Last 2 were from a week ago Sunday... Maol not running yesterday :-(

Fantastic pics Veletron. Probably quite useful to the chairlift company in terms of assessing snow management ?

Really shows up the benefit of a double chair from the base of Beag/Meal Odhar to the top of Caenlochan, if the wind exposure could be tolerated.

Another one touring at Shee yesterday. It's very icy indeed on the tops, some big patches of clear blue ice so we didn't wander far beyond the area. No need to anyway, cracking fresh lines off the Monega path ridge back into Coire Fionn among others. Finished the day with a lovely wee trundle out the back of the Cairnwell T-bar, just straight over and away down on continuous spring snow to meet the road and our transport on the floor of the glen at the A93. Very pleased that I took the day off.

those shots are awesome, now sitting in my office kicking myself for looking at them.

A bit of thaw in progress, can see bear patches starting to appear on the webcam, hopefully cooler weather will return soon.

Got some video of a random telemarker at Glenshee yesterday, heading down the run from top of Fionn to Tom Dearg about 11AM ish. Anyone from on here?

About 20 seconds into this video:

[www.youtube.com]

Bit of a fail on the 'follow me' mode on my drone, where the heck are you supposed to stick the remote control? Ended up skiing with it in one hand, poles in the other. Also appears that follow me does not keep the drone at a constant height above the ground so a skier gets small pretty quickly. More practice required, ditto for my editing skills!

Nigel

not myself or Hustler

but Hustler was snapped by SAIS team with a telephoto

A real mixed bag of a day up at Glenshee today, I'll post a public report with more details and pictures later.

However, I had a word with the ski patrol about the chances of Glas Maol running this weekend. He told me the lift was ready to go and the only reason it didn't run today was because poor visibility and high winds made it impossible to assess the avalanche risk until fairly late in the day. The word is that the lift can open if the visibility and winds allow, but for access to the Trident Gully red run only, there is a severe avalanche risk on the black and that will stay shut. The sun is currently shining in Braemar, so fingers crossed for the weekend!

Edit: Carn Aosda is derailed on a number of consecutive towers, so I'm guessing it won't be on Saturday at least.

Edit 2: Public report now here: [www.winterhighland.info]



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 18.50hrs Fri 23 Mar 18 by tim1mw.

That's good news about Glas Maol but pity about the black.
Wonder if the piste that they were preparing last week
beside the tow line will be open. That's a great run and
no more risky than the uptrack. Probably need to have a
patroller there the whole time make sure people don't
drop into the gully. The wall is going to be awffy steep
after these easterlies - and will be fun when it opens.

It does look quite steep..grab off the Glenshee video they posted today.

Attachments: GlasMaolGrab.jpg (101kB)  

Latest video from Glenshee on their facebook showing conditions about a few days ago, absolutely brilliant. [www.facebook.com]

The ski patroller I spoke to said the same.

Full sunshine here in Braemar this morning, I think its going to be an awesome day.

Lovely blue sky and mostly wind free day at the Shee today (pictures and public report later), unfortunately there is also bad news on the Glas Maol front. Glas Maol opened about 10.15 for access to the Trident Gully red and the pisted red run that follows the lift line. Shortly before 11.00 I got to the top on my second run and things did not seem well. The bull wheel was shuddering, groaning and emitting various other noises indicating mechanical distress. My in-expert diagnosis is that the bull wheel bearing had failed. A member of the ski patrol arrived just behind me and radioed down to have the lift stopped and it didn't reopen. I later heard (second hand) that it's likely to be 3-4 days before a replacement part can be sourced and fitted.

Another good day at GS today, my pictures are in my camera which got left in the car, so will have to wait (it doesn't look much different to yesterday...). As expected, Glas Maol didn't turn, although I spotted piste bashers and snow bikes heading to the top of the lift, so work is ongoing to fix it. Carn Aosda has been fixed as was running by mid morning.

It was a bit busier than Saturday, there were a few small queues here and there but nothing significant, usually for Caenlochan, Bucharts Access and Corrie Fionn. In the case of Corie Fionn the second lift was intermittently turned on to clear the queues if they built up.

The weather was a mixed bag of sun, cloud and occasional snow showers.

I thought glenshee was fantastic today. Mostly ski straight on to lifts. Occaisionally waited for 2 mins max. Snow surface was lovely once it loosened which happened by mid morning. Still lots of great offpiste, and ride/ski pretty much anywhere. Not powder like last week, but lovely nonetheless. Rosy face and tired legs tonight.