. The sun had not got in here yet and it was tough to say the least. The Cas was well pisted and was firm to start with though quite skiable as was the Lady. The Lady quickly softened into a beautiful wide piste that I would even have taken a snow plougher down!

On Monday we noticed a pistie beasty heading down Coire Laogh Mor. We could not go down as there was no way back unless you take the service bus, which I grudge paying for. Today the shuttle bus was in the Ciste car park. A quick radio call to ops and it was confirmed the bus was there to pick up skiers that wanted to ski Laogh Mor. So we did grinning smiley grinning smiley grinning smiley Superb, fantastic and lots of other words. The full top of the Ptarmigan to the Ciste car park was at our disposal, 2 miles plus of a run and by far the best skiing on the mountain. There were a couple of heather hops on the return road but nothing to worry about.

The park is prepared and the take off ramps are shaped, I will put pictures in the park thread.

The rest of the mountain, even though it is probably at its best, paled into insignificance after constantly lapping Laogh Mor.

Will put extra pictures up on face book later.
[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

The Lady is in excellent condition, and easy to get over to the east lady.


Laogh Mor, a superb ski down.


The end of the Laogh Mor route, easy ski right back to the stair case. A pity some thoughtless walkers decided to use the piste as the path way leaving huge holes all over it, not even to the side but all over. Ok to day with them being soft but when they freeze tonight will be difficult tomorrow.


A nice view of the Ciste side and the expanse of snow on that side of the mountain.


The lower slopes have been patched and gave good skiing.











Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.09hrs Sat 24 Mar 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: White Lady.JPG (227kB)   Upper Coire Laogh Mor.JPG (218kB)   Coire na Ciste.JPG (246kB)   Lower Laogh Mor.JPG (250kB)   Lower Slopes.JPG (269kB)  
SnowmanDave


Posts: 186
Joined: Dec 2013
Last Visited: 12:36
3rd Mar 2021
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 19.35hrs on Sat 24 Mar 18
I thought today would be too busy & maybe too warm so stayed away....

Bugger!!...anyway I'm going tomorrow to Cairn Gorm...anyone else??..in the morning, will take my touring set-up just in case I want to go off-piste, but last Monday was just sooo hard ...boilerplate etc..took my legs a couple of days to recover...

---That was not a fall, I intended to do that!---

bogbiker


Posts: 110
Joined: Feb 2009
Last Visited: 17:33
9th Apr 2019
Re: CairnGorm Mountain Snow 2018
Date Posted: 21.28hrs on Sat 24 Mar 18
SnowmanDave Wrote:
I thought today would be too busy & maybe too warm so stayed away....

Bugger!!...anyway I'm going tomorrow to Cairn Gorm...anyone else??..in the morning, will take my touring set-up just in case I want to go off-piste, but last Monday was just sooo hard ...boilerplate etc..took my legs a couple of days to recover...

---That was not a fall, I intended to do that!---


It was incredibly quiet today.

Pistes were hard until around noon when they softened quickly and gave fabulous skiing. I would suggest a skin up in the morning for stretch the legs then on to the pistes.

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