Glencoe Mountain Resort
Tuesday, and a second day of glorious sunshine was on the cards at Glencoe Mountain Resort. I’d had a very comfortable nights sleep in the car and I’d made the call that it would be my last day of this 4 day stint.
Gareth was meeting me today, and there was barely a cloud in the sky when we set off up the access chair. I did forget my sunscreen though!
Conditions on the hill
It was almost a carbon copy of the previous day. The only difference was a slight rise in temperature. There was no wind and it was around -3 Celsius. This would have a beneficial effect on the pistes, softening them slightly more than the day before.
Once again the groomers had done a fine job. Main Basin was around 10 groomers wide. Pure perfection, and a work of art, first thing in the morning.
Spring run was being worked on and we would attend to that later.
Happy Valley once again was prime pickings and we carved turn all the way down through the narrows and onto the Wall for an extra long run.
By the time we did get to Spring Run, it was still pretty firm, but softened significantly on the last 150 metres.
Lights, Camera, Action
We met up with Robbie at the summit, he was on the look out for some volunteers to appear in his film work, so we obliged. You don’t get many better looking locations than Glencoe, especially with Buachaille Etive Mor as a backdrop.
I managed to grab a few still shots around the hill myself as you can see in this blog. But I do find it more difficult to capture interesting images when the weather is as perfect as it was.
I find the mist and cloud provides an air of mystery or at least some variation to photos. I just had to struggle on with clear blue skies and pristine scenery. The struggle I real!
Sunny Afternoon
After a lunch in the sunshine where we had swapped holiday stories with couple at the cafe, we mixed some summit runs with laps of Mugs Alley, resting on the chairlift and enjoying the softening snow of Mugs Alley.
We also did a bit of work on carving techniques. Making the most of the perfect pistes.
Towards the end of the day we stopped at the summit ridge and took in the spectacular views to the South. Sparkling loch Tulla, the majestic Ben Lui and the imposing face of Clach Leathad, which Robbie went on to reveal would be the venue for the forthcoming Scottish Freedom Series Freeride event the following weekend.
We noticed the summit Tow had stopped turning, so it was time to make our way back down. We rode from the summit to car park via the High Road, Rankin’s Return and the Weasel Track. The Weasel stops just shy of the car park with a short broken section you have to walk across.
Days ahead
There is talk of more snow and more wintery temperatures. But it is the middle of March and it’s amazing you can ski or snowboard as far down the mountain as you can. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last time you were able to get this far down the mountain this season. But then again, with the winter we’ve been having we could have even more cover before the season is done.
