Paul, if you are heading up today look out for me and I will show you about the runs. There are a number of local folks that when we are on the mountain we just hook up and go for a ski, no formal invitations required!

I have a red jaket, black helmet and black trousers, oh and 6'4, quite recognisable, or ask one of the lifties if they have seen Graeme about.

Graeme



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 09.19hrs Tue 23 Feb 16 by WindyMiller.

or faster charger, or bigger batteries, or a generator. seems like a no brainer to me....

It's called out the box thinking. It's a trend that people close to something (and I am as guilty of it as the next person) can't see what is blindingly obvious to everyone else coming to it from the outside.

Any of you guys on the MCofS ski touring course at Cairngorm this weekend? 18 folks by the looks of it, split into three groups.Here's hoping for some decent overhead...

Nigel

It's not out of the Box thinking as regards the Numpties up Cairngorm..........

They just won't listen to any-one because they think they know ALL THE ANSWERS.........

For proof of that just look at the chaos at Mid-Term !!

Presumably it could go a couple of laps before needing to recharge though? I mean an electric car can do 200-300 miles on one charge these days and most of that's used on a powerful electric motor. As far as I'm aware all the carriages use that's electric are the controls, comms, hydraulics, lighting and that annoying tourist soundtrack.

Weather was a bit of a challenge this morning but after lunch the sun came out allowing us to see the lovely fresh snow.

Jeans Bowl just gets better and better as does the Fiacaill Ridge run, skiers right of the tow path. The snow here is deep and fresh all the way to the poma load station.

Cas, gun barrel, lady and top bowls are in great condition. Good compacted dry snow with fresh on top.

Ski patrol report issues with high avalanche risk on the Ciste gully and west wall so will not run the WWP. I spoke with some one who skied there much of today and said Ryvoan + west wall were great but the gully is wind blown and needs a machine to go over it to remove the ridges. The person that was skiing there said he spoke to the people at the WWP today and there is a mechanical issue that stopped it from running.

Putting some face book pictures up later [www.facebook.com]

Graeme

The Cairngorm OAP ski club on the ridge run, I had trouble keeping up with them! A superb run down.


Jeans Bowl filling in more with every snow shower that passes.


The Fiacaill run, full of un pisted snow.


A very full gun barrel, great snow


We went for a bit of a reconnaissance walk to "over there" The end of the coire has a lot of snow but where we normally drop in is bare, more rocks than snow. The coire floor has snow but no way of getting to it on skis just yet.








Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.05hrs Tue 23 Feb 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: over there.JPG (243kB)   Ridge Run.JPG (218kB)   jeans bowl.JPG (257kB)   Fiacaill.JPG (222kB)   gunbarrel.JPG (260kB)  

Didn't manage to make it up today in the end, hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for all the info on Jeans bowl, I'll definitely try to catch up with you up there Graeme.

Paul

Why is there two conflicting different stories about the WWPoma ? Cairngorm Management ...from the Ops Side to the Armchair sitters in Level 4 have become so adept and naturally expressive when it comes to telling lies that this will either end up in tears of tragedy or tears of redundantcy !

The hill mist burnt off quite quickly giving a slightly over cast middle of the day then the sun cam out mid afternoon. Only a little fresh snow over night to freshen things up but there was still plenty of fresh tracks to be found especially in Jeans Bowl and the Fiacaill Ridge though by the end of the day much of this had been travelled. The lady was much improved.

We skied the M2 and day lodge but to be honest it was not worth it. The top of the M2 between the new fencing was great but then got rocky at the steep section. The Day lodge is only half width and a bit firm under foot with some death cookies.

To-day was the kids race for the local primary schools. They were using the area between the cas up and down ropes. A surprisingly well behaved bunch and polite in the queues. I am sure it will be a bit different tomorrow when the secondary school kids arrive to race down the White lady.

The weather has turned cold and the snow canons were getting turned on. By the end of play with the sun going down it was decidedly nippy.

I would estimate 70% of the area is now superb skiing, 10% thin and rocky and the rest not bad at all. If they could only get the WWP running.....
In their defence I did see the WWP rope running a number of times in the last couple of weeks so it was checked once the new motor was fitted. Something must have gone wrong since then. I was glad Colin posted the reason for the Ciste area not been open this morning on the CG face book page. It gives some credibility to their reports. It was a bit off blaming avalanche risk yesterday.

Graeme

kids race in the cas


Gun Barrel, nice soft snow


Jeans Bowl, where most of the advanced skiers were playing


The old Fiacaill run, great fresh snow stashes here up till the end of the day.


The M2 was wide down to the steep part then got a bit ropey. The day lodge was narrow and hard. I would only recommend it as an end of day run to get back to the car park or to the Store House for lunch.





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.32hrs Wed 24 Feb 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: kids race.JPG (229kB)   M2.JPG (222kB)   fiacaill.JPG (215kB)   jeans bowl.JPG (256kB)   gunbarrel.JPG (246kB)  

Graeme ....They have Zero credibility...lost that a long long time ago in my book, and the book of many others !

I could have sworn they have a Race Track called the M 1 ?

Again they are taking the piss and getting away with it !

A suitably reduced price for a day ticket tomorrow, bearing in mind no W Lady and no W W Poma served runs being available ?

Somebody in Ooops 1's Team has a Magic Wand ?

Just as the West Wall Poma is declared safe to run (Star to where this time Boys...electrical term) The Avalanche risk on the (now more loaded) West Wall vanishes !!!

"I SMELL SHITE"

Hi - now that the WWP is running and I see there is shuttle buses today, has anyone tried skiing down to the Ciste car park?

There is sufficient cover for a skiable route to the shuttle bus stop via the Aonach Ridge, but no idea what condition the snow is in. That area can be very prone to nasty breakable crust! Will post a photo when I get on my laptop shortly.

Hi Susan,

Here is a picture of the lower Ciste area. The gully its self does not look all that good but Rita's Ridge looks very skiable.Looking up from the bus stop the snow looks thin in places with deeper patches,I think you could join them up. When I saw the bus was running I was going to give it a go but I ran out of time, was having too much fun in other places!.

Graeme





Edited 2 times. Last edit at 17.27hrs Fri 26 Feb 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Lower Ciste.JPG (271kB)