Whatt stage is this proposal at Alan? The figures involved sound very high - is there really that kind of cash available? Any lift would be amazing. The White Lady is the main run as far as I'm concerned and definitely about the only run in Scotland where you can really open out your turns and go fast.

Well who though the day would finish as it did!

It started off well with high thin cloud, gentle wind and weak sunshine. I arrived just before lunch and the cloud was thickening slightly but still good enough light to head off piste towards the meadows. The snow was a little slabby but still easy to ski. We chose the route that would take us back to the ski centre at Gully No1. Gully No1 was excellent to ski. After a few runs the snow was broken up enough to produce a powdery surface. We skied the ciste gully a number of times too, very nice down to the WWP traverse. the traverse out is a little lumpy though quite skiable.

The west wall was seeing a bit of action, unpisted but good to ski. Nice to have a bit of steep.

Riding up the WWP around 14:30 the weather changed, like throwing a switch. With out warning the wind hit us like a brick wall just after the torr. It was tough holding on to get to the top. I do not ever recall the weather changing so abruptly on Cairngorm. It was frighteningly fast.

By the time we got to the Ptarmigan we decided to go in for a few minutes. The clue it was getting bad outside was the cats and dogs flying past the windows, followed by small children, their parents, ski patrol and pistie beasties! By the time we went outside, 10 minutes or so, it had gone ballistic. Patrol were stopping anyone heading over to the ptarmigan area and suggesting folks take the train back down. We headed over to the traverse….

The winch cat had just come up the traverse but by the time we tried to ski in massive drifts had reformed. We often joke about being blown back up the traverse, today it was true. The gusts were massive. Eventual we got to the 105. Amazingly it was sheltered from the extraordinary winds and snow was being deposited by the second producing untracked powder snow all the way down and into the cas. An amazing ski down though the powder snow.

At the car park we discussed doing it again. NO!

There are light snow showers passing through the village this evening, the wind is still strong so who knows what it will be like tomorrow.

Graeme

Skiing the meadows, a bit slabby in places but still a nice place to be.


Les coming out of Gully No1 and joining the ciste gully, a good ski. We did note that Gully No2 has not filled in yet.


The bottom half of the West Wall. Even with the traverse lines back to the WWP it was still easy to ski in the soft snow.


Some one threw a switch, patrol were caught out with how fast the weather changed and a number of ropes came off the towers.


The cas was gaining a significant amount of blown powder. It was ironing that the sun was shining during the ballistic wind.





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.52hrs Wed 7 Feb 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Cas.JPG (138kB)   wind.JPG (143kB)   medows.JPG (144kB)   west wall.JPG (139kB)   Gully No1.JPG (137kB)  

In attempting to straight line the Summit Run at Nevis at lunchtime had visions of landing at the Ptarmigan Restaurant for said lunch !! Will be up the hill tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the off switch will have been found for the wind!

A wonderful day on the mountain today, sunshine,little wind, cold temperatures and good snow.

It was a day for exploring on and off piste. On piste the snow is well groomed giving a compacted powdery surface. Along fence lines you can find remains of the wind blown powder from the last two days where the pistie beasties did not go so close. This was particular true for the white lady and the fiacaill run. The White Lady was exceptionally good down the burn line, skiers right of the piste. Soft and forgiving from the tunnel mouth down to the pistie beasty garage.

The Fiacaill area has been pisted giving a good alternative to the Cas for intermediate and above skiers. It was easy to get back to either the M1 or cas t-bar.

The Cas is wide and soft though the gun barrel is just that, narrow and v-shaped, more like a half pipe. There are alternatives to the gun barrel such as the zigzags or chicken gully.

The Ciste and Ptarmigan bowls are wide and easy ski.

The lower ciste, ciste gully, gully no1 and the west wall are good giving nice skiing for the upper adventurous intermediate and above.

The disappointing run was the M2. It has been the jewel this year but today is was lumpy and hard. Still very skiable but not the excellent conditions we have come to expect.

The Aonoch bowl has changed, much of the soft snow has been stripped out leaving a hard though grippy surface. You did have to pick your route as there were patches heather. Not a bad ski, we did do it a few times.

The lower runs such as the car park run and the day lodge are a little thin in places though easy to get around the patches of brown.

Off piste is varied from struggie, frozen ruts to soft wind blown powder.

A nice surprise was a chap came and introduced himself while we were in the ciste gully. Alan and his son, Lucas, are winterhighland lurkers and recognised Les from the picture I post. They asked if they could join us for an excursion off piste. Of course they could. It was a pleasure to take them over the meadows in the sunshine and high on to gully No1. Alan had skied Cairngorm for many years and had never seen the route past the east Ptamigan. As I said before any one who wants to try something different please tag along.

