All she needs is a cup to rattle along the bars!
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Ellis’s first swim
It is like a passage of chidhood isn’t it, so we thought we had better get on with it. A trip to the swimming pool with Lainie Euan and Sophie as well.
She cried her eyes out when she first went in – then after 10 seconds decided she liked it and was very happy in it as Lara and I made silly noises at her and dragged her around like a speed boat!
It was another sunny day her in Costa Del Aberdeen so we went to the pub for lunch after and sat in the beer garden – it was a little bright for Sophie….
Black Spout Lochnagar ski
I have had a bit of a fixation with this gully ski wise for a few years. I have been up to ski it 5 times and only succeeded once, and even then this was not a complete descent as the top rock step was not banked out. With the massive snow fall of last week I thought it would be a good idea to try and put this one to rest. Scott and Scott (Burnett and Muir) both had days off on Friday and the plan was hatched.
We all met up at Loch Muick Car park and set off, 150m from the car Scott’s ski boot binding snapped…. really desperate not to abandon this idea – we managed to bodge fix it with tying knots and gaffa taping the strap and prayed it would hold.
We climbed up the shoudler of Cuidhe Crom instead of the normal walk in which is getting a little tedious now (especially as we did it two weeks ago). The sun was shinning but the wind was pretty strong. We knew it was going to be really strong up top, but we had a goal in our sights so just did things up tight and got on with it, the sun was out and all was a glorious day apart from the wind.
Scott and Scott on the way up in the picture above. All the way up there was a uncertainty if we would be able to ski the Gully, there certainly was enough snow, but the fact that there was a strong Westerly wind blowing all the snow into the gully concerned us about how stable the snow pack would be.
When we got there we made an anchor and Scott got lowered into the gully to dig a pit to check out the snow and see if it was do able, it was safe….. the excitement grew in everyone. Scott has been here quite a few times but like me, has never skied the Gully full length, we chopped away a bit of the cornice to make the entrance a little easier (still concentrating) and the lights turned to green!
One point to make is that I have just bought some new skis, and I had walked up to the top of the gully with them, as I was putting them on and peering over the edge into where I was going I realised that I had never skied them before and my first 10 metres ont he skis was going to be jumping off the cornice into a steep gully. Nothing I could do but expect them to perform…. and they did! they were fantastic. We all skied down the gully and it was brilliant.
Above is Scott entering. Scott Burnett decided to down climb the very top bit and put his skis on 3 m below the cornice, considering this is only his second season on skis I think he is a complete hero, he skied the rest of the gully brilliantly and should be really proud, will have to think of what next to take him down.
Scott above and me setting off down the gully.
Well a fantastic day – something more rewarding about skiing these types of things here in Scotland rather than the alps. I suppose it is the effort you need to get to then, the weather and the conditions all have to fall into place. When they do the sense of achievement is incredible.
Right – I am off to find the next gully to get obsessed with skiing!
All the photos can be seen by clicking here
A video by Scott Muir can be seen below
Our first Family ski day (kind of)
When i say family ski day it gives the impression that Ellis was skiing as well. How ever much I wish, there is no chance of a 4 week old baby ripping up the pistes with killer snow plough. Instead we took it in turns to go skiing. We went up to Glenshee with Richard,NNancy and Katey (our neighbours) and I help to teach them to ski whilst Lara was in the cafe with Ellis. After an hour and a half Nancy was tired and she looked after Ellis whilst Lara and I went skiing together.
I was great to be able to go out and do something together like we used to, Lara loved it and was able to ski no problems, she had the biggest grin on her face again. Was great to see.
It is dumping it down with snow again up here so the winter is a long way away from being finish yet! We should have a long while yet to go off skiing at the weekends! who knows, Ellis may even have a chance to get skiing this season!!!!! (yeah I know, I know!)
Ellis seemed to not mind the cold and was more than happy outside in her fluffy bear suit as can be seen above. She is being pretty kind to us so far!
A blinder of a weekend
Being a BP employee, I am blessed to get every other Friday off, so I spent the morning in the woods with my mates on my bike jumping off stuff.
The afternoon was spent in B&Q choosing Ellis’s paint colour for her nursery – unfortunately I took no pictures of that as it would have been to much for you to take in!!!
Saturday was our first outings as a family to go climbing, we went down to the sea cliffs by Boltsheugh
Baby loved it – has been a long time since either Lara or I have climbed so it was rather hard going but great to be back out. It was a lovely sunny day and Ellis was more than happy to be there in the sun, feeding as and when need and just being a good baby and letting mummy and daddy play!
Sunday was spent relaxing for Lara as she is still in recovery. So I grabbed a chance ot go skiing. I have been reading reports on the interweb of the snow being good in Lochnagar, immediately another decent of Black spout got my attention! Scott, Matt and Emma were all game to come in with us.
A glorious day, the sun had some heat in it and when we got up to the snow line it felt like I was in the Alps! We rode form the car park as far as we could and dumped the bikes in the heather. It was soon evident that the snow was far too hard to ski. Above is us longingly looking at where we should have been skiing (the prominent gully coming out the cloud spot. Oh well, it was still a great to be in the hills. We stashed the skis to take the weight off our backs and set off in search of a easy snow gully to climb.
Red Spout seemed to tick the needs of everyone, and off we went – It is an easy snow climb but gives you some good exposure near the top. We all got up it and then walked back to the bikes for a speady descent back to the cars.
A great weekend. Scotland is great when the weather is like this! Can find all the pictures by clicking here
The Blog of Dave Lara, Ellis and Freddy 