Glencoe 21st April 2012

Well, over the last week I’ve been watching the weather from my office with interest. The webcams have been teasing me with late season snow reviving Glencoe Mountain Resort.

They opened midweek but were disappointed by the numbers showing up.

Saturday looked promising. Most of the drive up was sunny but as usual, on arrival I saw the cloud was sitting on the top of the mountain.

The top t-bar was running. However the uptrack was super gnarly. Even came off once. It was littered with base grinding rocks and occasionally lifted you by the crotch over some of the many dips.

Mustn’t complain though. This is the first chance to slide since Chamonix in February. No Scottish snow the whole of March!

Despite visibility being poor the snow was actually pretty good. Etive Glades, top of Happy Valley was fun with soft buttery spring snow. The rocks were taking their toll and a few runs later I was finding my heelside turns were dragging. If I plan to go up tomorrow I’ll need to get the sandpaper and p-tex out.

Wasn’t cold and wind was minimal. I swear I saw midges on the slopes!

Going to sleep on it and maybe head up again tomorrow. Beggars can’t be choosers.