Thanks Timberline, very helpful info. Really hope I can make enough time to take it in.

Nicko, you can see a copy of the trails map here
[www.britishnordic.org]

In contrast to Sunday’s miserable weather, conditions today were near perfect, with 5cm of powder overlying a frozen base consisting of the 10-day old thin base plus a thick layer of wet snow which froze on Sunday evening before the powder arrived. The result was effortless gliding on up to 14cm depth on the lower trails and up to 17cm on the Haute Route (see photo). As usual, tree canopy left the trail uncomfortably thin at the top of Telemark Twist (escape by using edge of right-hand verge) and on the descent at the start of Norman’s Way (shuffle down the narrow left-hand verge – unconventional pole manoeuvres allowed!). The A941 from Rhynie has been ploughed and treated but the residual slush and ice has probably re-frozen by now.

And it's looking cold through to next Monday!

Photo: Haute Route from Mutiny Bend.


Attachments: IMG_4506 (600x800).jpg (302kB)  

A bluebird day at the Clash – minus 5 at the car park mid-morning, squeaky snow on the Haute Route, clear blue sky, white pillows of hills to the west – definitely the best day of the season so far. Another centimetre or two of powder landed overnight to add to the already excellent quality of the snow. Back down to earth, the downhill at the start of Normans Way still requires a shuffle down the left-hand verge to avoid the stones; but no serious issues reported from elsewhere. The snow cover on the trails is generally very good, and the skiers' tramlines even make it easy to double-pole up some of gentler gradients (as well as down them, of course). The Timberline snowfield still has to consolidate properly. It has a 20cm layer of snow on top of the heather, with some limited drifting giving extra depth in places. And the icing on the cake is that the great conditions seem set to last through the weekend and beyond, with maybe a further topping-up of snow on Saturday.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 15.39hrs Wed 30 Jan 19 by Timberline.

Clash Trails report, Thur 31st Jan.
The trails have all been groomed and the skiing is excellent. A lot of people out skiing today.
I expect/hope the trails will be busy this weekend. Please park considerately, don't block the entrance and it really helps that those of you with 4-wheel drive vehicles park in the deeper reaches of the car park.

Thanks for updates, hope to be up there tomorrow

Good to see the forestry reacted quickly and piled some new posts in to dissuade the vehicle which had bypassed the barrier.
I saw the vehicle tracks last week, and was relieved when I realised it hadn’t driven beyond the sign onto the trails, I was dreading they were going to be trashed

More snow for the next 24 hours...

[www.xcweather.co.uk]

There has been a lot of fresh snow since lunchtime Friday. With no shortage on the trails, the focus this morning will be on the road conditions. Unless the plough comes through (and they will be busy) the road will be "interesting", given that it already had a couple of inches of snow by mid-afternoon Friday – so access may be tricky.

The Clashindarroch car park does sometimes get ploughed but this arrangement is separate from the ploughing of the A941 and only happens occasionally. On Friday morning, before the new snow came, the surface had uneven compacted snow. With all the new snow on top of that, it will be challenging today -- take a shovel for each passenger! If the road is open the car park will be busy. It really helped on Friday that vehicles were parked so that as many spaces as possible were available; and leaving the entrances clear.

Thank you to the 4x4 drivers who ventured into what Peter Thorn calls the "further reaches" of the car park on Friday, allowing 2WD cars to use the more accessible front part. In the "further reaches" the hard-standing is beside the fence on the right as you go in.

It's a weekend showing Clashindarroch at its best. Those arriving at the car park this morning found 30 (thirty) centimetres of fresh powder on top of the existing base. Fortunately the A941 from Rhynie and the front part of the car park had been ploughed. Needless to say there is ample snow on the trails, some of which have been groomed, some packed, some just offering skiers' tramlines. A special surprise today was the excellent surface on Leids Leap, created by the maintenance crew visiting the phone mast using a tracked ATV, and making the descent a genuine pleasure. Any adventures off-trail will be a struggle through 40-50cm of unconsolidated powder, so although all the open hill looks temptingly covered it will take a a few days of freeze/thaw and/or drifting to make hill touring rewarding in the immediate neighbourhood of the Clash.

A topping-up of snow is forecast for Sunday morning and some drifting may occur in open areas, although the trails themselves are generally sheltered. These conditions could affect the roads too, so care is advised, but if the forecast is right there shouldn't be major weather issues. In the car park today, the front section was fully accessible. A number of spaces have been cleared in the "further reaches" where 4x4s are encouraged to park. There's ample opportunity to clear a few more -- which will be very much appreciated by new arrivals! And it's a great way to keep warm if you're waiting for friends to arrive.

The A96 traffic cam at Glens of Foudland has been showing further snowfall, so the already abundant snow at Clashindarroch will have received a further topping-up since Sunday.

Conditions on Sunday were great - there had ben a further light dusting of snow and Pete had run the skidoo with roller and track cutter around the main Huate Route loop in difficult pisting conditions. This made for some great skiing as the warmer temperature had made the snow slow and sticky and for some there were problems with snow balling under the skis if you headed off into the softer stuff. Front car park is ploughed and parking spaces have been dug by hand in the back carpark (thanks to all who helped with the digging) as it was very busy on Sunday.

For any heading further off track I was up onto the windfarm tracks, so there is a skier cut track up from the top of Herringbone Hill to the windfarm, but the windfarm tracks have been ploughed so there are some stones showing in places so care needed. Should be good once the deeper snow beside the tracks has consolidated.

I went up Suie Hill on Sunday - to avoid the crowds at Clash
others had been out on skis on Saturday, so tracks to follow heading West of road out onto Coreen hills moorland.

the tracks at Suie are pretty flat, so the downhills are less fun than Clash

Just a quick note to say thanks to Timberline and Peter Thorn for the info and encouragement to visit. I had less time than I had hoped but late last Tuesday managed to visit the Huntly centre for a chat (and bought the map). Then a quick tour up Biathlon way, right on Classic, left up Shortcut to Haute Route. Went nearly to the Barns (its steep!) then back to Leids Hill mast (great views!), down Leids Leap and back to the car park via the Deer Track and Range Way by which time it was dusk. What a great place, recommend it and hope I can get back soon. thanks, Nick

Hi Nick -- Really glad you enjoyed your visit, and thanks for your comments. You chose the best circuit under the ideal conditions currently prevailing. Hope you can make it back sometime!

Clash Report Tues 5th Feb.
2-5cm of snow fell on Monday covering the groomed trails. But with firm, groomed snow just beneath this fresh cover the skiing was good. The trails would benefit from another groom and if conditions allow we will try to do this in time for the weekend but I can't guarantee that will happen.