Felxi Ski in Glencoe

The stormy conditions of late have brought unbelievable amounts of snow to the west coast, with drifts up to ten meters deep in the ski resorts! This is all well and good, but finding a window to get out and enjoy it has proved difficult. Nevertheless on Friday I got a heads up from Stevie and Andy they had the day off and fancied doing something. After looking at the weather I managed to get the Monday off to head out and hope for the best on the slopes.

Setting off at 06:30 for 08:30 we set off up the road with my new ski's and boots in tow. Stevie and I were still recovering from a morning session on the Sunday at Carron valley where we set off far too fast on the first lap that he was nearly sick! I wasn't far behind. Great training for Glentress next weekend with all the lads. Arriving nice and early we managed to hire them boards quickly and head straight up the lift. Sadly the lower slope wasn't complete in coverage and the top lift wasn't accessible due to too much snow that it was covered over. Arriving in the corrie we could see why. The snow cover was unbelievable, there were no pistes with conditions just being ride anywhere! Getting the chair up involved lifting the legs in places, something I've never had to do! One thing is for sure it will certainly stick around.

Getting far to close on the t-bar!

Andy on the chair

After a flat light first run on quality slightly wet but fast powder the conditions improved to be brilliant all day. Andy and Stevie were fantastic on the boards nearly keeping up with my ski's and doing nose turns as they came down looking cool. We did loads of runs and dug out the jump park a bit and played around. Crashes didn't hurt as a result of the snow cushion....even when someone puts a lip on it when you don't expect it.

 A Monday far better spent than working!

Glasgow Weekender

Friday night saw the last of the Glasgow Climbing Centres winter bouldering competition which followed the same format of the last one…climbing with free beer! A winning combination in anyone’s book! The men’s open was well set with many of the problems being hard, well set and on small holds, which proved to me to be too tricky given a two month break due to a tweaky finger (which despite the rest seems not to have healed fully) and skiing.

In the end William finished the comp in 3^rd and came out with a free chalk bag, but everyone else won beers. Some of the lads took full advantage of the fact, especially asking me to get more beers when I was at the front of the queue to save on time till closing Vs. beer consumption.

On Saturday Andy, Rambo, Michael and a few their work mates and I went to Carron Valley on the mountain bikes. Conditions were cold, snowy but again after not being on the bike for 2 months my legs felt it! The track was good and a considerably better than the last time we were there, with no need to haul/push/throw the bike over all the fallen trees! The forestry commission have done a great job cleaning it up. It was however equally as wet in the afternoon when it started throwing it down! Nothing out of the ordinary happened but it was a great day out. It’s good to be getting a bit of fitness and routine back. Commute back to work commences soon/when it stops throwing it down!