Click on Thumbnail to view larger images. Click on Title for Image Index.
 About to hit a natural kicker at the side of the Main Basin.
|  Base of the Top Tows, some menacing cloudscapes, but the visibility was better when it was actually raining!
|
 Access Chairlift emerges from the lower mist!
|  Sledge Park is still full length and snow factory is running.
|
 Top leg of Mugs Alley is getting thin, but still passable and pockets of snow to improve it when temperature drops.
|  Looking up Ski Tow Gully and Little Rannoch to the left.
|
 Main Basin from the T-bar.
|  Upper Etive Glades with option to swing left (out of sight) and continue down Etive Glades or return to Happy Valley.
|
 Etive Glades was giving the best turns, fairly smooth soft snow, becoming more granular and for some reason the light was better than in the Main Basin.
|  How many ptarmigan can you spot? Between Etive Glades and Happy Valley.
|
 Looking down Island Rock Gully on the Main Basin to the Haggis Trap. Don't go through the trap as below is not filled in with holes into the river!
|  Looking down the Happy Valley narrows.
|
Click on Thumbnail to view larger images. Click on Title for Image Index.
Displayed: Images 1 to 12 of 12
|
Rain is not usually something welcome, but it cleared up the clag and let you see the upper mountain (it is also less bad for the snow pack than dense hill fog)!
With the main action taking place on the upper mountain and the Cliffhanger and mid mountain primarily for access, Glencoe is really only suitable for more experienced skiers and boarders, happy to ride the more challenging end of the spectrum of blue terrain - plus beginners with Ski School.
The Spring Run and Rannoch Glades could be open if the visibility and surface conditions are suitable. The Rock Garden, Main Basin, Happy Valley and Etive Glades were the main action on Wednesday, though the Rock Garden was quite slow and sticky compared to Etive Glades, which was giving the nicest turns on Wednesday and for some reason always seemed to have better light than the Main Basin.
An unfortunate side effect of the go anywhere cover on the Plateau earlier this month was that nothing had much depth to it and with drifted snow spread equally both sides of the Low Road and Rankins Return fences, the Plateau has been reduced to just patches. It is possible to ski back to the Plateau Cafe with care via a combination of upper Mugs Alley, cutting across the top of the Rannoch Chair then down Old Mugs Alley.
Thursday looks a rough day with high winds, cooler with snow early, a bit milder later with a wintry mix, then colder again later. Uplift is uncertain for Thursday so check updates AM, as the Cliffhanger is the only way to the upper mountain.
The forecast for Friday and Saturday looks good for the start of the Glencoe Gathering. Snow should dry out and crunch up without being hard on Friday if temperature pans out as forecast, so could be the pick of the next few days, with DJs playing in the White Corries Cafe Bar for Friday Apres.
|