to say the least ...

[www.skiinfo.co.uk]

Quote: "The Quad Chair in particular had been one of the most extensively damaged; around 15 chairs were found to be completely irreparable and a further 25 chairs needed to be brought back down to the workshop to be more fully assessed and repaired."



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 15.09hrs Fri 16 Dec 11 by David Goldsmith.

Hi guys, planning on heading up to Nevis tomorrow and looking to get into the backs for the first time. Was just wondering if anyone managed in today and if you could let us know how it was, entry, snow, etc, any info would be great. What is everyone thinking of the weather for tomorrow as well, Met Office and a few others hinting towards it being ok at Nevis but MWIS saying the hill may be under cloud, what does everyone think? Any help would be great.

didn't see many tracks at all on the return runs today....

go slide....

Ando, cannot be bothered writing it again here but did leave a fair report and some pics in the public reports.
Have a great day !!

Well that was a cracking first day of the season. The snowfall over the last couple of weeks has left the hill loaded and all the runs have a great deep base. Last night’s showers topped this off with a powdery coating and there were fresh tracks to be had all over.

Started with a few warm up laps on the Goose then we had a look at the backs. The viz wasn’t great so we opted to head down the ridge to Winger Wall where the light gave better definition. The entrance here was very easy and there were some spots that you could simply roll into. Whilst not deep powder this area is loaded with soft snow and there was some cracking turns to be had. The traverse out is in great shape and I didn’t hit any rocks at all.

All in all a great day and with some more snow showers moving in tonight there should be more on offer tomorrow. Get up there and don’t miss out on this great early season cover!!

Sorry no pics, the light was pretty flat so you wouldn’t see very much!

What a belter of an opening day.

Lower down it was 3-4 inches of fresh over a hard base. Up higher loads and loads of nice soft snow. The powder over towards the quad chair was fantastic. In fact staying in it and cutting back with enough hill to get to the bottom station was preferable as no-one was heading down there cause the chair was off. Fresh tracks all day and very few rocks poking through.

Didn't get near the backs as the cloud never cleared the top section of the mountain and I simply don't know it well enough to guess. The snowpack is deep and well consolidated everywhere else and with the fresh have no doubt it will have been tremendous in there too.

I have gone entire seasons in the past without having as good a day as that, not bad for before Christmas. Hope I'm not jinxing the rest of the season by saying that!

Best opening day of the season I've ever had.

As Chris says, it's time to get up there and use it or lose it. Conditions are sweet but I've got some Xmas shopping to do, so enjoy tomorrow!

i was up there today

great snow, all runs complete and fully loaded. it was nice and quiet with no queue longer than 1 minute. great vibe with eveybody happy to be there with such good snow cover.

weather was shocking in the afternoon, total white out and drifting snow. came down off the mountain at 2.30

Another absolute belter at Nevis Range today. Overnight there was a bit more fresh snow and combined with a westerly wind it meant conditions in the back corries were even better than yesterday. We dropped in at winger wall for our first run then backtrack for 2 runs after that. The top 50 metres or so were a little firm but easy enough to keep an edge on and once you were past this the main bowl had some really nice powder on offer.

The morning sunshine gave way to some beefy snow showers in the afternoon so we moved to the front of the hill where you can go pretty much anywhere. Towards the end of the day the fresh snow was accumulating nicely and there were some good powder drifts by the fences. All round a quality day

A few camera phone pics from the morning when the sun was out.....










Edited 2 times. Last edit at 21.30hrs Sun 18 Dec 11 by Chris H.

Attachments: Back Corries 1.jpg (64kB)   Back Corries 2.jpg (59kB)   Back Corries 3.jpg (50kB)  

Cracking day in the backs, mostly in Coire an lochan and Coire Dubh taking in Summit Gully and a good few in deep powder at Spikes which currently has a fairly easy-ish entry, late afternoon all tracks were filled in and freshies were had again, pics and report in public section.

Got to echo what Chris said. To be able to drop Winger Wall as the first run of the season was pretty special

The entire hill is totally loaded in all the places you'd want it and today was a cracking early Christmas present!

The forecast wasn't supposed to be too good, so the proper camera got left at home (and probably just as well given the fun we were having). However, I grabbed a couple with a compact.



More photos are in the public reports

Cracking day in the backs taking in both Coire an Lochan and Coire Dubh including Summit gully and Chancer which has a fairly easy-ish entry currently and a huge powder field below making multi entries a must here on a day that couldnae be beat, pics and report in public section.

Attachments: 381073_268040596587506_100001447021227_781868_764949660_n.jpg (42kB)  

Dam, should have gone today instead of yesterday!

BUMP - Well after an incredibly frustrating 10 days looks like some decent snowfall is on the way again. The webcams show the Goose is already filling in very nicely and with plenty more to come. Fingers crossed the wind drops and we are back on the hill again soon.

Report updated and sounding good.....

Conditions to be assessed in the morning. Lots of fresh snow drifting and filling in the runs, so the lower runs were pisted on Monday, but it was blizzarding so new drifts are forming all the time. If conditions allow operations on Tuesday, we do not expect to be able to open before 9.30 and will start with the Trainer tow, Linnhe and Alpha.

Given there was no snow on the lower runs until yesterday morning and they have now been pisted that is a good indicator of how much new snow has fallen - and lots more to come overnight hopefully.

If by some miracle the wind does let the lower lifts run tomorrow and Alpha opens I think I would be tempted to head up, not holding my breath though!