The ski group have talked about getting off piste lessons and trying ski touring for years this year I managed to talk bob into two days at Glenmore lodge,, So we done a course called an introduction to backcountry skiing ,
Before we left for Aviemore Bob wanted to maximize his time with his young family before leaving for Aviemore a 3-4 hr drive, so he invited me for dinner at his house, that way he could be with his family until the boys bed time and then me and him would journey up together straight from his house . Dinner was excellent and we left before 8 in the hope of catching a quick pint in Glenmore once we had arrived and unpacked. I was lucky and had a bottle of beer with my dinner and two in bobs car on the drive up , it was dark when we arrived and although both me and bob had been to Glenmore lodge before neither of us had actually stayed inside as residents , we had previously only visited the bar and had fond memories of a cracking night there at a whisky tasting event , we booked into our room which was very nice ideal for two outdoor types like us , and we managed two pints at the bar before bed . The bar doesn't open late not that it mattered as we wanted to be fresh in the morning so that was ok
Glenmore lodge was very organized and we got excellent instructions at breakfast they also had sandwich lunches laid out for you to put in your packs, A perfect start we were then easily processed into our group and although me and bob had various bits of our own kit I opted to just take all Glenmore lodge equipment from their ample well organized store I was fully kitted out as part of the package price , we had everything ice axe and shovels transponders fantastic black crow skis plus skins( obviously ) and I even took their backpacks and helmet which were both better than my own ,
Once kitted up we Squeezed into a van and headed off to the big car park at the funicular railway of cairngorm, it’s a short pleasant drive from the Glenmore lodge to the ski centre car park but the weather wasn't looking great the only good thing was that cold wet weather up there at that time of year meant snow was landing and the hills required it badly! we got our skins on our skis this was a first time for me and bob we had only ever been downhill skiing , it was really interesting to feel the skins they were once made from seal skins where all the animals hairs point back the way to help them swim smoothly ,but when stretched over the base of your ski the hairs now synthetic but the same principle go smoothly moving forwards on snow but act like brakes going back the way , we also had to learn how to just have the front of your ski clipped in so your ankle can move up and down ,and we were given the helpful advice from the instructor to pretend we were pushing a matchbox across the floor with your toes , so you bend your knee and slide your ski up the hill repeat with the other ski , and we set off you can also raise a metal clip on your ski to act like a raised platform on really steep slopes so your heel doesn't have to go all the way back to the ground as you slide up the steep hills and we were heading up a steep hill so the bar was at its highest level , after what felt like an age we arrived at an area where we could take a bit of shelter the weather was really bad ! I hate my hands being cold so I was hoping taking the skins of my skis and fixing my boots back rigid on the skis wouldn't take long thankfully it never and I just shoved the rolled up skins in my jacket instead of back in the bag ,
because of the bad weather we couldn't take our planned route over the south side of cairngorm ( that's the actual hill cairngorm not the national park which takes its name from the mountain cairngorm )so we skirted along the top of normal piste area and down the back toward coire na ciste we stopped for a cup of tea and ate our sandwiches in the café and skinned up after lunch and headed off uphill in terrible low cloud wind and snow we all had to wear our goggles and visibility was poor so we mostly followed some clear fence posts until we reached the top of the hill and took a slight shelter at a pylon had a snack and too the skins off our skies to go down the coire na ciste , this was me and bobs first real off piste skiing we had been on un`pisted slopes before but not this kind of proper off piste skiing with good of piste skies our techniques were not as good as the rest of the group but we got down and didn't fall in the gaping hole over a stream ! ( the instructor for the other group in the hills today did ! ),the young guys in our group basically everyone except me and bob were keen for another run down coire na ciste but me and bob decided to sit the last run off the day out and while they got skinned up to head back up for another run down , we got our skis on our backs and marched out to the lower car park where a van was waiting with its heating on an excellent day on the hills where we learned a lot the only downside was the weather .
Once the rest of the group joined us in the van we headed back to the lodge put our wet cold equipment in the excellent drying room got washed and changed in our room and headed to the lecture hall, as part of the deal for this weekend we get two lectures in the lecture hall one on navigation before dinner hosted by the very knowledgeable navigation Nigel, even bob learned a lot from this lecture and he is a superb navigator! we then went for dinner and got a pint to take into the next lecture which was on avalanche risk was also very informative the lecture hall was full and warm so I was glad of my beer the dinner was excellent I opted for the vegan choice a chick pea curry , and we had already organized to meet up with the rest of our group for beers in the bar after the lecture as usual with these things me and bob were loving the beers and the banter what a great bunch so I also got a nice whisky for us all on my round and our group were last to leave the bar , which we found out next day made our instructor proud ,a perfect end to a cracking day
Lady Luck was shining on us in the morning the sun was out and the fresh powder snow we were out in yesterday, was now lying nice and thick over the top of the cairngorm mountain range , our instructor was keen to maximize our time over on the fresh powder in the unpisted back off the hill , (proper backcountry skiing ) so he suggested we all buy a single pass ski lift ticket to get to the top of the piste`s much easier and quicker than skinning all the way up tour start point , we readily agreed and it certainly saved us a lot of time , The last time I was on that first particular pomma I had been wearing a kilt , and I wouldn't recommend that its cold on the bum ! But in good gore Tex salopetes the pomma was an easy cheat to the top of the hill in good weather. we que`d to get on the top pomma and for all the distance it took us we probably would have been just as quick skinning up ,
Once up the top of the mountain we took our skins of and had an excellent fresh untouched powder field all to ourselves down the back of the mountain, me and bobs technique was coming along it’s a different form of skiing on this kind snow so you have to make your turns bigger than you would on piste. It took a bit of getting used to but it was fun and if you did go down the snow was soft, we dropped down into low cloud and the visibility fell to less than 10mtrs! this is where good navigation skills are essential for back country skiing and bob volunteered himself with a slight bit of encouragement from our instructor ,and what an excellent job bob done it never fails to impress me somebody that can see absolutely nothing around them and have a map and compass in their hand head down for 3/4of an hour and we pop up out the cloud and are in the exact spot bob wanted us in from the map amazing , then lady luck really struck us the low cloud disappeared and the sun was out for the day glorious skiing conditions absolutely stunning , we skinned up to the top of a peak then we all made our own fresh tracks down a large untouched slope of snow in glorious sunshine when we stopped around half way down the mountain in glorious sunshine , we had a sandwich and the instructor showed us a method of measuring the angle of the slope we were on using your ski poles ! That was an interesting demonstration and very helpful if you wish to ski slopes like those again because the perfect angle for avalanche is 38degrees being the most dangerous angle or most likely for an avalanche to happen,
