Category Archives: Skiing

Not quite as planned

We had planned to go climbing, but a late night celebrating Scott’s engagement to Anna  made this a bit more difficult, with fuzzy heads it was decided that just a ski would be best, I am not the best of climbers without a hangover so with a hangover I would have been useless.  We still wanted to go to the same area Coire Kander and have a go at skiing ‘Y Gully’.

With a late start we had some good scottish ski conditions

Non of this full cover, powder snow stuff that you get in the alps, we are talking rock hard snow and that is only in patches as well!  🙂

It is not a real Scottish ski if you haven’t skied on heather and grass along the way.  Above is Scott on the way up Cairn and Tuirc, half way up we had to put the old crampons on as the slope got quite steep and a slip would have meant sliding all the way to the bottom and having to start again.

Once at the top,. in true Scottish fashion the cloud came in and gave us problems seeing our hands in front of our face!  Map and compass out and moving on bearings.  Haven’t had to navigate in a while and we had a few moments where our man compasses did not tally with the real compass and we had to be good and fight the urge to not believe the compass even though it was completely against my internal sense of direction which is usually pretty good.

As we find the edge of the Coire and the Gully the cloud lifted ( which was nice) and gave us a great view of Y Gully in all of it completely rock hard snow glory making it a no no to ski.  Never mind, was nice being up there any way and practicing our navigation skills again.

The way down was an entertaining affair – god skiing down ice is loud!  A nasty scrapping sound is still ringing in my ears!  Apart from the noise it was a surprisingly enjoyable decent.

When it softens up it is going to be great, looking at the amount of snow up there, I think it is going to be a good gully season this year.  Lets hope I can make the most of it before we leave for Gap next month.

It was ending as a rather nice day which was not expected at all.  One of those days that looked like it was going to be rubbish but actually turned out great fun.

Gap for a ski Holiday

Just back from an amazing week in Gap with Nanny Smith and Grandpops.  We felt we couldn’t leave Ellis behind so she cam everywhere with us!

We bought the ski attachment for the buggy and she came cross country skiing with us, she either slept, shouted at me to go faster, or watched Peppa pig on the ipad what was conveniently  in there with her.

A couple of days the grandparents were great baby sitters and Lara and I went off skiing together.  It is always special when we get out together now as it doesn’t happen as much as it used to for an obvious small blond reason!

An afternoon at Reallon after it snowed the day before delivered the goods and we had another great powder day there.  I love these little Frenchie resorts that don’t get tracked out in a few hours like the bigger resorts, this pic below was from the last run of the day……

We introduced Ellis to French sledging, (ie much bigger slopes and not as cold)  She loved it and me, Dad and Lara dragged her up the hill over and over and over again, each time at the bottom giggling then turning around and shouting “AGAIN – TOP” whilst pointing at one of us to drag her back up.

Even managed to grab a powder afternoon with my dad which was brilliant,  one thing skiing soft stuff with wife, but with wife and Dad it was great.  Dad proved he still has it.  Again this was a little french resort 20 minutes from the house.  3 lifts and only about 20 people on the whole mountains, so all freshies!

A great week with family and some superb skiing   Another 6 weeks and we will be back for the summer….. can’t wait!  Rest of the pictures can be seen by CLICKING HERE – or the ‘Photo Gallery’ link top right on this page

Skiing up Cairn an Tuirc

I went with the Scotts ( that is Scott Burnett and Scott Muir not as in the Scotts nationality) up towards Carin an Tuirc to hunt out some decent snow, it had snowed hefty amounts recently but with heavy winds so there was a little bit of care needed in finding decent safe snow.

We got to the top in some pretty strong winds that made the idea of going across the top of the plateau to have a look into Coire Kander not that an appealing idea.

We managed to find some decent snow which was on the SW face of the hill and we did one lap of it and decided that it was that good there was not real need to look any further, so did another lap of it.

Mr Muir in his normal ‘ripping it up’ fashion.  That was until you hit some thing that was lurking under the snow, as there was now base you would be happily skiing along then all of a sudden end up clipping something and falling over ( well that is my excuse anyway! Me below eating a face full of snow)

All in all we did four laps of the hill which was a good leg work out and a great fun ski.  On the way back we found a shallow gully to ski down literally to the car.  Great fun  the rest of the pictures can be seen by clicking on this

New Year’s Eve Week in Aviemore

We managed to book a great house in Aviemore for the week over the New Year Period.  There was loads of snow in the hills and the Smiths, Ryan, Rich, Lorraine, Hugh and Hannah went to play!

