A blue sky skiing day in Scotland is a day to enjoy. If the blue sky day also happens to coincide with new snow, then it’s a day not to be missed. Luckily, the recent blue sky day and good snow landed in the festive holidays and I was able to head out in the Cairngorms on skis with Hubby G and a group of friends.
We headed to Cairngorm Mountain Resort with our back country skis so we could “skin up” the slopes without need for a mechanical lift. In any case, the lifts were not opened until mid-day on Jan 2.
Our group started from the main car park and we kept mostly to the empty pistes on the way up. We headed uphill via the lower slopes, zigzags, Coire Cas and the traverse.
Our speed was “chatting pace” and I enjoyed sharing time in the mountains with a lovely group of people.
Fresh snow and a bitter wind
Higher on Cairngorm Mountain and above the Ptarmigan Station, we skied off the track on to a wide slope of wonderfully fresh snow.
The wind picked up and at times it was bitterly cold but the sun was doing its best to shine through the cloud and it felt very uplifting to be on Cairngorm in such magical surroundings.
The summit elevation is 1245m but, before that, we reached a large snow-covered torr to the north that provided the perfect place to hide behind and out of the fierce and cold wind. We regrouped, enjoyed a snack and spent time transitioning from uphill to downhill ski mode.
This meant we needed to strip off skins on the base of the skis, secure our ski boot heels on to the ski bindings and remember to change from walk to ski settings.
A short descent and reascent
Looking down to the south-east, we could see a slope of lovely looking snow and we decided we would ski as far as we could. The snow was soft and easy to ski with only a few rocks poking through.
At around 1000m elevation, we came together again and discussed the option to continue downhill towards Loch Avon (A’an). However, the consensus was that conditions did not look so good on the rocky and steep lower slopes, so we chose instead to return back to the torr.
Sometimes I am keen for a big day out with lots of challenges, while on other days it’s simply great to be out in the mountains and enjoying the best of the conditions.
Again we transitioned, this time from ski to walk mode. The wind was bitter and we all worked as fast as we could so we could be on our way again. Even so, it took quite a bit of ascent before I felt the blood return to my fingers.
The uphill skinning was steep in places and I worked hard to maintain a good pace so that I would stay warm in the wind.
Back at the torr, we regrouped and discussed a new plan. Again, we reached a consensus to ski back towards the main resort slopes and back to the car park.
Although still early afternoon, the cloud had drifted in and we were keen to enjoy the best of the fresh snow in fairly good light, rather than risk skiing in difficult low light.
Superb downhill skiing at Cairngorm
The ski downhill was one of the best I’ve enjoyed in Scotland for a long time. We found lots of fresh, untracked snow, as well as weaving in and off the resort piste known as M1. In fact, the piste was the best I have ever skied in Scotland.
It was great to see the lifts open and many people enjoying a lovely afternoon of skiing. The lower we skied, the busier it became but it was easy to avoid other people and I felt a whoop of joy at how fortunate we were to live so close to this mountain. I am not sure we would have taken the chances on the conditions if we still lived in Glasgow but now we live only around an hour from Cairngorm.
As I said before, a blue sky ski day in Scotland is one that I would be sore to miss.
See Strava for our route.
Kit list for ski touring
I was skiing:
- Dynastar Cham women’s all mountain skis
- G3 Skins
- Scarpa Gea ski boots
- Leki Guide Pro V ski poles
I was wearing:
- Helly Hansen Odin 9 Worlds Infinity shell jacket and pants.
- A lightweight insulated mid-layer
- Base t-shirt and long-sleeved top
- Rab thermal fleece tights
- Smartwool ski socks
- Black Diamond double layer mitts (bought in America)
- Ski helmet
I was carrying:
I packed my kit in the Osprey Kresta 30. Priced £180 at Osprey (Note I receive a small commission for sales through this website.)
- Snow probe
- Snow shovel
- Transceiver
- Ski crampons
- Spare buff
- Spare gloves
- Spare insulated jacket
- Emergency bivvy bag
- Map and compass
- Mobile phone
- New ACR ResQLink 400 personal beacon (Christmas gift from hubby G!).