Great Snow at Nevis Range (Helen's First Jump)

Headed up to the Nevis Range for some snowboarding but they had ran out of hire equipment so ended up on my skis again - at least I didn't end up spending most of the afternoon on my bum like I would have with a snowboard. We had a great afternoon on the slopes - as you can see from the photo crafty Helen is getting to grips with her board and was having a go at some jumps - after I'd showed her how not to do it of course.



Ben also took a few minutes to show us some advanced crash management techniques. Anyway, they still have great conditions up there so can thoroughly recommend a trip up there.

--Matt

Edit 08/03/10

Helen wanted me to show the real unphotoshopped picture of her first jump....

Great Scottish Skiing

As you all probably know the snow is back, and plenty of it. We've seen lots of people out touring in the hills, and the Nevis range is reporting its best snow for years. We had friends skiing over at Cairngorm for the day so we headed over to join them. With a bribe of cake we managed to get Alby's granny to come across and keep him company so we both managed to get on the slopes.

We even bumped into (not literally) Crafty Helen who was looking like a true snowboarding aficionado.


The snow was as good as we've ever seen it in Scotland and the weather looks great for the next few days so hope you get chance to make the most of it - we have a few vacancies if you fancy it!

--Matt

East Ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn

We (Rich and I) where supposed to be having a day out with Ben Nevis el supremo Mr Kimber but had to postpone it so we headed up to the East Ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn.



A lovely long ridge, great weather, a bit of powder, a few interesting bits but no need to use any gear, what more can I say....lovely stuff.

Dog sleds are GO!

What with Jenny and I being dog sledding experts (we went for a few hours in Norway last year) we thought we'd head over to Aviemore with our friends Rick and Anna for the annual dog sled rally to see if we could offer any assistance.

Unfortunately we got waylaid in the award winning Mountain Cafe (all day breakfast highly recommended) but we eventually made it to the track near Loch Morlich sometime after lunch.


We were all pretty impressed with the dogs hurtling round the track until we saw some of the dogs that weren't running and they made Dylan look well behaved, we never thought we'd see a dog that made Dylan look good!

Now, I think I still have my skateboard somewhere, all we need is a little seat for Alby......

--Matt

PS. Speaking of days out, check out some of our recommended day trips from Invergarry Lodge.

Culachy Falls, Fort Augustus

The big freeze continues up in the Highlands, Rich (Invergarry Lodge's official ice climber extraordinaire) and I headed to Glen Tarff, just east of Fort Augustus to have a play on Culachy Falls.

As far as we know the falls have only had one previous ascent and was in exceptional condition. Great stuff for only 35 minutes walk from the car - even Young Alby joined us for the trip but he didn't seem to keen when it came to his turn to lead the route, like father like son.

--Matt

New Invergarry Ice Route

The prolonged cold spell round here has led to lots of local frozen waterfalls. Rich and I decided to tackle the big one in Glengarry forest that I don't know that name for, easy enough to find, park at Glengarry forest and follow the yellow way marked trail, about 20 mins or so.



The climbing wasn't that steep or difficult but has a nice short steep section and the route divides nicely in to a couple of pitches. We don't have much (any) experience in grading these things but we reckon about grade II. The name of this new route? We decided on Viagra Falls, it could have been harder.


--Matt


Edit - Dave the Bowls president informs me the waterfall does have a name - Allt Na Calliche (or something similar) thanks Dave.

Great Glen Skiing

Invergarry is fast becoming one of the best winter snow sport destinations in Scotland, if it's not sledging, having a snow ball fight or making snowmen, it's skiing the Great Glen Way. I made it up to the local viewpoint but couldn't see much because of the snow.


Ever seen a dog on a ski slope? No, you know why? Because they (or at least Dylan) are a massive pain in the neck when it comes to skiing. He just about got used to me skinning up the hill but when I took the skins off and set off down the hill he just couldn't comprehend what was happening and kept trying to jump on top of them and eat them, still he wasn't good the first time we took him running either.


I'm sure he'll get the hang of it next time. All was good apart from as I was walking the 500 metres to the bottom of the hill, along a not very snowy, ploughed and gritted road with my skis on my shoulder, first my neighbour Jimmy came past and looked at me like I was from another planet, I then bumped in to Colin from the bowls team who also couldn't believe that I was going skiing.

I was on my own so couldn't get a photo of myself but so you know - I looked the business, orange skis, orange boots, grey trousers, orange jacket, grey hat (thanks mum), I even had orange logos on my gloves... I looked like one of those super coordinated aging french super skiers that whip past you in the alps whilst blowing smoke in your face that look like they are wearing the same gear they bought in the 80's. Cool.

Happy New Year (again)

--Matt