I will be putting up some pictures of facebook later.
[www.facebook.com]

Graeme

The Ciste Gully, not rammed with as much snow as some times it can be, a bit v-shaped but still good.


The Aonoch Bowl. The soft snow has been stripped out leaving a grippy surface.


Heading out on a short excursion showing Alan and Lucas the way into (and out) of the meadows via gully No1.


Returning from the meadows entering the upper section of gully No1.


The white lady is wide and soft, especially down skiers right, the burn line.







Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.35hrs Fri 9 Feb 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Ciste.JPG (223kB)   Aonoch.JPG (207kB)   Upper Gully 1.jpg (214kB)   Heading out.JPG (230kB)   WhiteLady.JPG (85kB)  

To-day was a day of firsts.
First time all lifts have run in over two years, including the day lodge and car park.
First time all three car parks were full to capacity and shuttle buses running in over two years.
First time top to ciste car park skiing using Ritas Ridge in over two years.

The recent storms and snow falls have improved the skiing immensely even in the last two days there have been big improvements. The cas is catching a lot of snow and the pistie beasties have manage to push enough into the gun barrel to flatten it out.

The Aonoch bowl which was scrapped the other day now has softer snow, You still have to watch for heather patches but now they are much further apart.

Jeans Bowl and the Fiacaill area are catching the snow too giving fresh tracks to those who like that

The Lady is wide and in good condition.

One area that was a no go was the west wall and ciste gully, there is a high avalanche risk here. If you attempt this the lifties have been given strict instruction not to allow you back on the lift and you will have to walk out. Is there really a risk, you bet! We skied Rita's Ridge for the first time in two years. It has the same aspect as the west wall and even in the shallow snow depth we manage to trigger two very small slides of snow. The west wall is loaded with snow and is unstable, don't go there.

The pisted runs are great all over the mountain. The cas is wide on both sides of the fences and many were making use of the pisted run over by the fiacaill back the the cas t-bar.

Other than the car parks being full you would not have believed it was half term. With all the lifts open and ample pistes, on and off, the mountain swallowed up all the people with very few queues. Occasionally if two or more ski classes turned up you had a 5 minute or so wait but nothing to annoy you.

One area that need addressing urgently is the load area of the cas. With the new gantry the loading is now very different than before and even a short line leads back under the car park bull wheel. I came down the cas after lunch and there was a large congregation of people standing all over the t-bar unload waiting for the cas loading, folks coming up the car park had no where to get off and were letting the bars fly into the crowd. There is going to be a serious accident here. This area is needs planning and active management.

The weather was changeable, sunny with little wind in the morning, cold and crisp. Then by the afternoon snow showers were passing through reducing vis for a while and some major wind gusts. Then out would come the sun again, a mixed bag.

If you are coming up in the next few days be here early if you want to park in the cas carparks. By 09:00 the lower cas was full. In saying that if you do have the ability skiing back to the ciste car park is great fun. not for lower intermediate skiers or if you do not like unpisted runs.

Over all a great day.

Graeme

The lower slopes are catching snow though if you look at the fences it is not all that deep yet but the heather is covered,


Jeans Bowl has caught fresh snow and was very nice indeed, all the way back to the Fiacaill Poma.


The aonoch is much improved too from a couple of days ago.


The lady is wide top to bottom.


Rita's Ridge, first time in over two years, full of snow but you do have to pick your way just above the car park. Ptarmigan to ciste car park, over 2 miles of a continuous run. Not quite Tignes, but it make me happy!





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.08hrs Sun 11 Feb 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: White Lady.JPG (157kB)   Aonach Bowl.JPG (176kB)   Jeans Bowl.JPG (231kB)   Ritas Ridge.JPG (185kB)   lower Slopes.JPG (231kB)  

The dynamics of the mountain have changed with the mid term holiday. It is strange how the normally friendly atmosphere on the mountain can change so much with the holiday makers. Even yesterday it was still friendly but to-day was definitely sour, people pushing and shoving in the queues and the me me me attitude. The staff were struggling on occasion to keep the lines from passing into dangerous areas, folks did not want to listen or take instructions. The answer was not to stand in queues and luckily there were still many runs to have with out standing in line.

The day started off sunny but windy with drifting snow. The snow pack had shifted over night. The gains were the white lady, the cas, and jeans bowl. The loosers were the Aonach Bowl and Ritas Ridge. Ritas ridge has become slabby and difficult to ski. The Aonach was difficult too, easy to catch an edge on the snow.

The cas is gaining constantly especially the new run over the bolder field. This is gaining fresh soft snow all the time and a pleasure to ski.

The wind abated around lunchtime then build toward the end of the day. We kept away from the tops due to the wind strength. Jeans bowl was very sheltered and was hard to believe it was windy at other parts of the mountain. The snow in here has remained good and was some of the best skiing on the mountain.