On some days Lara went out skiing and I took Ellis out to play, the weather was not that nice all the time ( as can be expected in Scotland in December) and Aviemore has a great indoor play area for young kids.  On the second day we had a weather front that came in bringing really high winds and hi temperatures.  this shut down the ski hill so thankfully we had plan B with us in the form of MTBs.  We went to the local bike shop who pointed us in the direction of some good trails which happened to be literally behind our house

Rich and I had a days climbing which was pretty un successful ( i forgot crampons) so half way up where we were going the snow got too hard and i was not able to kick my feet in so we had to bail

Ellis was a great fun, and was not shy with all the new faces, and would happily play with everyone and generally run around ( usually with no clothes on, not sure where this habit comes from)

New Years Eve came and we had a great dinner and then spent the rest of the night trying to pickle ourselves with vast quantities of Gin and Tonic playing stupid games that usually ended in embarrassment

Don’t ask!

The bad weather stripped a lot of the snow so unfortunately skiing was little limited, there was still enough to get a reasonable days skiing for Scotland.

With limited skiing more biking was done, Me rich and Lara rode up the Lairig Ghru and back.  For anyone who likes a little bit of technical riding and amazing single track, I would really recommend this ride, it is a belter!

Ellis had a lot of stone throwing tuition this week, she is getting good at throwing stones into water now, and seems to like picking ones that are huge and she can just about lift….  Thanks all for coming up / across for a great fun week.  all the rest of the pictures can be seen by clicking on this.

I am a crap Contractor

Most contractors don’t dare take a day off, but with the recent snow fall and the weather forecast like it was, I just could not say no when Monica asked if I wanted to go skiing today.  I had talked to a friend who had walked from Braemar to Aviemore on Monday and he said there is lots more snow in the Northern Cairngorms, plans were made and an early start to Aviemore was agreed.

We spent a great day up and around the northern corries, there was not a breath of wind, the clarity of the air was amazing and we could see for miles – a refreshing change to the norm.

A great start to the season, hopefully it will snow some more as there is a great base up there already, and this should set us up for a great season.

The rest of the photos can be seen by clicking here

Skiing in May?!?!?!?

As always the Scottish weather does not conform to the normal seasonal patterns, and a whole heap of snow has fallen.  Never one to miss a chance to ski a group of us headed over to Aviemore to go skiing.

We loaded our skis and boots onto our backs for the long walk up, above is us passing through the Chalamain Gap and could at last see the snow and where we were headed- Braerich.  Once we had climbed half way up Sron na Lairige we could finally get the weight off our backs and get the skis on, a lovely feeling to have a light load on your back again.

Above is us climbing the shoulder of Coire Bhrochain to where we wanted to see if we could ski West Gully.  When we got to it we were disappointed to see that it was too full of snow and the entry was an extremely steep 6m cornice and the build up below that was just too steep for us to ski.

Pondering what to do we headed down a south facing face that gave great but short lived skiing on good sprig snow

Scott showed us that although he hasn’t had much time on the skis, he still has the skills to pay the bills.  from here we crossed the Coire and climbed back up the steep snow back up to the saddle, at first skinning, and then later when it got too steep we had to put the skis on our backs and climb up it by foot.

It was then a simple matter of going back out the way we came.  It felt like forever walking out.  None the less a great day out skiing and was even better as I thought that my skiing was done for the season.  With this new snow I think there will be a couple of ski days left!!!!!

