I dont understand why some lifties are not more helpful. It is a shame when they are not and i am not sure what else they are going to do with their time. If someone is struggling then why not help?

Another great day up the hill. The weather was amazing, though the snow was pretty hard in places. Edges sharpened though and was another great day skiing.

Alot more people about today, but managed to avoid most ques(stuck for a little while on Tom Dearg)

There was someone talking about some snow this week which will be great if it comes. What is there on the east side is pretty solid, so a top up now would be great.

Another trip up tomorrow, and i think my legs might be skied out. What a nice feeling that is.

Had a braw afternoon there today. Nice spring snow on most terrain though race track especially was surprisingly icy. Will be sharpening my edges tonight then.

Having driven in from Aviemore via lecht today I was surprised how much more snow the Braemar/Glenshee area had in comparrison. Theres actually still loads of touring options on many hills round about and where the slopes are theres still plenty of snow to ski on.

Glenshee has responded to the Park situation and has created a proper entrance.

There is snow where there needs to be, dink dink was well used and is in great condition.

The baddoch run is quite rocky & icy. Not for beginners.

The sun was out, maybe not as much snow as we'd like but loads of folk having a great time, a good day Id say.

In response to the above comment regarding staff. Cant comment on the ticket office as Im a season ticket holder, but ski patrol, lifties (apart from 1 on cairnwell chair today), cafe staff & handy men (the ones that fix lifts) are all as friendly as can be.

big difference in queues...seems the baddoch chair is focusing people on the cairnwell side, leaving caenlochan and corrie fionn with small queues and nice snow, the run under sunnyside is icy, so again beginners are sticking to cairnwell

the butchards access and cairnwel t-bar queues did meet for a short time just after lunch but wait was only 10min max (good rest in my opinion)

Be nice to skiers...they have enough problems already

Off piste up on Glas Maol this afternoon was very pleasant indeed, the smooth hard packed/frozen snow softened just a wee bit at the surface, enough to make grip reliable. Gentle touring, sort of moseyin' along, is great up there at the moment. The steeper lines are mostly in poor shape with limited run out space but that shouldn't stop anyone who fancies a wander on the east or west plateaux.

Thought conditions might be good for gentle touring. We were further south (driesh/mayar) hillwalking and the cover is surprisingly good and very extensive high up.
Great weather too!

Mike in Edinburgh
Assorted scottish pics - www.prog99.com

Still good cover, if a bit hard in places today. Report (with poor quality photos from my phone) in the public reports.

Picking up a discussion that started on the Cairngorm Snow thread, but is more appropriate here.....

A bottleneck at Caenlochan over the midterm holidays? There is a photo on my public report from today of the lift queue (or rather, the place a queue would be) at 11am on the first Sunday of the mid-term holidays. Absolutely no queue at all - ski straight on. Similar each time I passed. Any of those sitting outside the Meall Odhar cafe in the sun will tell you there was no queue.

If not running the Meall Odhar Tow were causing a bottleneck, I'd be the first to start a "Save the Ciste"-style campaign to get it running, but its very rarely an issue.

Interesting point made by Flugeryl above - the Baddoch chair is sucking many people from the ticket office straight to the Cairnwell side, where they seem to stay. Definitely busier on that side, but queuing was not bad and it was always optional as lifts across the road were mostly ski straight on.


My guess is there may have been very roughly 1500 tickets sold today at Glenshee (does anyone know?) as the main car park was approaching full, with space for a few rows left. So why did it not seem busy on the hill? People are spread out over 18 lifts. Thats 80 per lift, less people in cafes, doing other stuff etc, call it 60 per lift. A lift can typically shift 600+ people plus per hour, so the numbers work and people are happy. In recent years Glenshee have removed the worst of the bits that used to be awkward about the ski area, by using the right fencing, landscaping, grooming, snow making. People are eating in 3 cafes, each serving a full menu of good food with tables outside too, so people linger there, enjoying themselves and spending more money.

Given the realities of running a ski area in Scotland (this will never be Switzerland), I'd say Glenshee deserve huge credit for having pretty much nailed how to operate their wee bit hill and glen.

(If they upgrade the loos, then I'd say its job done!)




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 20.42hrs Sun 12 Feb 12 by SCG.

Peaches, your comment about snow this week, I have seen on the charts that there is a lot of snow coming our way from next week-end sat/sun onwards. When I look at the charts, say a week or two ahead, it totally changes within a few days from lots of snow to nothing, however, the charts for the past couple of weeks are still saying the same thing - lots of snow! In fact in my amateur, not-very-knowleadgeable opinion, it looks like loads and loads of snow! The snow looks set to cover all of Scotland and into at least northern England and perhaps mid England too.

I expect now that I have told someone, the charts will change:-( Anyway I have booked alternate days off work from next week-end, don't thnk I'm fit enough to cope day after day.

This expected snow should fit well for the Ski/Border X races coming up at beginning of March at Glenshee.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.20hrs Sun 12 Feb 12 by flexyfeet.

fingers crossed, but the forecast changes with every run, so lets just see

Be nice to skiers...they have enough problems already

My comments about Caenlochan were based on observation from last Sunday where there was a massive queue and cars parked well into the second area. Was the MO Poma open?

This still needs tweaked slightly for it to work effectively. The entrance could do with being moved slightly higher up, so people have a choice of going through the park or passing down the far side of the fence on the skiers left hand side of the park. At its current location, people don't have an option of avoiding the park once they get to the entrance.

They could also do with a few bigger signs saying "Wait your turn" or something similar, once people get into the park. Too many people (ski schools, GPS squads and general customers) are still riding straight through the entrance and cutting onto the rails/kicker without checking for other people dropping.

Speaking to Ski Patrol at the end of the day, they are aware that it needs a little more tweaking. Everything they've done so far has been very positive, so hopefully they can iron these little teething problems

Was having an alright morning at GS but I should really have waited until afternoon before going up as it was little bit solid for me on my snowboard. Anyway thought I would have a run through the park (never done anything like that before) but hit a solid ice bump, went to correct myself and wrenched my back! So had a sit down and a cup of tea but had to head home, then I couldn't find my car (I didn't realise I was quite so near the front, I blame the pain myself!). Other than that lovely sunny day, had a couple of rides on the new chair (VG) scraped the bottom of the board on some stones so got my souvenirs for the year
If the back is better by then end of the week and the snow is softer in the PM then I may be back up this week.

If you've eaten today, thank a Farmer

keep yourself active and the mucles will soon ease up

my days always start with difficulty in tightening my bindings, after a few turns everything stretches and loosens and I dont feel so old again,,,lol

Be nice to skiers...they have enough problems already

Could hardly get out of bed this morning but fine when walking about.

If you've eaten today, thank a Farmer

The snow was super soft today. In some areas a tad too much, but in other it was brilliant spring sliding.

If the thaw continues then returning from Butcharts Coire may require a short walk, already not suitable for beginners. Same goes for Baddoch run.

Spent most of my day on the dink dink teaching which has super duper cover on the main piste. Though did get busy. Didnt get up & over but I hear sunnyside & Caenlochan/Meal Odhar are very sketchy at present. Though Tom Dearg & Coire Fionn are holding their snow pretty well. As youd expect really

The weather was alright, though the wind picked up towards the end of the day which made skiing the bunny run a bit of hard work. The new snow was a no show, in fact it was above zero most of the day. But we really need a bit more for later on in half term.