Although it has been milder today (plus 3-4), the superb snowpack is undiminished; 30cm on compacted trails, and 40-50cm of soft snow on the verges (very useful, that!). The tramlines were slick and a slight overnight frost ensured rapid acceleration. Short Cut is transforming itself into a sloping terrain park, with the bumps and dips magnified by dumps of snow coming off the trees, interspersed with potentially icy patches where trees have been dripping. There was a huge amount of snow on the trees along the Haute Route (see photo), which will probably be shed when it gets windy. There seems to be every prospect of the snowpack enduring, but the main feature in the forecast for the coming weekend will be high winds, along with some additional snowfall.

The snowpack on the open hill at Mount of Haddoch is somewhat variable. Areas exposed to the wind are relatively firm, and there may have been slight thaw/freeze effects where they are in the sun. Some areas are developing a thin breakable crust. In the shade the snow has not consolidated and is hard work.


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Thanks for update, hope snow survives possible heavy rain on Friday

Clash Trails report Thur 7th Feb
The trails have been groomed double-width around the main Highland Fling-Haute Root loop. It is possible to skate but the track is groomed a bit narrower than I would usually like for skating in few short sections.
The temperatures were too warm & the snow still too soft & deep to venture over to Herringbone Hill but the tracks are well skied in this direction.
Still a great depth of snow in the forest and you can ski pretty much wherever you want.

I know they trees a pretty with snow on em but would hitting the odd one at times with a club hammer or the back of an axe add tae the volume of snow on bits?

Wind will do that tonight! Hope the warm sector ocluddes out before reaching.

Yes, that is the case. In fact snow dropping off the trees can lead to fun rollers to ski over. I haven't taken a hammer to them but sometimes do knock snow off low hanging branches.

Coolio.. One of Alans fancy web cams would be cool up there too, the pics are cool and seeing what critters are about would be worth a nosey..

A skier at Clashindarroch today reports that “dancing on ice” was the theme for the car park, but a gloriously deep and kind layer of snow met skiers at the gate and this continued, with compacted trails bordered by forgiving soft snow on the verges. Despite rain showers the snow was holding up well. Off-trail the snow will probably be soft and rather heavy going, calling for regular swapping of trailbreaking duties.

So, the outlook for the weekend is for the abundant skiing to continue. It should not get too mild on Saturday, and a topping-up of snow is currently predicted for Sunday afternoon.

"Abundant snow" is still the appropriate description for Clashindarroch, though the snow lower down in Aberdeenshire has been disappearing fast. The trails have lost little if any snow despite recent milder conditions. There are tramlines to follow on most routes. The Haute Route today was crisp and firm. Lower trails had the occasional slushy tramline but the depth, compaction and temperature of the successive layers is helping to preserve the skiing. Off-trail adventuring has ample depth but the snow is not as firm as it might be, i.e. you may struggle in places! For Sunday, there is a top-up of new snow forecast for the afternoon. The car park will be icy, or slushy, wet, or all three at the same time.

Sunday there was still good snow conditions on all trails, but it had firmed up hard overnight and anywhere in shade stayed frozen all day. This made the trails fast and tricky, particularly the downhills where all the lumps, bumps and boot holes had frozen solid. The 5km loop of the Haute Route was pisted on Sunday, which improved surface conditions a bit.

Clash update Mon 11th Feb.
1-2cm of fresh snow on the lower trails, & up to 5cm on the upper trails, has covered the boilerplate conditions of yesterday giving some really nice skiing.

With an unrelenting mild spell forecast, we are sadly looking at incremental loss of snow starting on Tuesday. However, there is plenty of snow on most of the trails so there should be a few days more skiing, although becoming softer and wetter. And statistically it's by no means impossible for more snow later in the season. The snow cover on the descent at the start of Normans Way is getting patchy again, but there was enough snow along the right-hand edge for an uninterrupted descent. Earlier in the season it was the left-hand edge which allowed descent -- now it has bare patches -- which just goes to show how the snow distribution can change.

Some tips for getting the best from the Clash this week: (1) Be there as early in the day as you can, to get the benefit of any firming up of the snow overnight; (2) Head for the Haute Route which has the best snowpack, and great views; (3) Beyond the Haute Route, the Timberline snowfield has finally consolidated, giving a taste of touring on the open hill.

We certainly had a brilliant day today,the snowfield and any of the descents being a real delight with such controllable conditions.

Colin,I was thinking afterwards if you cant get a spare handle wedge for your pole would be straightforward to make one,I've got some offcuts of Nylatron bar(engineering plastic for turning,fabrication) and could copy the other,surviving one.

And found a water bottle 5ish pm at junction just above Range,left it beside car park strainer.

Tony

Hi Tony

Many thanks for this offer. I've sent you a Private Message with exhaustive comments on the pole handle wedge. I think I can probably get a Swix replacement wedge locally, but will let you know if there's a problem. A skier today had newer Swix poles with a new design for the pole handle strap fixture. Perhaps this is a perpetual problem with no one able to come up with the perfect design!

Woops, I'll send a second PM about the water bottle you found...

Conditions at the Clash today were much better than expected, given the temperature of plus 9C. The main trails could reasonably be described as “more complete than broken”. Starting 50 yards in from the entrance, a complete loop was possible along Biathlon Way, Short Cut, left on the Haute Route, down Leids Leap and Deer Track, left on Classic Start and home via Biathlon Way. The snow was compacted on these trails and somewhat affected by thaw pits and boot holes, so metal edges were useful. The verges tended to have soft, wet snow. Short Cut was hard, uneven and very fast – best tackled uphill rather than down. Leids Leap gave a good run for the confident skier, although narrowing in places (fortunately still full width at the steep bend). The top end of Deer Track was thinning in the sun, but the rest of it was great in descent. Where the springlike weather has taken its toll is on the Main Drag, where nearly 100 yards are bare at Telemark Twist. Also, the tree-lined alley at the top of Wildcat is now partly bare, and Wildcat’s lower section beyond Deer Track is thinning out. The Haute Route has an inconvenient bare patch on the descent from the Barns of Haddoch towards Short Cut. The Range and its ramps were complete today and should remain so meantime. In summary, there’s still a lot of good skiing thanks to the chilling effect of the lying snow, along with its depth and compaction. Off-trail, the Timberline snowfield was just skiable today but will not last. The car park and the first 50 yards in from the forest entrance were both very icy today.