Lets play hunt the snow

Lara has just come back form a weeks skiing in the alps waxing lyrical about how much fun skiing is.  Unfortunately at the same time Lara was in the alps having fun, the temperatures had risen massively into double figures for the last few weeks unseasonally and taken the snow with it.  I was desperate to have at least one more day skiing this season – and so the snow hunt begun.
I received an email with a picture from Scott Muir showing Coire Sputan Dearg from last weekend with some good poissibility for some skiing.
That was enough for me, and Scott and I emailed each other back and forth and made a plan to go skiing on Saturday.  It was an early meet in the Linn of Dee car park and skis were mounted on our rucksacks and then slung onto our backs.  A slight wobble and swear at the weight of our rucksacks and we were off.  It is a fairly long approach to the Corrie, just under three hours.  but it was not a bore as I hadn’t seen Scott for a while and it was a good time for a catch up.
On arrival we looked at the lines and there was definitely enough to go at.  We decided that we will use Glissade gully as the route up.  but we would also ski it for the warm up.  So off up we went.
On getting to the top, we dug a small platform and put our skis on.  I had not been skiing since Xmas in Gap, so was more hesitant than normal.
Above is Scott about to set off down ‘Glissade Gully’.  The snow was pretty good, maybe just a tad on the hard side but soft enough to slow us down.  A good descent, got to the bottom of the snow line, big smiles. Below is me coming out of the steeper part of the gully.
Skis back on the back, and off we went to climb up Glissade gully (you will see a pattern forming).  Next we were going to have a go at Anchor Gully.  From below there was a narrowing in the gully that looked maybe too narrow to ski.
The entrance was pretty steep and was ‘concentrating’.  half way down the gully we came to the narrow bit.  Scott went first and we can confirm that it was 190cm wide.
As you can see above, Scott had about 7cms either side of his skis so not that wide at all!
Me just after the narrow bit.  After this it widened out and larger faster GS style turns took us down to the bottom of the snow line, once again smiling!  Again skis were mounted on the backs and off we went up Glissade gully,  this time our goal was Narrow Gully.
Once at the top we had to wonder around a bit to find the opening of the Gully.  The top was a little thin so we had to down climb a nasty little crumbly bit to get to were we could ski from.
From here Narrow gully didn’t really live up to its name.  It was no were near as narrow as Anchor gully, but it was still pretty steep and good fun.
Above is Scott setting off down Narrow Gully.  It was another good descent inducing smiles, graded Scottish I for climbing.  All the way to the end of the snow line we went, then had a small traverse back to the bottom, part of this was rocks so skis were on and off.  I had the misfortune of having my right leg disappear into a hollow.  only stoppingonce my groin had hit the snow.  3 -5 minutes later, the nausea stopped and I carried on my way albiet with a slighter higher pitch voice.
We sat at the bottom and contemplated our options, was that enough for the day?  Did we have enough in us for one more?  We decided a sandwich was needed and after that we thought we had better do at least one more.
The old favourite and now very familiar Glissade gully was our path up.  We headed left to find the top of ‘The Ramp’  not an actual winter climb but would be in the Grade I range if it was.  when we finally found the top, there was a very steep entrance into the line.  Scott had been up before and had seen it in good weather.  I hadn’t, all I could see was an awkward entrance and a very steep slope then cloud.  I was not convinced I had the minerals to do it. 
Eventually we decided on using a deadman (like a stake you stick into the snow to use as an anchor) and Scott had a bit of rope in his rucksack, we lowered ourselves to the bottom of the rope (10m) and then from there skied the rest.  Once I was at the end of the rope it was obvious that it was not as bad as I thought it was, but that was with the hindsight of being able to see further down to where it was not as steep.  Never mind.  The rest of the line was great, the snow had softened up a bit and the turns were opened up and some fast carving turns out the gully were enjoyed.
That was use knackered, the weather was pretty nasty by now as well so it was time to head out.  The same route out was taken, but it was a little faster as it was more downhill.
Back to the Van after 10 hours out on the hill.  A great day skiing, and hopefully not the last of the season.  but is it getting a little desperate!

Skiing… Almost!

Sunday was ski day for me (Lara) and so I headed off with Scotty, Andy and Mon down to …. To see what we could find!

We were excited on the drive south west as we saw snooooow covering the hills! However, the snow didn’t seem to have landed quite so thickly where were egan from. We did have rather an i teresting attempt to get to the car park which resulted in reversing/sliding down the sheet ice covered tarmac to a passing place where we abandoned the van for the day. Scotty did a jolly good job of not putting us down the bottom of the hill bonnet over tailpipe.

We walked up with skis on back for a while, until we decided the snow there was was no longer going to ball up on the skins :). We managed to get in a couple of basic kickturns before Scotty set of an avalanche. Well, a slide really with about a 4″ headwall so it was never going to do any damage but was entertaining nonethless!!

We got to a point where Mon and I decided notto bother hiking up any further. The boys once again donned skis on back to get to the top and therefore a few extra turns. I didn’t go up as i thought they would just be pushing an inch or two of fresh snow off a layer of ice but I was wrong and in hindsight perhaps should have gone up. Anyway. mon and i enjoyed some hot chocolate and we all the skiied down the couple of turns in a whiteout before we hit the grass.

I was rather worried about skiing on the grass but once i got into it and realised that i didn’t need to slow down (because it was almost impossible) i relaxed into it and it was actually the most fun skiing of the day. The large tufts of grass sometimes had gaps the other side of them which made it good fun to hop off.

Of course, once we were half way or back to the car, the whiteout lifted and the sun came out revealing a very appealing looking area where we had just been. We all agreed it would be an excellent choice once some more snow has fallen!

Pics to follow

Easy Gully Creag Megaidgh

Lara and Ellis had gone down to London to go shopping for brides maids dresses for Tallie’s and Chester’s wedding – I was not invited ( thank god!!!, that is to the shopping not the wedding).  I decided the night before that the weather looked good on the Friday for a ski.  As it being a Friday I could find no one to play with so thought to hell with it I will be a billy no mates and went alone.

I drove over to the Creag Megaidgh car park after work and arrived around 10ish.  I had decided to live the life of luxury and had bought a 4 pack of stella on the way and thought it was time to treat myself!  I sat up in the van under the stars drinking my beer and reading my Grandpa’s book (which if you read this grandpa I think it is brilliant!) with my headtorch. 

