report and photos:
[www.winterhighland.info]

A grand but long day out on Friday - the mission Beinn a'Bhuird.
Delayed start due to snowplough disguising a ditch as smooth road....
yes landcruiser dropped into it, but the boys had my Tirfor-winch hooked to a handy tree and landcruiser winched out safely in 10minutes - cheers lads!.


kitted up for the 7km approach. 3 on Nordic touring skis carrying big tele/AT skis on packs. Myself on tele skis and short kicker skins. In end we reckon both methods equal and a lot faster than walking. Took 2hours for the approach, an estate tracked vehicle had created welcome tracks to ski on. An "unpisted" approach would have taken much longer.
Trees at head of Quoich had wonderfull powder in them, but hard skinning. But snow firmed up on An Diollard ridge for easy skinning.
missed out north top and Arrived at South Top 5 hours after starting.
Skiied descent SW of south top, big bowl at top, then steeper pitch back down to Alltan na Beinne . The snow was generally firm windpacked with some softer areas of snow. Steep pitch had horrible crusted windslab - combat skiing.
Then bit of poling back over to top of woods where we enjoyed the best skiing of the day - lovely powder skiing in the trees.
back to nordic ski stash, then long ski back to cars in dark for last 45mins. I used kicker skins on initial climbs, then no skins for the last 5.5km. Boys on Nordic skis were quicker.
Back at car at 5.45 - so just under 8hour trip and 25km.

A great day out in perfect weather and nordic ski approach experiment was successful!. Great to do this tour so early in season.

cheers lads

Nice one lads - well done for pulling it off. Did you look up at the old Mar Lodge slopes in the passing?

telemarker - are you going to tell us about your fly wheel incident



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 11.14hrs Sun 10 Jan 10 by Jamie.

Respect to you guys, that is a big day out, you must be pretty fit. (I did 10km yesterday and I'm too knackered to ski today!)

By kicker skins do you mean short skins under the boot area? I didn't know that they were called this but I used this system to good effect in the mid 1980's on waxing Nordic skis. I see now that Asnes do a ski mod with fitment which gets round the occassional skin loss.

Cratermaker - I used this type of kicker skin - yes under boot

[www.orscrosscountryskisdirect.com]

you can get a bit of glide on them, but still slow on downhills, but i found if you leaned back and surfed the ski you could get more speed.

no comment on flywheel incident Jamie other than 3hours in A&E at ARI was sufficient punishment for an act of utter stupidity - an no skiing today as a result....

Nice report and photos, thanks for posting

Looks a wonderful trip, and another approach method tested. - I followed your MTB idea a couple of years ago, to my benefit.

Hi Andrew,

Cracking report and pics, as usual. Interesting approach method - 2 sets of boots too? (can't tell from the pics) How were the descents for those with Nordic skis on the back?

Made 2 pairs of kicker skins a couple of years back; not had the chance to use them yet. Not managed a bike+ski tour yet either.

Skied yesterday (for the first time in a year) at Cauterets in the Pyrenees. Swapped gear for the afternoon with a telemarking acquaintance, which was a hoot. Suffice to say I won't be abandoning my alpine touring kit just yet...

"Fix the heel, fix the problem".

cheers
al

Good to hear from you Al - are you based in Pau now? I saw you had moved in PESGB.

Hustler and Dan wore same teleboots for both the nordic and tele skis.
Steelytail carried AT boots in pack, and wore leather touring boots on approach.
leather boots (left with skis) very cold for the return run!
the nordic skis were locked to a tree for the mountain ascent.

it was definitely easier when we used bikes a few years ago, but had a better adventure feel to it skiing all way from road.

you should try tele gear again!!

thinking of doing the 4000'ers as you did a few years ago - i was reading your report on that last week for inspiration. might make it a 2-dayer though staying in Corrour.

enjoy the pyrennes
andrew

telemarker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cratermaker - I used this type of kicker skin -
> yes under boot
>
>
>
> you can get a bit of glide on them, but still slow
> on downhills, but i found if you leaned back and
> surfed the ski you could get more speed.
>
>
The strap system shown in the link will stop the odd peel-off but won't help the glide. I used sections of skins cut from a spare pair and just relied on the glue. Not 100% reliable, esp with a soft camber tele ski, but I could live with the odd stop now and again (Some trips the skin never came off, sometimes once or twice if it was wet, so it wasn't a huge issue).
I'm thinking of making a pair of waxing XC skis into no wax using kicker skins, but cutting a recess for the leading edge of the skin. A bit more convienient than klister!

telemarker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good to hear from you Al - are you based in Pau
> now? I saw you had moved in PESGB.

Yes, for the time being, at least until the company makes me an offer I can't but refuse...

> Hustler and Dan wore same teleboots for both the
> nordic and tele skis.
> Steelytail carried AT boots in pack, and wore
> leather touring boots on approach.
> leather boots (left with skis) very cold for the
> return run!
> the nordic skis were locked to a tree for the
> mountain ascent.

Now I understand. Was imagining ski tails catching on the ground/heels when descending, as they sometimes do when walking out with skis on the back.

> it was definitely easier when we used bikes a few
> years ago, but had a better adventure feel to it
> skiing all way from road.
>
> you should try tele gear again!!

I may well do so, as I inherited an old (and soft) pair of T1s a few years back. Have spare planks, all I need are some bindings (and some ability). Think you know one of the guys I was skiing with - Tom Challands, who works in my old office and has probably done a training course at your place.

> thinking of doing the 4000'ers as you did a few
> years ago - i was reading your report on that last
> week for inspiration. might make it a 2-dayer
> though staying in Corrour.

If the chance arises, go for it. A day tour would be ok if staying nearby - the hardest part was the drive back to Aberdeen. Two days would give you time to enjoy the descents (and climbs) and perhaps take in some extra peaks, or a gully or two in Braeriach?

> enjoy the pyrennes
> andrew

I hope to. So far been a bit busy with work and domestic stuff and suffering with injury - ACL strain last winter descending Clachnaben, shoulder tendon this year. Let us know if you happen to be in these parts. I'm hoping to get back to Scotland before the winter is out.

cheers
al