You are more than welcome to take your skis or board up the access chair at Glencoe - we normally have a few people every weekend until midsummer hiking up to enjoy a last few turns. The Main Basin is still mainly complete, main face of spring run is good and the flypaper was great fun at the weekend. Most of the wall and the canyon are also still skiable.

awesome, cheers igloo. might well be nipping over to see you at easter then, would be the first snowboard free easter in a long while, which is a horrible thought!

Was out yesterday on the Ben where there's still 270m or more of vertical available in Coire Na Ciste. Didn't get round to Tower gully but that will provide an even longer descent.
The combination of the weather, the alpine scale and the falling ice from the last remaining routes made it feel far more like the Alps than Scotland

Pics here - [www.winterhighland.info]

Some nice shots there AlTodd, we had a great day on Saturday too. Dave A, Gav and I climbed up Tower Gully which had a couple of large rocky patches below the Scoop which surprised me but the whole length of the gully can still be skied at the moment. The traverse above the Scoop was firm as was some other sections from there to the top of the gully including the headwall which was solid.

Overall much firmer than last year when I skied it and after some discussion at the top we decided the risks outweighed the rewards given the conditions. Some climbers were also on our line just above the Scoop. Decision made we headed off and checked out No 2 (super narrow) and then No 3. The usual gnarly cornice was missing andwe had a first class ski back to just below the lochan.

The intrepid SAIS forecaster caught us on camera as we made our way up Tower Gully. If click on the second photo you can just about make out my huge grin

[saislochaber.blogspot.co.uk]

Great day!

ps I will post some pics when I get a chance



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.43hrs Mon 26 Mar 12 by HighRustler.

Ha so it was another WH out the previous day!
we saw your ski tracks coming out of No 3 as we headed up. You chose the better of the gullies as no 4 is pretty well chopped up, whereas number 3 gives a clear run right down to the lochan with only the odd boulder fragment to avoid. Glad we didn't bother with Tower gully
Great to be on ski's up on the Ben although I'll never again moan about carrying my winter gear up to the CIC given the weight of yesterdays sack!

^ Dave A dropping into No 3 Gully on the Ben

Great picture that. How steep? 40 degrees - 45? I remember walking up there and there being a bulge about 10 from the top.

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For campervan hire in Scotland visit [www.albacampervans.com] - Bhanaichean Campachaidh ann an Alba

Cheers Donald. I have a Clinometer and measured the Tower Gully headwall when climbing to the top and it was 53 degrees. The headwall for No 3 was of a similar ilk for the first few metres then drops back to 40-45.

The difference between the two was that the headwall of No 3 was softer than Tower. Last year I measured the headwall on West Gully on Braeriach and that was 56 degrees. Steep entrances are definitely easier to negotiate in softer snow

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 14.10hrs Tue 27 Mar 12 by AlTodd.

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oops

Trying and still failing to embed images

The headwall certainly felt steeper than 53 deg when going up it with one axe on Sunday especially the slight bulge close to the top. However the soft snow High Rustler refers to is there and good for holding an edge if not for an ice axe !



Attachments: headwall.jpg (352kB)   headwall2.jpg (330kB)  

Cracking pics and reports and clearly highest octane riding left is on The Ben which probably isn’t too surprising.

Seeing the SAIS pic I’ve attached this together with one taken end of April 2011 with cover perhaps disappointingly not that a different despite the SAIS pic being 5 weeks earlier. There does though look to be quite a bit more snow higher up though I think you have to pick the right day and have some luck for conditions to be kind to get the best out of it.

What’s the vertical descent 500m maybe?

Sorry I'm rubbish at embedding pics so if the final attempt bites the dust the attachment should work at least!





Edited 11 times. Last edit at 21.23hrs Tue 27 Mar 12 by Freeheel.

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After last weekend's trip to Ben Nevis we decided to hit the east face of Carn Mor Dearg yesterday which is another favourite at this time of year. What we found was fantastic spring snow on the upper face, so good that we hiked up three times. Still some skiing left for those willing to earn their turns


^ Dave A declaring the E face of CMD ski area open

Looks good but what sort of vertical is on offer and how long in terms of a hike from the gondola?

Also, any more pics?


Cheers

Freeheel

Finally got round to posting a report from the trip to the Ben a couple of weeks ago.

Full report can be found here [www.winterhighland.info]


^ Checking out Tower Gully with the footprints from our ascent showing the way

And here's a full report from Saturday's trip to Carn Mor Dearg [www.winterhighland.info]

Freeheel,

From the top of the Nevis Range gondola to the summit of CMD it's around 2.5 hours at a reasonably leisurely pace. Vertical descent is around 220m, which doesn't sound a lot but the top 120m or so is steep (mostly 40-45 degree pitch) and in very good condition. Worthy of more than one lap! Descent time back to the car park (taking the Allt Daim down to the forest and then using the fireroad) was around 2.5 hours too.


^ Gav in the start gate....