I talked with Ops1 the other day and he is hoping to keep the place open as long as possible. I did hear today that the Ptarmigan restaurant will be having its refit starting after the 25th April and will be shut. How this will effect the train I do not know, I need to find out more information.



Leaving a child in the car is a definite no no in the UK. The local nursery in the North of Aviemore has now closed down but I am not sure if the Coylum Bridge Hotel still runs theirs. There used to be on in the MacDonalds centre, may be worth a call to both of theses. They could be for their guests only.

If you are looking for ski school and cant find one, School of Snow Sports (SoS), Free Ski, G2, or the mountains own one, PM me I will ask some of the instructors that may be off duty if they are willing to take a private lesson.



If the skiing is on, you are allowed out at the top. If you have bought a ski ticket then you can use the lifts and go for a tour, just don't tell anyone and no one will notice. If you have not bought a ski ticket, only a train ticket, they will not let you up on the train with your skis. If you do not want to buy a ticket then park in the lower cas car park and skin up the Fiacaill ridge.

If the skiing is stopped for the season then no one is allowed out at the top and we all have to walk / skin.

Hope this helps

Graeme

The weather was mixed with heavy snow falling down to Glenmore, very pretty with the snow in the trees. Significant accumulations have amassed mid station up and patches have improved lower down. The temperatures were much colder and the snow on the mid and upper mountain is dry and great to ski on. The east ptarmigan, lady, cas and Coronation wall have significantly improved in cover. The zigzags were being worked on and large amounts of snow was being pushed around.
The sun started to come out after lunch and once we could see between the showers the fresh tracks were there for the taking.

To-day was Atomic's ski trials and the deep fresh snow was good to show off the range
The Lady in particular gained a lot of snow and was unpisted, this allowed us to try out the all mountain and off piste skis to their best. The Ptarmigan fences have gone back under the dry snow again. Nice to try out the Atomic touring skis. I skinned up to the top and skied the fats back down the untracked fields, nice

The Fiacaill is still skiable down to aprox three pylons from the bottom and closer if you do not mind the heather. With the new snow I very nearly got down to the load station, I did a sharp left on to a large patch which connected to the Northern Coire Path. Less mud doing this.

Weather looking decidedly dodgy tomorrow, fingers crossed as the snow is very nice indeed.

Some pics going up on face book later
[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

Heavy snow at the car park, large accumulations mid mountain up


The Atomic team letting you try out their range.


The White Lady was letting you give the Atomic skis their work out in deep fresh snow.


Coronation wall has filled in nicely


Untracked snow on the Fiacaill for the end of day ski down. The zigzags are now skiable again so you can get back to the mid station.






Edited 1 times. Last edit at 17.59hrs Fri 15 Apr 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Fiacaill.JPG (217kB)   Coronation wall.JPG (238kB)   Lady.JPG (231kB)   Atomic Trials.JPG (272kB)   Car Park.JPG (278kB)  

Many thanks for yet another highly informative update. Did you try skiing down into the Ciste Gully at all?

Telechick ...leaving your Bairn in your Car ????are you F'ing crazy or what ?

Windy....CML closed system ...what pish they talk and interpret it to suit themselves.......did you not see Gordon Buchanan with John Simpson tonight....pop up the train and head out ? WTF ?

I just can't get over that Numptie proposing to leave a Bairn in a Car !!

Has to be the most shocking thing I have ever read on this Forum Pages !!

George

Thanks Eric. No I did not go down the gully as I spent much of the day trying out the Atomic skis, I think I will leave the gully till they finally close the lifts and we have to walk.


Should be fine George, if you crack the window open and leave a bowl of water
Different cultures...

Graeme



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 07.02hrs Sat 16 Apr 16 by WindyMiller.

Indeed, it's far from uncommon for babies and toddlers to have a daytime nap outside even when it's sub-zero in Scandinavian countries:

[www.bbc.co.uk]



Often prams and pushchairs outside cafes and shops etc. In the UK you hear stories of people being arrested for leaving a pram outside for a few minutes. Official Finish Government medical advice:



Perhaps it's our culture that is wrong, one which has been unduly shaped by the poisonous British tabloid press?

Thanks for the info gents, fingers crossed it stays open, the snow map looks good though.

I should also perhaps clarify that I would never lock my kids inside a car for the whole day, but it is pretty normal at some of the smaller slopes in South Sweden, where I normally ski, to put young kids down for a nap in the car (or just in the pram at the bottom of the slope, as is normal for daytime naps) while the rest of the family continues skiing...

Usually, we use a two-way baby alarm so you can hear when the child wakes up, and talk to them while you make your way down to collect them.
I've never heard of anyone losing a kid this way.

Clearly, given the reaction, this is a little bit of Nordic culture that has yet to cross the North Sea...

I will try the hotels you suggest instead.

Weather as a bit iffy today with snow for most of the time and a bitter cold wind. It is surprising to see even the lower runs filling in a bit but not really skiable, other than the Fiacaill.The snow mid up is fresh and dry.

This is possibly my last conditions post for this season. I had a bit of a tumble on the white lady and had to make use of the facilities. This old guy does not bounce quite as well as he used too . A bit of an embarrassing situation when everyone knows who you are.A big thanks to Ruari, Duncan, John H, John A, Les and Ian on the train to help lift the stretcher and Ann for driving me down to A&E.


Graeme

The snow continues


Ruari seems to be enjoying this just too much Just as well my outfit matches


Getting loaded into the stretcher


Duncan taking me away.


At least I got to try out the first class sleeper carriage on the train!




Edited 3 times. Last edit at 21.40hrs Sat 16 Apr 16 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Cas Load.JPG (255kB)   Ruari having too much fun.jpg (83kB)   strecher.jpg (132kB)   strecher 002.jpg (41kB)  

Can't believe you even managed to get pics Graeme. Saw you on the white lady with the brother - hope you are up and about soon. Who's going to take up the mantle?

Thanks Shredandjammy, it was mighty embarrassing with folks going by "oh look theres Graeme in the snow" At least the tourists had something to watch on the way back down on the train. I hope to get back up before the close but may not be on skis .

Who is going to step up and take the pictures for the last few days of the season?

We cant have that lovely snow at the top go unreported. There are a lot of people that do look at this site before deciding to go up and I know there are a number of regulars that read this, so come on get your cameras out and post!

Anyway what was the snow like today? When I looked up the level seems to have risen up the mountain again. Is it still dry at the cas load area?

Graeme

Hey G hope ur not in to much discomfort will be up tmorrow or Wednesday
And will be going up the summit to see if my mobile phone is retreievable after dropping it at top of the Coronatin wall on Friday(got a metal detecter😀😀&#128512
so will try and do a report looks like powder and freshies all the way tho...!!

Hope you're healing Graeme and not in too much pain. The snow's plentiful above mid station and the plateau is loaded so hopefully it will hang around for a while and you might be able to ski before it all goes.

Great weather and snow today both on and off piste this afternoon.

Some photos from where I got to here [www.winterhighland.info]

Hope you found your phone Headnip

Helen

hey Helen and co yep found the phone sitting right on top of the snow just had a wee holiday on top of the gorm for four nights seems to be unaffected!!!
anyways quality runs down coronation wall today wind affected but soft and fun

Anyone for a day on the beach?

post went wrong








Edited 1 times. Last edit at 17.19hrs Sat 23 Apr 16 by WindyMiller.