Glencoe

glencoe at night
Glencoe Mountain around 1:00am
glencoe in morning
Glencoe Mountain at 6:00am when I woke up

Day 29 of Scottish Season 15/16. I spent a cold and clear night sleeping in the car after taking night time landscape shots. I awoke at 6:00 am to wind and snow. The cloud was low and it didn’t look promising for a day on the mountain. I took a drive into Glencoe itself and brewed up a coffee. I took some more photos on the short journey back to the ski centre. I was there for 8:30 and despite the wind still blowing and the Cliffy chair being closed, the carpark and cafe was host to more keen skiers and snowboarders waiting for the access chairlift to open.

After breakfast in the cafe I got myself up the mountain. There was the tiniest glimpse of sunshine trying to poke through the cloud but the wind was blasting with spindrift exfoliating any exposed skin.

The Plateau Pome was running and I then took the Wall t-bar to the upper lifts.

With marginal visibility at the top I wasn’t expecting much, but when I dropped into a still wide Main Basin, I couldn’t believe my luck! The groomed piste had a covering of fresh ‘Hero’ snow. It was grippy and you feel you can do no wrong. I was cranking up high speed turns all morning. Happy Valley was equally as good.
 I was close to calling quits in the morning and heading home. I’m so glad I didn’t. The visibility improved , but the wind didn’t abate. However, this just meant freshies again after the wind had covered my previous tracks.

I didn’t want to leave, but finished around 13:00 pm as I had a big day at work the following day, with an early start too.

It just goes to show. You should take a chance, you may just enjoy it.

Glencoe summit
From the summit