DAY 9 OF THE SCOTTISH SEASON 16/17
It looks like my season lift pass will pay for itself after all, with consecutive days of fair weather and snow on the hills. Another beautiful day dawned on Saturday and I made good time up Loch Lomondside. I was in the carpark before 8:30, plenty of time to grab something to eat in the cafe before going up the hill.
Glencoe Mountain had been promoting the Snowfest activities which would involved a mass descent down the hill. The Haggis trap, usually a tight squeeze of a gully had been pisted wide to allow plenty of traffic.
The sun was splitting the sky so it wouldn’t be long before the frozen areas would soften up. Main Basin and Happy Valley were the focus of my attention for most of the day. The Wall however, continued to offer great sport with buttery soft snow leading down to the cafe.
On stopping for lunch, I couldn’t help but sit back, relax and soak up some rays. Its been a good run of days and it felt like late May, with temperatures soaring and blue skies.
I’d brought my camera gear up the hill, dslr and lenses. Usually I just carry my point and shoot Canon Powershot G16, but I thought I’d try to capture the Mass of skiers and snowboarders make their chaotic way down the slopes. It wasn’t to be though, discovered everyone at the summit waiting to go and my gear was still at the rescue hut. I decided instead to make use of my Contour HD action camera and see what I could cobble together. Ski Scotland were streaming it live on Facebook anyway, so hopefully they would get plenty of coverage.
The idea was to be kilted, topless or both. I felt that being behind a camera absolved me of this, at least thats what I told myself. The descent itself was meant to be a procession, but it looked more like carnage, with the odd body wiping out every now and then. Everyone looked like they were having fun though.
A second trip down to the cafe resulted in another extended sun bathing session. Some of the staff even brought up some beers on the back of the Argo and set up a temporary bar adding to the super chilled atmosphere.
After a couple more thigh burners down Happy Valley I worked my way through the mud and rocky terrain to get to the Plateau run and return on the Access Chair.
It had been another cracking day and I hope to get up tomorrow for day 10. I made my way down to Tyndrum and edited together the short video while sat in the carpark of the Green Welly Stop. Dinner would be fish n’ chips across the road at the Real Food Cafe, which is where I’m typing this now (and uploading the video to Facebook).
Roll on Sunday for more Sun, snow, mud and rocks!