Please keep away from the West Wall and Ciste Gully. There is a significant avalanche risk. More people were stopped at the WWP today and not allowed to use the up lift after ducking ropes, they were putting others at risk, not just them selves.

The queues were definitely longer today but went in spells of busy then quiet. The longest queue by far was in the two restaurants at lunch time. We had to wait until 14:30 for lunch, running very low on energy by then. May take some nibbles the next time up.

Graeme


The best area on the mountain for off piste, Jeans Bowl.


Plenty of easy ways down the mountain.


Gun barrel is wide, if you still do not like it there are the zigzags or chicken gully.


The lady is continually improving in the drifting snow. the only draw back was if you headed back to the M1 from here, the queues could be 10 minutes or so some times. Other times much less. We occasionally skipped down to the Ridge poma or the cas t-bar.


The cas at the end of the day had gained snow significantly and was a pleasure.








Edited 2 times. Last edit at 18.39hrs Mon 12 Feb 18 by WindyMiller.

Attachments: Jeans Bowl.JPG (228kB)   Mid Mountain.JPG (228kB)   Upper Gun Barrel.JPG (242kB)   lower Lady.JPG (224kB)   cas.JPG (223kB)  

Was also up today and with all lifts running it wasn't too chaotic

Are they serving food in the Storehouse? Last time I was in there was no food at al, they'd even stopped the pizzas and the menu boards had all been taken down.

Hi there Alan you can use the pix from our public report today

The food is limited in the storehouse. It is pizza, pie chips and beans, soup, cold sandwiches and tray bakes. The queue runs very slowly indeed and once it goes round the inside it is not worth the wait. Best option is to be in the ptarmigan at 11:30 or after 14:30.

you should try Nevis Range Windy - much quieter during half-term

and time taken to drive there offset vs queing time at CGM

Hi

Grand day at Cairngorm Monday skiing with my other half's sister's 12 yr old sprog who usually frequents dry slopes.

Got a couple of runs before the crowds showed up, avoided the train until 3PM and gone as it was carnage. Quickest way up the hill was DLP+WWP.

White Lady was the best run, and fairly sheltered from the wind once under the funi track. CAS also pretty good but the lad could not put up with how slowly the CAS tow was running! M1 queues were a mess - CG could learn from Bill@Glenshee re how to keep a queue tidy. Shouted at a few cheeky gits sneaking in.

M2 was brutal at times for the top section with the cross winds and the sprog not having much bulk. Cut right to pick up Ryovan bowl (think that's what its called?) (between the rocks higher up) was better.

Ciste gully was roped off with 'keep out' signs - I asked 2 lifties why and was told that it was due to them not having enough staff to patrol it. They should take a lead from Nevis and just make it 'experts only, limited patrol'. Nothing said about avi risk being the reason, although there was notable windslab building on the flank skiiers left.

The piste skiiers left of M1 Poma (M1 piste?) was hilarious late on when the wind really got going. The lad proclaimed that we were not doing that one twice!

Not a bad day despite the queues - which died down significantly as the wind got more brutal!

First time I have been to Cairngorm for a while (the skiing is better at Glencoe and Nevis). The lad I was skiing with is on holiday in Inverness though so it made sense. £36 quid still stings a bit though!

[www.youtube.com]

Pix: [photos.veletron.com]


Nigel

The 'ryvoan bowl' is actually called aonach bowl

Hi Nigel, the ciste gully, West wall and Gully No1 had been open for a few days but they had to close them. After the strong winds blowing snow in they carried out a stability test and it was unstable,this came from the head of ski patrol and ops. They would have told me if there was another reason.The yellow sign at the top of Ryvoan does state high avalanche risk. When the runs were opened at first they were marked unpisted, unmarked. They have been marked out now so not an issue of manpower as the work has been done and the lift was staffed and running for feeding from over yonder and the Aonach Bowl. This year there are a lot of new lifties, a good bunch but some have just started and don't know all the accurate information sources yet.

I can confirm the northerly snow packs are unstable as Les and I caused a couple of small, very small, slides on our venture over Ritas ridge on Sunday in fairly shallow snow. The west wall has a massive build up and if it were to go it would take out any one in the ciste gully and gully no1.

Wish you have come and said hello we could have taken you over to the lesser known areas which were quiet all day,little or no queues there, apart form lunch which was a nightmare!


Graeme

Fair enough, I saw the sign re avi risk at the top of Ryvoan. We were playing in what I now know was the Aonach ourselves - bit of rock dodging high up, but sheltered vs the M2.

Would be good to know some more secret locations indeed! I tried to persuade the lad into a high traverse from the Ptarmigan to drop into the top of the CAS (to no avail), looked from a distance that there was low avi risk on this (heather was visible!) but plenty of snow in the hollows. Had I been there on my tod I would have just skiied off the back from the tor towards Loch Avon to avoid the crowds!

Nigel