Friday 30th November – First skiing of the 2012-13 season!
With temperatures finally staying low, snowfalls had begun to build up at last so Hazel & I made a dash to Cairngorm on St. Andrews Day. The ski centre wasn’t opening up until the next day, so by skinning up from the car park we were able to enjoy untracked powder and freshly groomed pistes. The snow was amazing – especially given the time of year – dry consolidated powder. Unfortunately the weather was not so good; although calm, the sunny spells that were forecast never appeared and the freezing fog never lifted off the summit, so after skinning up there from the car park we ended up just skiing back down through the ski area rather than heading further afield. Still, an excellent start to the season! With more snow forecast to fall the next day, cold temps forecast right into next week, and a perfect forecast for Sunday we decided to go back again for more (see below).
Sunday 2nd December
Allan, Adam, and Dan joined Hazel, myself and our friend Catherine for another day of great skiing. With the ski centre now open for business, this outing was a rather different affair with 1000 other skiers now also being out on the mountain. Despite the fantastic snow conditions only the Funicular and the Ciste tow were open due to staff shortages, which unfortunately led to pretty long lift queues by mid-morning. Determined to make the most of the brilliant snow conditions and perfect sunny weather some of us headed back up to the top of Cairngorm and skied off the back into Coire Raibeirt, where we found acres of perfect snow including some big areas of fluffy powder. After having our fun and skinning back up to the summit we then enjoyed a nice long run from cairn to car park, meeting the others for a coffee at the daylodge before heading home.
