Auch Aye. Problem is with our constantly changing weather the ski centres get incredibly little notice to busy weekends like these.

Unsung heros I say lol


**Warning**

The Coire Fionn bowl was closed today by ski patrol because of exposed parts of the burn in the gully. There are some deceiving drifts that could catch you out especially in poor vis/flat light and the way the drifts are mean that it could potentially be a long drop into the burn. Apart from the obvious hazards when falling flat into a burn, ie rocks & water, you will not be visible from nearby skiers. And because you are effectively in a hole you may not be heard either. Take extra care in this area or even better keep clear of the gully altogether.




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 23.12hrs Sun 5 Feb 12 by cammyammy.

It was pretty quiet at Glencoe today, at least we know where every was now!!

Outlook on MWIS was better and drive from Edinburgh easier so made my choice and.. yow. Queues so big. Baddoch Chairlift is the nuts though.

We were the same. 20% chance of cloud free munros in the West, 50% chance in the East.

It was certainly cloud free when we left at 5:20pm





Edited 1 times. Last edit at 23.09hrs Sun 5 Feb 12 by StevieMcK.

Attachments: Moon_Glenshee_SMK_001.jpg (45kB)  

Thought I saw you up there... stealth mode rather than the BUSC/Armada gear though so wasn't so sure :]

Yeah I went for the more subtle black pants yesterday

alan Wrote:
Sounded like could have done with both the Carn Aosda and Meall Odhar T-bars today. I've never understood the preference for the Butchart's Access Poma over the Carn Aosda T-bar, the T-bar accessed everything on Carn Aosda, the Poma doesn't and it's not like the Poma is significantly easier to ride, that uptrack can have a wicked cross gradient.


I'm not sure about Carn Aosda, haven't been up to comment if there's enough snow. It's a dangerous place when snow is thin, very sharp rocks on the top.

The Meall Odhar TBar is a disgrace, though. On Saturday they couldn't run caenlochan because of high wind, that prevented access to Caenlochan and Coire Fionn. It's very common that the Caenlochan poma is put out of action by a modest wind. The TBar is perfectly reliable and being diesel driven requires feck all maintenance. Unlike the Meall Odhar Poma which in early season prevented any hangers from slipping through the rack and in mid-season would allow multiples to enter the loading point causing great confsuion for non-experts.

The TBar saved them when they let Caenlochan fall down and they should have more respect for it. Changing it to a button lift is unfathomable. The engine is very strong, good oil pressure and good temperatures, no leaks in any system.

It sounds like it would have halved a 30 minute queue. Staff not running Caenlochan on Friday could have barred up Meall Odhar TBar.

Agree with the comments that Baddoch has improved the place. A few gallons of paint wouldn't go a miss on the ski lifts in the summer. Be good to try and arrange some volunteering on this forum. A lick of paint does nothing structurally but does trick the customers into believing a huge transformation has occured. That inspires confidence in the infratsructure and will make the resort more fashionable; important in these times of austerity.

ps Tom Dearg could not run out of diesel, it's electric! The generator could have run out of diesel but that would have meant other lifts stopping too. Not sure how the lifts in that valley are distributed between the generators

I had a great day too. Spent most of the day on Coire Fionn. As cammy says, the queue on the piste side was sometimes long, but never much longer than a tad over 5 minutes. Sometimes it was a nice break on the legs. We tended to skip accross the poma track 7/8's of the way down when safe, as the other poma was empty all day!

Caenlochan was good late afternoon when the queues dissapeared.

Hopefully I'l get up Tuesday, Thursday for some more of this calm weather!

The joys of a season pass!

some footage a friend filmed at Glenshee on Sunday 5th
[www.youtube.com]

Just got back after another fantastic afternoon at Glenshee. 1 of the best of the season so far.

Spent it just lapping Butcharts.

No queues, no wind, just sunshine, clear blue skies and good snow.

everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

Roll on tomorrow.

Superb today. Will post photos, more details, etc after a cuppa tea.

Im not too bothered about the Meal Odhar T-bar in the bigger picture tbh. It would have been nice to see it running but really the mechanical parts wont have moved in nearly 2 years thus it would be a bit more than a days work to get it running. The only reason it was brought back to service in 2009/10 was because there was no way the Meal Odhar Poma could suck up all the demand.

The replacement for the poma, the Meal Odhar Chairlift, is something the management has looked at before. And after another successful season (or two) it could be a real possibility.

With the centre making big investments & efforts in other areas Im not one for complaining.

Oh and tiger was brilliant today :-)



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.40hrs Mon 6 Feb 12 by cammyammy.

Same here, fine afternoon I chose to dodge the day-job & get some sliding in the sun.

Tried both sides of the road. Fionn red good, but not as fast as Cairnwell red which looked well polished by race traffic I guess. Safe but really quick surface. Solid cover all thd way down.

Still a bit limited outside the fences but stuff to explore can be found.

Echo other comments, therewas a nice happy atmosphere today. Reasonable number of Monday punters and space for everybody.

Definitely improved cover compared to a week ago when I was last up there.

Brilliant afternoon, stayed up Bucharts side all day and reckon this guy[www.blipfoto.com] should get a "Mention in Dispatches" for his 6.8 (richter) landing, after out jumping the landing ramp.... cool but Damn.. that had to hurt.
Staying up in Braemar tonight so I can have another day tomorrow. so if you see an auld guy with a big lens....Smile



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 19.01hrs Mon 6 Feb 12 by AJ_T.

It's clear that the Caenlochan Poma couldn't cope on Sunday and it will be worse if the present snow/weather situation persists for half term next week.

The original Meall Odhar runs served by the Caenlochan and the T-bar are some of the most interesting on the hill, lots of variations, but all to often the two Pomas are queued out by people who are only using Meall Odhar as a thoroughfare to Coire Fionn.

The fact the T-bar stops slightly short of the Poma, means people going into the bowl of Coire Fionn take the Caenlochan in preference, which leaves the T-bar more for people wanting to ride Meall Odhar. It's also the case that despite the proximity of the two lifts, the Meall Odhar T-bar line is significantly less exposed than the Caenlochan Poma and I can recall numerous days where the Poma has gone off due to wind and the T-bar come on.

Nae bad a view like.

 

Yeah I was hitting the kicker just after it was built last week and struggled to get much air. Then hit it later in the week not realising it had been worked on and got far more air than intended. But onto a flat landing must have hurt!

Heres one I just processed, bit experiental.

 

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.22hrs Mon 6 Feb 12 by cammyammy.