I woke in the morning to find that it had snowed over night…. excitement levels rising!  Above is the view form my bedroom door.  I struggled out of my nice warm sleeping bag that was lovely and comfy and into my ski clothes.  I had never been into this corrie before and was looking forward to going somewhere new.

I set off around 9 ish and the walk took me about an hour till I turned into Coire Ardair and was greeted with a cracking view and the excitement level rose even higher.  I wanted to try and ski Easy Gully (I) which is the obvious gully on the picture leading left up onto the snowy col top left.  There was a lot of fresh snow in it so was a little careful at the bottom and dug a pit to see what the snow was like.  No real obvious layers apart from the fresh snow of last night which would do no harm – so I decided to go for it!

I have decided I will never be a TV presenter!  Never done that before with my camera, as always, I hate the sound of my own voice so might not do that again.  The climb up was pretty hard going through all the fresh snow, I just kept of thinking of the descent and it would all be worth it.  When I got to the top of the gully the norm happened…..

Yup the weather came in and I couldn’t see a thing!  oh well.  I waited about for a bit and the weather started to lift enough for the descent.  I didn’t want to hang around too long before I talked myself out of it.

The ski down was superb!  Once I had gotten over the scary wind lip that half collapsed as i went over it and into the gully proper – there was 6″ of scotland’s finest powder all the way down to Lochan A’Choire at the bottom.

half way down – very hard to take pics on your own of yourself.   In the pic below you can just make out my tracks.

The sun was out on the way out and I had been clever and bought my headphones and was walking out listening to some good old rock and roll playing the solos on my ski poles as and when it was required.  The one other person I saw that day passed me at a rather lively performance to a guitar solo on my ski pole- he looked at me like I should have been locked up!

A great day – I found it a little harder than when I ski these sorts of things with other people.  Being by yourself and doing this sort of thing made it that little bit more concentrating and aware of the risks than with friends.  Anyway, snow is again falling so hoping to be able and get out skiing again this weekend!  LET IT SNOW!!!!

Gap family skiing trip

On the day after boxing day we all abandoned the UK and headed for Gap.  On Top of us, mum dad and Rachel, Ryan and Ann went to the white alps in search of snow, sun and cheese – we weren’t to be disappointed.

The first day we went to Orciere to see what state our legs were in – this turned into a GS style day of us hooning down pistes trying to remember how to ski again (Lara below)

The sun was shinning and skills quickly regained.  It was great to be back skiing in the alps again.  The legs took a pounding as on many runs we refused to stop, by the bottom the legs were on fire with lactic but faces were stretch with smiles.

The holiday was blessed with mixed weather which a) allowed us rest days when needed, and b) gave us loads of fresh snow. New years eve was spent going to bed early (10pm – I now we are boring) as we were on a promise for an epic powder day at my fast becoming favourite place to ski ‘La Grave’.  Setting off early on New years day with no other car on the road was strange, the place was journey was devoid of cars, suppose the rest of france were nursing sore heads.  We were right at the front of the lift que for it to open and what ensued was a monster day of first tracks and more burning legs – below is Lara on a great day.

La Grave is a pretty impressive ski resort, no pistes, just a huge steep mountain.  Ryan was a little amazed at it, as he had never skied anywhere like it before. 

After this some family ski time was required.  Poor Rachel had suffered from a stomach bug which had meant she was not able to ski with us for 4 days.  Finally she made it out and we all had a great day skiing together in Orciere

Unfortunately the ozzy crew had to leave at some point as they had jobs and lives to go back to in Oz :(. We had a few more days left.  Once again the weather was great us and we got another dump of snow.  Mum and Ann had been amazing the whole holiaday and did a whole heap of baby sitting for us so that Lara and I could go skiing together.  It was so so so so so so so good to go out and play together again, we have had the odd day together here and there since Ellis joined us, but this was different.  Ann and Mum when you read this thank you so much – it really gave us a fantastic holiday.  Anyway, back to the skiing, Lara and I got to Reallon early doors for another blue ski powder day

Wow – run after run of the fresh stuff.  There is a lot to be said about the smaller french ski resorts, they don’t get tracked out at all and Lara and I explored all over it and found some amazing lines and bowls that no one touched all day ( apart from us) .  We skied till legs could give no more and the light was fading and went home to a fondue!  I love france!

Our last day was spent touring – we felt we had to do a little bit of uphill to try and ease off our fast expanding mid drifts from the excess of the last few weeks.  We went up to a mountain called Pointe de la Vanesque.  it Was a lovely 2.5 hours climb to the top with views all around us.  I spend the whole time trying to remember good looking lines for future trips.

Lara was worried her fitness was not up to it, but she made short work of the 1000m climb.  The descent was brilliant, once again fresh tracks in awesome powder snow all the way back to the car.

We had a fantastic time skiing and spending time with the family, the weather, snow and babysitters made it!  the rest of the pictures can be seen by clicking here