Good day snow wise today, particularly the east wall of the lady. Unfortunately by about 10:30 it was get no hard to see. By 2pm it was hard to see the end of your skis/board.

Very quiet today but suspect this weekend will be carnage! Hopefully freshies for everyone!

Another shambles on the Gorm Today....which is becoming the norm...especially when they announce that lifts will run...but dont. Q Q Q Q Q Q Q A whip would be appropriate up there nowadays...to chase defective and antiquated Management of the 35 quid at 2.30 Hill !

Did I mention Q Q Q Q Q ?

What will happen tomorrow ?

And another thing...Their Internet Whizzo is very slow to delete the adverse comments of Cairngorm Facebook tonight !

Reading a few of the comments on cg's Facebook page, why on earth does the main access and people moving lift on the hill run to a 15 minute timetable. Get it moving full whack. When the platforms are clear batter in and ger it moving.

Also are the lifts even tested pre season. Seems that breakdowns always happen when they operate at first.

Here we go again...

Amazed the negative posts on CGM Facebook haven't been deleted !

Think it's now 5 years since I bought a ticket at this place, Glenshee, Lecht and Nevis have received my money instead...



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.33hrs Sat 16 Jan 16 by telemarker.

A wise move Andrew !

Given how busy it was yesterday and full price being charged, why was the West Wall Poma not running for the Ciste Fairway if it can't yet run for it's full length?

At 9:30 they had only the funicular and daylodge poma operating, the cas and M1 came on just before 10 but the only way to get to the midle station was to wait several hours for the funicular or walk up (as many were doing). What an embarrassment.

Didn't post for Friday and Saturday as we had visitors staying. Friday was one of those days you just had to laugh as you constantly chipped the ice from your goggles, but the snow has to fall some time. Saturday was a spectacular day, spectacular snow, spectacular weather and spectacular queues. See the CG face book posts for the complaints.

To-day was not as forecast at all. It was over caste and blowing a hooley when we arrived and then to be told the train was not running, hurumf. It was bitterly cold, a reported -28 wind chill. After an hour we were about to give up and go home frozen to the bone but then the train started so we got on and headed up.

It was brutal at the top but it quickly started to change, the wind started to drop and out came the sun giving a lovely late morning / afternoon. It was off piste for the rest of the day in fresh wind blown powder. The pistes were groomed cold packed powder snow, very nice to ski.

Now for the queues. If you were early and got on the first few trains the things went well and we were happy but after that the stories from down the bottom were not good. Now surprisingly the queues up top were not bad at all, significantly less than yesterday. The ptarmigan was often ski on and the ciste went back 2/3s of the flat area and not very compact. The cas started very quiet and built to three lines but not very orderly. We were so glad we did not go home as we skied till we could ski no more on excellent snow.

I will be loading some pictures on to face book later. They may be of interest, or not as they will be of faces of regulars.

[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

Start of the day, survival was difficult


Late morning things improved


mid afternoon, note the empty bars going round the Ptarmigan t-bar


around 14:00 queues were small and sun was out, wind dropped off completely
Look at the ptarmigan queue, nearly ski on!


We were off piste much of the day, the wind blown snow was great to ski on.
Look over to the ciste tow, the queue was very acceptable.









Edited 3 times. Last edit at 17.59hrs Sun 17 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Off Piste.JPG (251kB)   Afternoon Queues.JPG (230kB)   mid afternoon.JPG (206kB)   Middle of day.JPG (230kB)   Start of Day.JPG (192kB)  

What a disaster of a place...see the photos shown by themselves on their Facebook page....downright embarrassing !

Ooops 1 and the Natural Retreats mob on the hill should hang their heads in shame.......just deceiving the Punters with a fairly regular flow of lies and deceit !
And loads and loads of examples to back that up....the latest being no disclosure that the Fitters are on a work to rule....You have my Sympathy and Understanding Guys !

I could go on ...maybe I will later !

Fitters on a work to rule? Would have to do some work first. If I was a fitter on CG and the lifts brokedown on their season debuts, I would be hiding too.

Natural Retreats must be a great company to work for.

Just back from a brilliant day at Cairngorm. Photos in the public report section. It obviously pays to avoid the weekends...

Have to agree with bandit, such a good day to-day. Very light winds with occasional light snow showers, the sun was out most of the time.A temperature inversion started around lunch time and the clouds sat in the valley slowly creeping up the mountain towards the end of the day.

The over night snow freshened the runs nicely and the off piste was excellent again. Not powder as such but firm packed with soft patches, very easy to ski and a good introduction for people wanting to try some of the more interesting areas just outside the normal runs.

The ptarmigan bowl is a wide play ground and the east side of the t-bar was seeing good traffic. Very little queuing, if any!

All of the off piste pictures I have been posting are all lift served. Many folks do not realise just how much skiing there is at CG just to the sides of the normal runs. There is a huge expanse when the conditions and visibility is right. But a word of warning if the weather changes, a simple mistake and with out the correct equipment and knowledge you will not be coming back.


Posting some pics on face book later.

[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

Temperature Inversion


Empty Runs


Off Piste


How many regulars recognise the person on the right? John on the left is one of the regular ski instructors for SOS but the person on the right is Graham the funicular driver, you listen to him many times when you use the train telling you the conditions and lift status but you never get to see him when you are packed in like sardines. To-day was a rare occurrence for him to come up to the mountain on his day off and actually get to enjoy the skiing!


End of the day off piste on the coronation wall








Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.01hrs Mon 18 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: temp inversion.JPG (205kB)   empty runs.JPG (243kB)   off piste.JPG (228kB)   john+Graham.JPG (230kB)   Coronation Wall.JPG (208kB)  

Just realised I broke even on my season ticket yesterday! To-day was ski for free

Weather not as good as yesterday, vis was not too bad but did deteriorate in the heavy snow showers which became more frequent as the day went on.

The lower runs are getting quite thin in places, especially the day lodge. The last 20m are a bit of a challenge. I was using the right side of the fence to get down, even that is getting a bit chopped.

The snow pack has changed now, no longer the light fluffy snow but getting quite hard packed in places. I was caught out a couple of times on the Lady and the gun barrel with a bit of a side ways slip. There was a lot of moisture in the air crisping up the surface. I left around 15:15 and it was snowing fairly heavily. Hopefully this will improve the surface for tomorrow.

Graeme

The mighty Polar Express.
Vis not so good in the heavy snow showers.




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.30hrs Tue 19 Jan 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Polar Express.jpg (224kB)  

That's not the Polar Express !! It's the Link Lift.....which should have been left where it was originally sited !!

I posted that picture just for you George, I knew it would raise your blood pressure