Day 6 of season 14/15. After yesterday’s debacle I thought I should make an early start. 6:30 from a snowy Glasgow and the majority of the trip North was hassle free. As the sun rose, the stunning scenery taunted me. There are few places to stop on the A82, especially when you are racing to the ski hill.
The road was fairly clear and quiet, although a small convoy developed as we passed Tyndrum. Suddenly we all slowed up as we came across snowdrifts that were forming across the road. We went slow and steady until Rannoch Moor. It was 8:40 as we came up to the Plateau and lo and behold, traffic backed up once again. This time though it seemed to be the snowdrifts delaying progress. The convoy moved on and I got to the access road. But the car park did look busy. As we slowly made our way up one of the staff walked towards me. “We’re full, you’ll have to run around”. No way I thought. Since there is no turning point I had to go up to the car park anyway. I noticed the top car park which had not been cleared and was left for 4x4s was looking empty so I gunned the wee Yaris and popped it up into the snowy carpark! Done, I was in.
All lifts were running and there was a good vibe on the hill. Many conversations with strangers in the lifts. It was a bit more blowy than yesterday with lots of drifts up in Main Basin. Happy Valley, continuing into the Wall was a great wind packed powder run. I did Thrombisis and Cliffy run a few times, with a couple of Carpark runs done for good measure.
Looks like there is a decent base building as last year, so fingers crossed it’ll last.
I left about 3:00, making sure I got out before the rush.
Once again the police were down at the road, trying to resolve the carnage of traffic and parked cars. I think Glencoe may get a rap on the knuckles from the local rozzers. They did ask people not to park in the roadside, but there’s not slot more they can do!
Anyway, as soon as the snow stops falling in the towns, the crowds will lessen. The masses usually need some kind of reminder there is snow in the hill!